Several factors influence the aquatic sports culture of a society. These include the social norms of the ruling class (who decide where to spend public money) and the type of places and facilities available. The location construction and maintenance of facilities are linked to the cultural norms of a society while the moral norms of a society dictate how it views sports and how much of the communal resource a society devotes to particular activities.
In southern Africa, these norms were expressed by the Europeans introducing aquatic sports in the oceans and constructing dams, tidal pools, swimming pools and other structures. As public social spaces, swimming baths were physical manifestations of the municipal grandeur and pride of the city. Indeed, the swimming bath, as a building type, was a cultural and architectural artefact to be celebrated. Read more about this from Louis Grundlingh
Aquatic sports usually occur in purpose-built swimming pools, but dams, rivers, marinas, quarries, tidal pools and the ocean are also used. Recreational aquatic sport such as wild swimming is popular anywhere there is enough water, even if it might not be very safe!
Purpose-built swimming pools are varied - indoor or outdoor; public or private; above or inground; heated or not, salt or freshwater filled. They are various lengths, usually either 25m or 50m, but older facilities include 33m, 50-yard, 55-yard or even 100-yard ones. Tidal pools are usually irregularly shaped and constructed along rocky shores of the oceans.
Today (2025) many of the pools in southern Africa are defunct. A few new facilities are still being created, often in areas with little or no demand for such a facility, resulting in the new pools becoming derelict. This is a political issue as these pools are built with taxes raised in other areas.
Click here to see a map of the dead pools of southern Africa.
