New(bie) intern in town!

Hi there!

I’m Mona, the new intern at Zavora Marine Lab and Mozdivers. I’ll be giving an update on the work we do every week, so stay tuned. I’ve come all the way from Norway to explore the Mozambican waters and enjoy life in the tropics and the ocean. I’ve already been in Tofo for three months, diving every day, and absolutely loved it! I’m staying one month in Zavora to learn more about the coastal ecology of Mozambique, and particularly nudibranchs, manta rays and seahorses. I’ve been here a week, and already I’ve learned so much and done something different every day. 

                                          I love walking up a mountain as much as diving down
                                          to a reef. :)

The first day Yara took me to their beloved rock pool, which we can only visit when it’s spring and low tide. I did not expect to see so much life in such a small area just a little walk from the beach. We spotted loads of different nudibranchs species, and seven of these we found in a hole no bigger than 4 square meters. Two of which were the first time observed in Mozambique. 

                                         New species to mozambique

Wednesday was Earth Day, so Yara, Jon, Wrunga (Yara’s OW student), Mauro and me went back to the rock pool and removed pieces of fishing nets the fishermen leave behind. Equipped with scissors and scuba gear, we were ready to save some corals from suffocating plastic nets. I gotta say, it was pretty challenging trying to focus on the task when you’re surrounded by the beauty of the rock pool. The far end has some amazing topography, with big boulders suspending over the white sands. There’s life everywhere; porcelain crabs, boxer shrimps, nudis, bubbleshells, needle fish, and lots of nice hard and soft corals. Everything is connected, and corals play the biggest role in the presence and diversity of these crustaceans and molluscs. We saved around 15 live corals, but even more were already dead… This shows how important it is to do things like this regularly when there is active fishing going on.

Thursday was my first real dive here. The mission was to find as many nudis as possible and write down the species etc. Well…. I found a lot of nudis, but all that theory that was supposed to sit inside my head, was left at the surface. I also forgot how to use the camera once it sat in the underwater housing, so it’s role got degraded to a very buoyant accessory on my BCD. The second dive was a little better. We found a new dive site with the sonar, which ended up with the name Labyrint. It was like a maze, and the surge was hectic, but a lot of nice marine life. A giant orange frogfish the size of a handball scared the crap out of me when it suddenly appeared in a coral while my face was 15 cm from the reef looking for something way smaller. Very nice day of diving!

 

On Friday we drove to Barra Lagoon near Tofo to do a seahorse survey. Even after 3 months in Tofo, I hadn’t been to the estuary. Really regret not going there before, because it was AMAZING. We were so lucky. What started as a seahorse survey, turned out to be a full on macro life party. We saw almost everything there is to see in the estuary. Sea moths, robust ghost pipefish, frogfish in all sizes, razorfish, decorator crabs, spider crabs, dwarf lionfish, seagrass pipefish and of course seahorses. Not too bad to work and at the same time do some world class muck diving. And the best part; you can stay there for hours. Or at least until you air runs out. The depth ranges from 1-3 meters, most of the life being at 1 meter. 

                                          Baby frogfish

                                          Sea moth

                                          Robust ghost pipefish

                                          A white fuscus seahorse

                                          Colour varies within the species, as it's the same 

                                          species as the white one. :)                 

Saturday was an extended Earth Day, so we went to the beach with some kids from the local school to clean it up a little. The amount of plastic on the beach was overwhelming. For the last few months living on the beach, I haven’t noticed it at all. It just becomes a part of the landscape here. But when you actively try to look for it, it’s EVERYWHERE. Mostly small pieces, which are very time-consuming to pick up, and some crumble at the touch. But you know that these small pieces will get even smaller, until they’re so microscopically small they end up in corals and plankton. We weighed all the bags and the results was 116 kg of plastic rubbish in one hour with 15 people. Imagine what could be done if a whole village joined.

Yesterday and today we did Manta ID dives, with great results, but more about that next week.

Ciao!

