Sardines video

Here's the school of sardines that we saw off the beach on Changuu (Prison Island). We've now left Zanzibar and are in Nairobi. The others arrive tomorrow to begin our safari tour.

Sardines off Changuu

Snorkeling off the bone-white beach on Changuu (Prison Island), we came across a remarkable sight. Two large, black shadows appeared to be moving with the tide, just offshore on the north (leeward) side of the island; Seaweed? Coral? Rocks? 

It was impossible to see without getting underwater with goggles or a snorkel. When we finally got close we realized with surprise that the black shadow was actually a massive, dense school of fish, thrashing around in circles just beneath the waves. 

I’ve never seen so many fish together in real life; they weren’t that big, a few inches perhaps, but once we swam into the cloud and were surrounded by great masses of swirling fish, making great circles of flashing grey around us, it was mesmerizing. 

The fish were a little skittish – they would part into two great clouds as we swam through them, closing the gap around us as we floated on the surface. Large trumpet fish seemed to be tailing them, but otherwise there were no larger fish around – a safe place to feed perhaps. The boatman said they were ‘daga’ in Swahili, but we have no idea what the English name is and we later found out they were sardines!

Here are some other underwater shots from when we went snorkeling. (Thanks to Sunshine & Brian for the waterproof case for my camera!)

Tortoises of Changuu

Changuu is a tiny coral island just off Zanzibar, surrounded by reef and picture-prefect turquoise waters. In the 1890s the authorities built a prison here, but it ended up as a quarantine station for foreigners arriving by ship and infected with disease.

These days the remaining buildings make up a rather isolated hotel, but the island is most famous for its giant tortoises, sent here from the Seychelles as a gift in 1919. They are kept inside a large, muddy enclosure and the rules are fairly relaxed – it’s more like an open wildlife park than zoo, and visitors are free to feed and touch the giant creatures.

Though endangered in the wild, they number around 100 here. The oldest tortoises are absolutely huge – they mostly seem to sit still, or crawl forwards very, very slowly, a sort of dopey dinosaur. Their shells feel like iron, incredibly hard, while their skins are leathery and very tough. They like munching spinach – when they eat they actually extend their legs and necks to peck like a baby eagle, sharp beak, long tongue and sharp teeth tearing the leaves.

Corruption!

On our way to the beautiful east coast of Zanzibar, our driver had to stop at least five times at police checkpoints. Sometimes the police, dressed in pristine white uniforms, would just saunter out of the bushes and wave the car over; other times they had metal barrels barring the route. These are supposedly to check car insurance, road worthiness etc, but all that actually happens, after a few sentences are exchanged, is that the police get a couple thousand shillings 'fee' to let the car pass. Our driver seemed to be pretty resigned to it and just laughed: "This is Africa my friend!"

A Zanzibar sunset

After a day spent meandering through the sweaty streets of Stone Town, we stopped at a beach-side restaurant called Mercury's -- named after the Queen lead vocalist who I found out today was born in Zanzibar. After a meal of fish in coconut sauce and roast chicken with chapatis, we had a beer and enjoyed sunset over the Indian Ocean.

That's when the local boys came out to play. Perhaps inspired by the World Cup starting in a few days in South Africa, Zanzibar's youth hit the beach in droves to play footie -- from practice drills among small groups of friends, to a full-fledged 11-a-side match, complete with small goal posts at each end. 

Everyone was bare foot and seemed to be having a good time, though taking their drills pretty seriously -- perhaps hoping a soccer tout would scoop him up for the Premier League?

It's not a bad way to spend a Wednesday evening.

Here's the video clip (I found a broadband connection at last)