May be I shouldn’t have dared to go on this trip but it was worth it
From the Custom beach in Tiko, we sailed straight into the furthest mangrove forest where we expected to meet a pristine forest. It beats my imagination that I saw villages as we moved deep in to the mangrove forest.
To our greatest dismay approaching the area of interest, we could already hear the sound of chain coming from our area of interest. Upon arrival, I looked at my friend, Chop and we both looked at each other and exclaimed “Did we put on the wrong shoes?
Instead of getting long rain boots, we got “nchang shoes” (a special kind of rubber sandals) which could not help us navigate the muddy mangrove sediment. We walked barefoot in the sticky mangrove sediment and made good use of the roots of the Rhizophora mangle to facilitate our movement.
After sampling our plots and carrying out the necessary pilot survey, it was time to go back and I must say the journey back wasn’t an easy one because I almost fell in the water. This was really a scary experience because I couldn’t swim nor did I have a life jacket. I pursed for a moment and could feel my heart beat faster. The thoughts of me drowning were really scary and if there is one lesson I learned, it’s that I should learn how to swim.
We made several short stops in the villages on our way back and I really enjoyed watching women and girls fish, contrary to popular belief that only men fish. It was terrifying and at same time amazing watching the little girls and their mums sit in their canoes and cast their nets into the water to catch fish.
The trip was quite an amazing trip and getting back home, I decided to learn how to swim.
