Saturday 20 September 2014

A whale shark welcome to Tofo Bay


COUNTRY: Mozambique
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Marine Conservation and Care Work
WRITTEN BY: Lottie Mellowes

Hello from Mozambique!

We've been in the little coastal town of Tofo for almost two weeks now, and we're already having the best time. We have settled into our volunteer accommodation, which is a traditional thatched house only a few minutes walk from the beach.

The first week was fairly relaxed and mainly involved some of us completing PADI diving courses or introductions to the marine conservation side of the program. Almost every day at least one of us was out on the boat and in the water, swimming or diving with the amazing marine life the coast of Mozambique has to offer. Sian, Ryan and I were lucky enough to swim with a whale shark on our second ocean safari! Unfortunately, the hype of jumping in the water meant that none of us were able to get our cameras ready. I assume we will see plenty of whale sharks over the next three months so expect photos in the near future!

Helena and Sophie have been busy diving and are now certified divers. During their dives they have seen numerous fish and octopus as well as humpback whales. As we become more accustomed to the marine project we will be collecting data and photo IDs of the animals both shore based and boat based. Shore based data research involves humpback whale monitoring and data entry- not as exhilarating as diving or snorkelling, but just as important!

Our program is the unique combination of marine conservation and social work at local schools and kindergartens. The children and teachers are so amazing and so grateful to have us help out. After a long and somewhat uncomfortable trip to school on the local 'chappa' we are always greeted with huge smiles and hugs from the children. Sian and Ryan are helping to build a vegetable garden at their kindergarten and Helena, Sophie and I have been busy at our placement teaching English to the teacher and taking the kids for swimming lessons. Our kindergarten is seriously under-resourced and a huge part of our job is creating a fun, comfortable environment for the kids to play and learn.



It is really important that we are involved in the social and marine projects on a long-term scale as we will be able to see the full effect of our work. This week we will be continuing at the kindergartens as well as visiting another primary school. Quite a few whale sharks and mantas have been spotted so hopefully we will come across them this week on our dives and ocean safaris.

We'll keep you posted!

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