I am still on the island of Zanzibar, but have moved up north to Kendwa for a few days on the beach. The first day here i went snorkeling, thinking it would be amazing. i was less then impressed. Yes, there were some beautiful fish, but the water was cold, the current was heavy, there was poor viability, and a lot of the reef seemed to be dead, and after today i now know why.
Last night i went for a walk on the beach after dinner. the tide was sooo low. I walked along the water front for 45 minutes finding little creatures, and throwing them back in the water. I found: one star fish, three giant sun starts and a bunch of sea urchins. This morning after breakfast i went back out to see if the sea had risen, and it hadn't. There were tons of local women way out in the sea, just walking around. At first it was kind of a freaky site. They were like way out there, and still in the boubous and head scarves. As i continued walking down the beach three were women emerging from the ocean with bags full of shells, fish, octopus, anything they could eat or sell. I could tell what they were doing with some things, they would eat the snails, fish ect. but everyone that had caught an octopus was beating the hell out of them. they would pick them up and throw them on the ground repeatedly. it was kind of strange. i went around saying,"nina fahamou kiengereza?" (does anyone speak english?) because i really wanted to know what was happening to these obviously quite dead octopi. of course no one spoke english, and the little i could understand from them was them just wanting money or my bag. finally i found someone that could speak a little and they said that they release poison, and beating them somehow destroys the poison??? i don't know if i trust this explanation, i will have to do some research. but still very interesting. Someone had a huge conch shell with the snail still in it, that they intended to eat. Someone else had caught a huge lobster and was just playing with it in the water. and obviously this is why the reef looked so dead when i went snorkeling, they go and pick everything off.
Something i didn't really understand about Zanzibar is how Muslim is truly is. I read my guide book before i came and knew that there was a heavy Muslim population, but maybe coming from the mainland, with so much Christianity, i just didn't really expect this to be almost a different world. Because that what this is, a completely different world. As i said in my last post, this island has been conquered and ruled by many different people groups, and the last people group to rule this little island were Muslim, so about 95%-99% of the island is Muslim. The place i am staying now is a resort. There are many white people in tiny little swimming suites walking around, while the women cleaning our rooms, and walking around offering henna tattoos are covered head to toe. The people staying at this resort seem quite oblivious to the people surrounding them. I am not typically very prudish, but when all these girls walk into the restaurant wearing almost nothing in front of all these practicing Muslims, it kind of makes me want to shudder. Of course everyone is entitled to wear what they want. these people are paying money to stay in a nice place, but come on, you are a visitor, you should show some respect for the people and place that you are visiting.
That is all for now! hope everyone is well! love to you all!
Suzanne
Last night i went for a walk on the beach after dinner. the tide was sooo low. I walked along the water front for 45 minutes finding little creatures, and throwing them back in the water. I found: one star fish, three giant sun starts and a bunch of sea urchins. This morning after breakfast i went back out to see if the sea had risen, and it hadn't. There were tons of local women way out in the sea, just walking around. At first it was kind of a freaky site. They were like way out there, and still in the boubous and head scarves. As i continued walking down the beach three were women emerging from the ocean with bags full of shells, fish, octopus, anything they could eat or sell. I could tell what they were doing with some things, they would eat the snails, fish ect. but everyone that had caught an octopus was beating the hell out of them. they would pick them up and throw them on the ground repeatedly. it was kind of strange. i went around saying,"nina fahamou kiengereza?" (does anyone speak english?) because i really wanted to know what was happening to these obviously quite dead octopi. of course no one spoke english, and the little i could understand from them was them just wanting money or my bag. finally i found someone that could speak a little and they said that they release poison, and beating them somehow destroys the poison??? i don't know if i trust this explanation, i will have to do some research. but still very interesting. Someone had a huge conch shell with the snail still in it, that they intended to eat. Someone else had caught a huge lobster and was just playing with it in the water. and obviously this is why the reef looked so dead when i went snorkeling, they go and pick everything off.
Something i didn't really understand about Zanzibar is how Muslim is truly is. I read my guide book before i came and knew that there was a heavy Muslim population, but maybe coming from the mainland, with so much Christianity, i just didn't really expect this to be almost a different world. Because that what this is, a completely different world. As i said in my last post, this island has been conquered and ruled by many different people groups, and the last people group to rule this little island were Muslim, so about 95%-99% of the island is Muslim. The place i am staying now is a resort. There are many white people in tiny little swimming suites walking around, while the women cleaning our rooms, and walking around offering henna tattoos are covered head to toe. The people staying at this resort seem quite oblivious to the people surrounding them. I am not typically very prudish, but when all these girls walk into the restaurant wearing almost nothing in front of all these practicing Muslims, it kind of makes me want to shudder. Of course everyone is entitled to wear what they want. these people are paying money to stay in a nice place, but come on, you are a visitor, you should show some respect for the people and place that you are visiting.
That is all for now! hope everyone is well! love to you all!
Suzanne
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