misteroverland

This is the last leg of the Kenyan and Tanzania coastal trip with Harmony.

This last portion of the trip was divided between the south which is a lot less touristy and the north. After exploring Stone town and the horrors of the slave market we headed out to our accommodations on the south east coast. The roads to this corner of the island are in a pretty dire state compared to the north which sees more tourist traffic to smarter lodgings, though the beautiful natural surroundings of Robinson’s Place and lower density of package holiday tourists more than made up for the bone jarring journey.

Once again looking out to the east over the azure Indian ocean we immersed ourselves into the local culture, swapping visits to ruins for tours to women led cottage industries to learn about soap making and the full use of the coconut tree. Our trip was coming to and end and Harmony’s husband was shortly to arrive on the island and with it we would move further north to said smarter accommodations and touristy area.

Small changes and a bit of effort can be done to reduce plastic waste from mass tourism which we found at Marafiki Bungalows, where the Food and Beverage Manager, Milena, was doing what she could to reduce human impact on the environment. She was also a superb forager and her knowledge of food was extensive, we found ourselves doing a cookery day with her. Starting in the local market and learning about some of the various foods and their uses we then keenly followed her instructions in the evening to cook a mini banquet! Some of these recipes I tried on my family to varying success when back in Cape Town, not sure coconut beans was a winner but the Avo & Cucumber Gazpacho seemed to go down well.

Everything from the coconut palm is used

Coconut milk

Soap making

fisher women

Milena teaching us about food

Zanzibar was the only place I dived while travelling with Harmony, this was due to the lack of dive centres in the other areas we had visited. I varied the locations of the diving in order to see different parts of the island, though came away seeing primarily the difference that mass dive charters is having on the local corals. In the south east I was the only diver and the corals were untouched and in abundance, both soft and hard corals, we also saw a number of turtles on the dive with the overall reef in good nick. I then dived with One Ocean on the west side off Stone Town and the north east side, Mnemba atoll. While the west side is near a busy port the corals were still in decent shape, there were only ever a couple boats on the dive site at most. The approach to diving with this crew was also focussed on preserving the environment and sustainability. Unfortunately on the Mnemba atoll it was cheek to jowl with dive charters all packed to the rafters with holiday divers, beneath the surface was no different and the impact this was having on the reef was startlingly obvious. With novice and inexperienced divers kicking the coral and grabbing at it, it has little chance. To our dive master’s credit he did his level best of reducing the impact from our group and that of other groups when he witnessed anyone damaging the coral. Though for all his efforts I can’t see this reef lasting much longer.

After 3 weeks and hundred’s of photos it was time to bid farewell to Harmony and Ivan. As always travel broadens the mind and with a history professor to add a certain dimension to that it has only whet my appetite to travel further north with Kevin and MrO when the time comes.