Mariners, Mkwiro, Mangroves and much more!

On marine base in Mkwiro, the team have also had a great first week out on Wasini Island. Everyone passed all the training requirements and had a few first successful days out on the Indian ocean. The team have spotted 2 pods of dolphins and have already managed to see 2 Hawksbill turtles and a Green turtle when snorkelling transects 3, 4 and 9. Brilliant! We have even managed to have some amazing sightings during our boat crossings to the mainland - we have seen a particularly large Green turtle surfacing just off the coast near our base and on Monday saw Bottlenose and Humpback dolphins socialising together!




-- The snorkels started well with 3 turtle sightings this week --

A couple volunteers were feeling slightly seasick on Thursday afternoon, so while Shafii was refuelling and tweaking the engine we took the opportunity to jump in to for a swim. It ended up being a perfect photo opportunity and the best way to cool down in the heat of the afternoon!


-- A spontaneous swim is the perfect way to cool down! --

We also had our first mangrove walk for the expo with Lucas and Jon leading the team to survey the mangroves which involves cataloguing species of flora and fauna, zoning areas and during the course of this Expo we will be creating transects to assess species distribution of local mangrove species. All very exciting!

Alongside all of this Mkwiro Community is also doing really well with Emma and Ida helping lead classes until the new volunteers find their teaching legs and get into the groove. A standard 2 creative arts lesson was particularly special with all the children learning to draw animals using simple shapes and coloured pencils.

The base is running smoothly with trivia and movie nights proving to be nice rewards for a hard days work. In particular, the Disney section on Trivia night was a huge favourite with Kirsty’s extraordinary knowledge of Disney’s films being demonstrated! To sum up everyone is happy and healthy and looking forward to the next few weeks that lie ahead!

Mariners, Mkwiro, Mangroves and much more!