Dhow and dolphins

Spinners and Humpback dolphins steal the show in Zanzibar. PHOTO| RUPI MANGAT

What you need to know:

  • The team of four and the dhow’s crew of two is going to be doing this for an entire month for up to 11 hours a day, sailing up and down transacts mapped out along Pemba island.

  • The only exception to the day is if the waves turn too rough – at that point it’s impossible to photograph dolphin fins on rough seas.

Rain pelts the rough sea. It’s the very first day of the survey by the Wildlife Conservation Society-Tanzania for rare flora and fauna around Pemba Island, which is part of the Zanzibar archipelago.

We will be looking out particularly for the very rare Humpback dolphin of the western Indian Ocean.

“This is the first complete survey of dolphins in the Pemba Conservation Area,” says Dr Gill Braulik, head of dolphin research with WCS. The aim is to establish the population of different dolphin species around the islands of Pemba, to aid conservation measures.

 “When we first started the survey (in 2015 along the Tanzanian coast) we didn’t even know if we would find any Humpback dolphins but the habitat was good. I was very relieved when we found them here.”

By 10am the wind and water has calmed and we set sail in a wooden dhow from the tiny uninhabited island of Misali, an hour’s sail from its bigger cousin, Pemba.

The dolphin researchers clamber on to the high, rickety but hopefully sturdy platform to scan the vast waters through their powerful binoculars. The sea turns bluer and the sun hotter.

The team of four and the dhow’s crew of two is going to be doing this for an entire month for up to 11 hours a day, sailing up and down transacts mapped out along Pemba island. The only exception to the day is if the waves turn too rough – at that point it’s impossible to photograph dolphin fins on rough seas.

The dhow bobs gently on the sea lulling me to sleep. Suddenly, Magreth Kasuga, a research assistant, shouts “Dolphins!” She dashes to the front of the dhow with her camera to shoot the marine mammals, aiming at the dorsal fins.

The Humpback dolphins glide effortlessly in and out of the water, the hump by the fin visible. The excitement is tangible. These are the Western Indian Ocean humpback dolphins – a pod of four – and the most endangered of the dolphin species in the Indian

Ocean. It’s magical watching them appear and disappear so close to shore with another dhow full of fishers spreading their fishing nets in the waters.

A dolphin ejects air through the blow hole on its head. It sounds like a thud. At first I think it’s water ejected because of the water droplets sprouting out but Braulik corrects me.

“No, its air that the dolphin is breathing out.” Of course! Dolphins are marine mammals. If their lungs filled with water they would drown – as they do when they get entangled in the fishers’ nets hung underwater.

We keep our distance. It is totally unethical to chase the marine mammals as many boat operators do to thrill their clients. Instead we’re treated to them coming close to the dhow – so close that I get a clear view of the humpback on the dolphin.

I miss the perfect shot – photographing the ocean mammals aboard a bobbing dhow has its challenges.

The following morning, soft strokes of pink brush the dawn sky. This time far out in the ocean, the most magical thing happens. We spot the first dolphins leap straight out of the water and then we’re in the midst of Spinner dolphins – leaping, spinning and

riding the brow of the dhow. It’s fantastical.

“We’ve seen 400 Spinner dolphins today,” Kasuga tells me later. “Several pods, with one that had adults and calves.” It is amazing work as the researchers try to find out their range and numbers, especially of the rare Humpback dolphin.

Separated by the 1,000-metre deep Pemba Channel, the researchers want to work with their Kenyan counterparts like Watamu Marine Association to establish if these dolphins ever cross the channel that separates Africa from the islands.

If not, this isolated population needs all the help it can from being caught in the fisher’ nets.

 

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EXPLORING PEMBA

Have time? Take a bus from Nairobi to Dar es Salaam and then a ferry to Pemba (goes via Zanzibar). Flights are really expensive. Hiring a taxi from Pemba to explore the island costs around US$ 40 – try Juma’s Taxi – 255 777 435922 or Pemba South

Transporters Association 255 775 018532

A dhow to Misali island varies from US$ 40. Accommodation in Chake Chake at Pemba Island Hotel is US$ 40 - 255 777 490041 [email protected].

Food is plentiful and cheap. Carry tons of insect repellent.