I am leaving part of my heart in Africa…

This is it. My last days in Zavora. My last days in Mozambique and my last days in Africa for some unforeseeable time.

Me.

I had a lot of fun and a great experience. I am actually leaving here some good friends. I will miss everything, from the sea breeze and the sand that gets stuck everywhere to the routine of spraying yourself with anti-mosquito spray in the evenings and sleep under a mosquito net. I will miss the view from “my office”…looking at palm trees and every now and then catching a glimpse of a nice old lady laboring her land. 

View from "my office" window. Notice the gecko!

I will miss the long walks on the beach with the dogs doing turtle nest monitoring. Or sometimes just walking on the beach for the sake of it and getting your mind off things.

I will truly miss the geckos running around while I was doing my work in the office. I will miss this nature; the silence, no noisy city sounds but those of louries on the trees.

I will miss the freedom and happiness I feel I have here and you don’t get so easily. It’s a wild freedom.

I will miss walking around in flip flops or barefoot on the streets because you forgot the flip flops. I will miss the people here and the spontaneity of having everyone over or just calling them to have a braai five minutes later. Nobody that says no to meeting to eat together or says "ups, I can't I have too much to do."

Stairs to the sea...stairs to paradise.

But most of all I will miss the sea, which has been my working place for the past three months. Everything I did and everything I read about had something to do with this beautiful place that we know comparable so little about. The sea truly captivates. The infinite blue and the unknown are what fascinate me the most.

I came here to learn about underwater scientific methodology and I am leaving with a lot of practice and newly acquired knowledge. I am actually a nudibranch-enthusiast now and will keep my eyes open for these beautiful macro organisms on my next trips under water. 

But I not only learned about marine biology and helped practically to acquire some truthfully important and needed scientific and ecological data but had the feeling I was being a part of something good. Mozambique is still the most undeveloped country in Africa even though sometimes it might not seem so. Therefore, it needs help. Mozambique and its locals need (among other things) a better education system that allows for the people in the remote areas to be taught how to sustainably use the resources they get from the nature so they don’t overfish and kill the coral reefs and along the organisms that depend on them. By doing underwater clean ups, trying to eat non-endangered fish species and doing beach clean ups we can easily help a little bit, but it takes more people doing right to fight the wrong. 

The locals not being ecological are only a minor problem. The bigger problems lie in enterprises and countries that don’t wanna be reasonable about their un-ecological practices.

Mozambiquean flag.

Africa is a beautiful continent. Every time I leave I am leaving a different person. This time again, I have learned more about myself and what I wanna be/stay in three months than I learned in Europe in one year. Of course you need some western things now and then; you were raised in a western nation after all. But it is possible to adjust and definitely worth it. 

Small eye stingray I saw on one of my first dives to Rio Saiñas.

I left my heart in Africa long ago; I just didn’t know it…After three months here I realized, Africa is just another story. Maybe because humanity started here and you feel closer to your roots. I don’t know why. What I know is…Africa always calls me back and I will surely try to take the next call! 

By the way…on Wednesday (22.04.2015) is Earth’s day! If you don’t do EVERY DAY already, try at least on that day to make something nice for “mother earth”. Give food to some staring street dog, maybe plant a tree or water the plant (but not grass for golfing purposes!), save water when showering, etc etc. Without the nature we wouldn’t be here and if we don’t stop or mitigate our unsustainable consumption of natural resources we surely won’t be here much longer.

With this, it was really great remembering through the blog posts my long forgotten passion for writing. I hope you enjoyed to read as much as I did in writing.But most of all I am very grateful to the people that have been part of this wonderful experience. There are wonderful people down here and I hope I can one day show them how truly grateful I am to have met them.

So long and thanks for all the fish! ;)

So long and thanks for all the fish.

Traducción al español:

Esto es todo amigos. Ya llegaron los últimos días en Zavora, en Mozambique y en Africa por un tiempo largo.

[Yo.]

