Every morning when I get up around 6 and wander out to the grand, open hotel lobby that looks directly out onto the sea I see boatloads of people coming ashore nearby. I have been wondering the whole time what exactly is going on with these boats. Then this evening as Mave and Kuno were taking a late swim I saw boatloads of between 15 and 30 men per boat going out to sea and could not imagine what they were doing or where they were going as the sun was setting. Well, we informed ourselves and it turns out that the local fishers spend their nights at sea - fishing! They will be much more likely to find fish during the night than during the day. Indeed they use lights over night to attract the fish; we were told that by midnight the shoreline would be dotted with lights. We have seen the large blue fishing nets spread out for repairs on the grounds of nearby houses as we return from our excursions. It turns out that some of the men are divers and will dive quite far down into the sea to fasten the nets. I am not exactly sure what fishes they are catching, but this is clearly their sustenance.
We had our last excursion today to Bagamoyo which is about 75 km north of Dar along the coast. It was once an Arab dominated slaving port and then a capital for the Germans during their years here. More recently it seems to be an off the beaten path tourist destination and arts center with a theater school, among other things, that attracts students from around the world. We went in order to meet with members of a network of rural women's organizations. We had an informative meeting with them in the morning followed by a nice lunch at one of the local hotels. Then we did some sightseeing, passing by what was once the FRELIMO camp in Dar and then the 13th century Kaole Ruins. From there we visited the 19th century Fort, which served variously as residence, office, prison and slave camp. We saw some of the old German colonial buildings and then passed through town on the way back to Kunduchi.
Every morning when I get up around 6 and wander out to the grand, open hotel lobby that looks directly out onto the sea I see boatloads of people coming ashore nearby. I have been wondering the whole time what exactly is going on with these boats. Then this evening as Mave and Kuno were taking a late swim I saw boatloads of between 15 and 30 men per boat going out to sea and could not imagine what they were doing or where they were going as the sun was setting. Well, we informed ourselves and it turns out that the local fishers spend their nights at sea - fishing! They will be much more likely to find fish during the night than during the day. Indeed they use lights over night to attract the fish; we were told that by midnight the shoreline would be dotted with lights. We have seen the large blue fishing nets spread out for repairs on the grounds of nearby houses as we return from our excursions. It turns out that some of the men are divers and will dive quite far down into the sea to fasten the nets. I am not exactly sure what fishes they are catching, but this is clearly their sustenance.