Guest blogger Amina relates another extraordinary ‘ordinary-Wasini-Island-Day’ story.
Once Upon a Time…. on an Amazing Island Off Kenya’s South Coast
Banda Mlimani is my favorite resting place these days. This hut is mainly constructed of sticks and a mosquito net, and when the volatile winds from the south, the Kusi, is smashing up the waves against the cliffs and you hear the waters entering loudly into the coves below there is nothing better to lull me into exciting mermaid dreams – diving with dolphins into the dark depths of the ocean, mingling with big whales down there ….
I woke up from a rough push of a dolphin’s beak into my ribs… wait! No, it is my husband who is eager to get me out of bed! Right, I had agreed to join him and a guest for a tour into the mangrove forest on the southern side of the island.
After breakfast, equipped with bottled water and some homemade Swahili pastry, we are all ready to go – and to the obvious delight of our adventurous guest, she may also take our donkey Habib for the tour!
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From the Blue Monkey Beach Cottages, where our excursion started, we walk first through parts of the village and then turn southwards to cross over to the island’s other shoreline. We follow a track through indigenous bush where we spot a colorful chameleon, choose a nice patch of grass under coconut trees for a brief rest before heading further to venture into the mangrove forest which covers the southern and western shores of Wasini island.
When we arrive there it is time to explore and discover … birds but not beasts, so it is entirely safe to stroll through the mangrove forest and enjoy the fresh sea air.
We could have roamed around for many more hours, but didn’t want our guest to miss her lunch date at a seaside restaurant back on the northern side of the island where a freshly prepared seafood meal helps to deal with that peckish feeling which emerges after a morning of walking and talking.
In the afternoon, another group of guests goes off for a private dolphin and snorkeling tour with the small dhow named ‘Blue Whale’ expertly sailed by the Wasini Boat Operators. The skipper soon spotted one of the resident pods of bottlenose dolphins just east of the island, just a few miles offshore! Two of the guests even dare to swim with them …. they were so excited that I guess they will still tell their grandchildren about it but then, this is a real adventure visitors to Wasini Island take home with them!
The best snorkeling spot is inside the Wasini’s Marine Conservation Area, a community project created and maintained by Wasini’s Beach Management Unit. Although there are not really big fish species around this inshore reef, everyone fully enjoys the multitude of colorful reef fishes as well as the smaller predator fishes that feed on them.
By the time the cruise comes to an end, the low tide has set in and the dhow cannot float up to the wooden jetty anymore. No choice left but walking through the intertidal zone for a good 20 meters to reach the compound of the cottages, not that this dampened the high spirits in any way, just another regular Wasini adventure!
And so is another exciting and rewarding island day coming to an end, quite ordinary for us who live here and quite extraordinary for our visitors who make Wasini their destination for a night, or a few.
For more information on Wasini Island, visit www.wasini.net or FB Wasini Tour Guide