La experiencia que he pasado ha sido impresionante y no hay palabras para expresar el júbilo y la felicidad que he sentido. Echaré de menos todo, desde la suave brisa del mar y la arena entre tus pies hasta el tener que ponerte espray anti-mosquitos cada atardecer y dormir bajo una mosquitera. Echaré de menos mirar por la ventana mientras trabajo y ver palmeras y cada cuanto ver a una señora labrar su campo.

[Vistas desde mi pequeño espacio que consideré mi oficina.]

Echaré de menos los largos paseos por la playa patrullando con los perros. O simplemente para pensar o dejar divagar los pensamientos paseando.

Verdaderamente echaré de menos las salamandras intentando pillar cacho de las moscas y paseando por doquier, hasta por las paredes.

Echaré de menos la libertad y la felicidad que tengo, cuando si te olvidas ponerte las chanclas, no pasa nada, de todas formas son contra productivas la mayoría del tiempo. Echaré de menos la espontaneidad de tener a todo el mundo para hacer una barbacoa cinco minutos mas tarde…nadie que diga “uy no puedo…tengo mucho trabajo”.

[Escaleras al mar…escaleras al paraíso.]

Pero sobretodo echaré de menos el mar que ha sido mi verdadero sitio de trabajo estos pasados 3 meses. Todo lo que he hecho o leído ha tenido algo que ver con este magnífico ecosistema del que sabemos verdaderamente poco. El mar verdaderamente me captiva. El azul infinito y lo desconocido me apasiona. Vine a aprender sobre biología marina y método científicos bajo el agua y me voy sabiendo un montón sobre ello y como nueva entusiasta de nudibranquios. A partir de ahora mantendré los ojos abiertos por estos preciosos macro organismos.

No sólo aprendí mucho sobre biología marina y ecología sino que con mi trabajo recopilé datos científicos que me hacen sentir que fui parte de algo bueno. Mozambique sigue siendo el país menos desarrollando de África aunque a veces no lo parezca. Por eso necesita mucha ayuda. Necesita entre otras cosas un sistema educativo bueno que llegue también a la gente en areas remotas y que les enseñe a usar los recursos naturales de una forma ecológica y a no sobre pescar por ejemplo o pescar especies que no están protegidas. Haciendo limpiezas de playa, de debajo del agua, etc podemos ayudar un poquito, pero se necesita a más gente haciendo bien que el mal.

La gente local es más bien el menor problema. Las empresas y algunos países enormes que muchos ya conocemos y que no quieren escuchar nada sobre sus método poco ecológicos son los que tienen mayor repercusión en el ecosistema mar.

[Bandera mozambiqueña.]

Africa es un continente precioso. Cada vez que me voy me siendo una persona diferente. Esta vez, me voy habiendo aprendido más cosas sobre mí en tres meses de las que aprendí en un año en Europa. Me voy sabiendo un poco más quién soy y quien quiero ser o seguir siendo. Sería muy ilusa negando que habiendo crecido en un entorno europeo no me hace desear algunas cosas que no tengo aquí. Pero te acostumbras y sobre todo…merece la pena acostumbrarse a vivir con más simpleza.

[Raya que vi en una de mis primeras inmersiones al Rio Saiñas.]

Dejé parte de mi corazón en África hace mucho tiempo. A lo mejor porque esté es el lugar de nacimiento de la humanidad y como tal te encuentras más cerca de tus raíces. Vivir en Zavora me ha recordado mucho a mi niñez en casa de mis abuelos en pueblos de la España profunda. Esa libertad y felicidad que no se encuentra en la ciudad. No sé porqué me gusta tanto África, pero sé que siempre llama y la próxima vez que lo haga seguro que intentaré responder!

A todo esto, el miércoles (22.04.2015) es el “Día de la tierra”. Si no estáis haciendo algo por la tierra cada día ya, por lo menos este día haced algo que merezca la pena. Plantar un árbol, dar de comer a animales de calle, regar las plantas (que no césped para hacer golf), intentar usar menos agua en la ducha, etc…  “La madre naturaleza” os lo agradecerá; sin ella no estaríamos aquí y no lo estaremos por mucho más tiempo como sigamos sin mitigar nuestro consumo anti-ecológico de los recursos naturales.

