Tourist for a day.

As a fantastic end to our first week on Wasini island we spent the day on a tourist dhow.
GVI send staff and volunteers out on tourist dhows (large wooden sailing boats fitted with outboard engines) to monitor how tourism impacts local communities and ecosystems as well as working with tour operators to provide tourists with a better experience.

We began our day on Wasini with an early breakfast and then hitched a lift to Shimoni with Bardan, the GVI research boat. After leaving our colleagues we waited for an hour on Shimoni peer for the tourists to arrive. It was really cool as all the locals would pass by shouting “Jambo” and “Karibuni”, Hello and welcome. All the locals recognized the GVI shirts and were so pleased to welcome ‘GVI’ back after the break between the last expedition and this one. It’s great to be a part of the relationship GVI has with the local community.

--Tourist dhow following Dolphins--

Once on the boat, we introduced ourselves and set off for Kisite Mpunguti Marine Protected Area. Just before we got to lower Mpunguti bottlenose dolphins were spotted. After spending time taking photos and watching tourists clamber over each other for the perfect shot it was time to go snorkeling.

--Working on questionnaire with tourist--

An hour later we were on our way to Wasini for lunch. One of our jobs is to have people answer a questionnaire about the day which we did on the journey home. We were lucky enough to have some very chatty people who really wanted to know more about the dolphins, but who were upset they couldn’t swim with them!! The results of these questionnaires are important as it helps us to work with the tourist companies to provide a better experience for the tourists as well as ensuring the safety of the dolphins.

The highlight of the day was definitely our lunch at Coral Spirit. We had chapatti, rice with a delicious coconut sauce and locally caught fish. All in all a great day- bring on next week!!

Tourist for a day.