Swimming with Whale Sharks
After South Africa I went to Tanzania with the first stop in Dar es Salaam. The heat and humidity got to me a little and I found it difficult to motivate myself to get out and about, preferring to just hang around inside Tamara’s apartment. I found little of interest for me in Dar es Salaam, so I spent my time researching on where to go. After getting some local information I decided to go to Mafia and Zanzibar. I met another couchsurfer Karim wanting to do the same thing and we decided to travel together.
The options to get to Mafia was take a 3o minute flight costing $110USD or 10 hour trip using various local transport costing $10USD. I was ready to take the flight option but with Karim as my travel companion I was also eager to try the more adventurous local route. At the very least it would make for an interesting story and indeed it was quite a journey. It involved 2 daladala and a boat trip. Daladalas are the local transport vans which are basically 12 very small squashy seats plying various routes all over the city and outer regions. They are very cheap to use, often overcrowded, dangerously driven at ridiculous speeds but it will get you there most of the time (fingers crossed and lots of prays)
The worst daladala ride was the 2 hour trip to Nyamasati where we were to catch the boat to Mafia island. It was overcrowded with up to 25 people at one time for a vehicle that only has 12 seats, I am really amazed that they were able to fit us all in. It was hot, humid and squashed next to another hot human on a bumpy road with drivers who seem to have a total disregard for road conditions for 2 hours was definitely more challenging than I had bargained for.
The port to catch the boat was just a simple ramp, with a few shops and restaurants. We must have been a curiosity being the only foreigners. When the boat was ready to board there was a mad scramble to get the best spots on the boat. Lucky for me Karim was fast and got a spot for us at the back where it was sheltered from the sun and splashes. The boat trip itself was smooth and we arrived at Kilidoni in Mafia Island within about 4 hours.
Swimming with whale sharks and the diving at Mafia Island was amazing. I had never seen a whale shark and knew nothing about them. They are the largest living fish species with the largest confirmed individual being 12.65metres. Whales sharks are like a whale in that they are filter feeders feeding mainly on plankton, microscopic plants and animals. However their body, tail and fins are shaped like a shark. We spotted two juveniles of about 5 metres in length and jumped in to have a swim with them. You can not really keep up with them as while they may be slow in comparison to their fish counterparts, they are still faster than a clumsy human with mask and fins. In any case it was still such a thrill to be so up close and personal with a whale shark just momentarily. I also went for two dives in Mafia island in the Marine conservation area and it was spectacular corals and marine life with the added bonus of being quite cheap as well.
April 6, 2010 11:37 am 1 Comment
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By marieke, November 11, 2010 @ 8:49 am
zanzibar is amazing was in tanzania some years ago also daressalam.. yeah but zanzibar was great.. hehe we took the boat too instead of the plane