Con esto que decir más que me ha encantado reencontrarme con mi pasión por la escritura gracias a escribir en este blog.  Espero que os haya gustado leer tanto como a mi me ha gustado escribir. Sobretodo le doy las gracias a todas las personas que de una forma u otra han sido partícipe de esta experiencia. Espero que algún día pueda verdaderamente mostrarles lo agradecida que estoy.

Hasta luego, y gracias por el pescado.

[Hasta luego y gracias por el pescado.]

On a white girl with a staffy in a town of Africa…

Hey there,

I promised a post telling about my socio-cultural experience in Quissico, in the province of Zavala south of Zavora, and here it is! I will tell more about stuff that is going on during my last week here in another post.

Quissico is in the province of Zavala.

I went along to Quissico when the opportunity arose to have a little time off and see another town (so far I have been to Maxixe, Tofo, Inhambane, Inharrime and now also Quissico). The town is rather small with a big amount of official government buildings as it is considered a big city nonetheless. While I had to wait for Yara and Jon to pay their taxes, I was walking around with Comex on the leash to enjoy the nice lake view and a little sun. 

View to the lake by Quissico.

After what seemed 30 minutes I was walking back to the parked car to enjoy a little bit of shadow, since Comex was getting really hot too.  What a coincidence that it was just in front of the school that had just finished giving start to the weekend. I was waiting in the shadow when a kid came to investigate Comex staying in save proximity.

Little kid curiously investigating Comex and me.  After showing him this pic, he smiled.

You need to know, most Africans are really afraid of dogs. In Zavora there are quite a big amount of beach dogs and many fishermen have dogs that go with them too. But other people in towns are rather afraid of them and would not even touch or come near them. That is one of the reasons I took Comex (and Bella and Matley which are Deons dogs) to go looking for turtle tracks along the beach…I felt more secure walking the beach with a dog by my side.

Comex might look rather scary to those who don’t know him, he is a staffy with big muscles, long teeth and a strong jaw after all, but that didn’t hinder the girls on the pic to come straight to investigate Comex and me sitting in the shadow when they saw us. Can you see how determined one of them walks?  

Girls walking towards where Comex and I were having a pause.

 And then everything started and went on fast. All of a sudden, we were communicating in Portuguese and when they understood that Comex is really cute and kind, they touched him. First it was just a “touch-and-run-for-your-life-screaming-your -soul-out” kinda thing. But after a few minutes more and more kids appeared (after all, we were in front of a school) and soon what seemed like a whole class was surrounding Comex and me, babbling, touching and watching Comex and calling for “tira foto” every second. That is why I got sooo many pictures of them. After taking a picture, everyone wanted to see themself in it! They don’t have cameras, it is not like in first world countries in which sometimes even 10 year olds have smartphones. Here they consider themselves lucky if they can go to school and have school supplies! So talk about cultural differences…

Kids posing for the camera.

Anyway, I had a really good time taking pictures and showing them to the kids, but a lot of children congregating and screaming in front of an official financial building in which important things were being discussed and cornering Comex wasn’t good. So I decided to start walking again. What was my surprise when the children walked along with me and even wanted to hold the leash! In the end they weren’t that scared after all. And the parade to change a police chief was apparently not as interesting as Comex and I were. 

[Happy girls holding the leash to walk Comex.]

After a while, things settled, children were still with us, but a few had gone home already. The girls that remained (which were the same first three girls that walked towards us) were also interested in my long hair and wanted me to untie it. They seemed really impressed with the length and started asking whether it was natural. They only seemed to believe it was not artificial hair when they looked closely and examined my roots! 

All in all it was a really nice cultural experience. I think the girls have a nice story to tell in the future. At least they lost a little bit of their fear. And trust me, Comex was having fun too! :D

Next post: how different is a mollusk from a nudipleura? ;)

Until next time…baba :D

Last pic of the girls with Comex!

Traducción al español:

Hola!

Tuve una experiencia cultural hermosa en Quissico al sur de Zavora, sobre la que ahora os cuento.

[Quissico en Zavala.]

Quissico es una pequeña ciudad llena de edificios oficiales del gobierno. Mientras esperaba  Jon y Yara que tenían que pagar sus impuestos, yo me fui a pasear con Comex y ver las vistas. El lago es precioso, no es asi?

[Vista del lago en Quissico.]

Después de una media hora fui de vuelta al coche porque Comex y yo nos estábamos asando al sol coincidiendo con el final del cole delante de donde estaba aparcado el coche. Estaba esperando a la sombra cuando un chiquillo se acercó a investigar a Comex mirando desde una distancia prudencial.

[Niño investigándonos a Comex y a mí con curiosidad. Después de mostrarle esta foto, sonrió.]

Para entender que maravilla ocurrió ese día, necesitais saber que la mayoría de la gente en Africa le tiene miedo a los perros. Hay pescadores y gente que tiene perros, si, pero en general les tienen miedo. Por eso me sentía más segura con Comex (y Balle y Matley que son los perros de Deon) cuando iba a patrullar por la playa en busca de señales de tortugas.

Comex tampoco es que parezca muy inofensivo con sus grandes músculos, sus dientes largos y su fuerte mandíbula. Aún así la niñas de  la foto no se sintieron tan cohibidas y vinieron a dónde estábamos Comex y yo sin mayor diletancia. 

[Niñas caminando hacia nosotros. La determinación de una de ellas verdaderamente me sorprendió.]

Y entonces todo pasó bastante rápido. De repente estábamos comunicándonos en portugués y cuando entendieron que Comex es más bien inofensivo, lo acariciaron. Al principio era más bien un “lo-toco-y-corro-gritando-por-mi-vida” pero después de unos minutos iban apareciendo cada vez más niños que querían tocar a Comex y gritaban “tira foto” casi a cada segundo. Después de hacerles una foto, se la mostraba y se reian y comentaban entre ellos como salían en las fotos. Hay que entender que aquí no es lo mismo que en “el primer mundo”. Lo niños se consideran afortunados por poder ir al cole y tener bastantes utensilios para él a diferencia de algunos niños en Europa que con diez años ya tienen Smartphone.

[Niños posando delante de la cámara.]

Después de un tiempo me di cuenta que igual no era la mejor idea el que estuviésemos delante de un edificio oficial (en el que estaban discutiendo cosas de finanzas) con niños gritando de felicidad. Asi que me dispuse a caminar de nuevo y cuál fue mi sorpresa cuando los niños me iban siguiendo e incluso se medio peleaban por llevar la correa de Comex!

[Niñas felices llevando de la correa a Comex.]

Cuando las cosas se asentaron un poco y estábamos de vuelta a la sombra del coche, algunos niños ya se habían ido a sus respectivas casas. Las tres niñas tan determinadas y a las que les cogí cariño aun se quedaron (hasta el final que nos montamos al coche). Una de ellas estaba muy interesada en mi cabello y me pidió soltarme la melena. Cuando lo hice, unas cuantas niñas sorprendidas con el largo se pusieron a inspeccionar mi pelo, acariciarlo, etc. Y me preguntaban si era natural a lo cual yo respondí que claro. Sólo me creyeron cuando inspeccionaron mis raíces asegurándose de que no tenía pelo artificial.

Resumiendo, me gustó mucho esta experiencia cultural y en poco tiempo le cogí cariño a los pequeños. Creo que también las niñas tienen una historia que contar en el futuro.

La próxima vez: que diferentes son un nudibranquio y un caracol de mar? ;)

Hasta entonces!! :D

[Última foto: las niñas y Comex!]