The very island, in the Quirimbas Archipelago, that was chosen for our gathering, is actually a secret spot I cannot spoil here and now. So I will just try to be mysterious enough...
We arrived at a local fisherman harbor, after the car ride from Pemba, where we started unloading from the cars all the goods that a few dozens people would need to survive on a semi deserted tropical island for at least a couple of weeks.
Then, surrounded by the locals' curiosity and disbelief, we loaded everything again onto a couple of speed boats.
Just before boating towards the Quirimbas!
A whole party and a few weeks survival gear is lying on the ground waiting to be loaded on speed boats
The two boats we hired, were not enough for all the stuff and all the people. So we decided that a few of us would start going, then the boats would come back to pick up the rest.
Speed boat loaded!
The first speed boat is loaded and ready to go! Only 3 passengers allowed...
For some reason I ended up being selected for going with the first group.
I shared the boat with Simon the Strain Hunter and Zaza, aka Isabelle, a french woman with the most amazing history, who lives in Pemba and literally jumped on board with us with no notice after meeting us in nZuwa Lodge. I love Zaza to bits and I consider her one of the best, biggest wins I made for myself during this trip...
The magic of the mangrove forest surrounds us while we cruise smoothly towards the islands...
Our Captain, speed boat owner, therefore very important person in the area. They call him Wara Wara which means "Problem" in local language
A scene I'm very used to, from Zanzibar, but I will never get bored of: a local youngster cruising around on the typical East African watercraft I know as "Ngalawa"
Isabelle with that beautiful, curious, peaceful, young smile on her buccaneer face. Sitting on our life in a pile.
When we arrived at our destination island, we obviously had to unload AGAIN.
And then, we realized it was really late.
Let me tell you something about this area of the world, in case you get inspired and decide to go explore it yourself: here, the tides are something else. The variation in water level is big enough and the composition of the ocean bottom is flat enough to turn the sea into an endless, muddy, water-less - and obviously not suitable for water transport - mangrove forest at low tide. You can walk or horse ride from island to island for most of the day. The actually usable high tide time frame for sailing the shallow channels between the islands is only a couple of hours, twice every 24 hours.
So there we were, rushing around, unloading the boats, piling everything on the beach and pushing and pulling Wara Wara around so that he could go back on time to pick up the best part of the group before the Ocean would literally disappear under the boat...
Well, we didn't make it. Our group had to improvise a small camp and wait until the rest of us, including Reza and Kimma, managed to get to destination in the middle of the night (next tide, about 7-8 hours later) after getting stuck in the mangroves. I'm trying to get this peeps to write a post about their cold but adventurous night in the water-less channel, let's see what I can do!
So the first night was quite rough and we had still a lot to accomplish.
Reza and Simon knew the gps coordinates of the eclipse's totality line and we were supposed to find a camp right on it. Arrangements had already been made, but details still had to be taken care of.
Luckily, we were the best equipped hippies I've ever seen.
Reza and Simon are using a drone to survey the area and decide where to set our final camp spot. Simon Strain Hunter, owner of our eye in the sky, was quickly turning into Simon (or Psymon) Drone...
How cool is our Psymon with the most useful toy I've ever experienced?
Finally, the spot was chosen and all the hippies with all the gear were transferred to it, also thanks to one of the only 2 or 3 engines on the island (including generators)...
Take a ride on the tractor!!
Yep, this is it, our island heavy duty end-of-last-century unbreakable carriage. Malik is supervising the driver in his smart hat and psychedelic shades.
Phew! we were already exhausted and full of adventurous memories!
Next, we had to clear and decorate the corner of coconut plantation on the beach that would be our home and party venue for quite a few days. Reza and Kimma have been working in the film industry in Cape Town and they just know how to transform a place into a spaceship. Many others are just professional ravers, party organizers, decorators, creatives.
We worked together for a couple of days, bonded with each other and with the place and we turned a peaceful tropical landscape, in a psychedelic dream...
Meet Pei from Bali, one of my photo obsessions: always as beautiful as Pocahontas and wise as a Jedi. This is the first of a long series of portraits and paparazzi snaps...
The boys are landscaping!
Dramatic image of Malik watching the first fire...
This is our favorite DJ. I'm gonna introduce him extensively later. For now, meet the monkey version!
Reza and Dala working hard on shade netting and much more. Luckily the ropes colors are keeping them energized.
This is Myrtle, sweetest half of the Dagga Couple. She's working on Coconut Johe, you'll meet him soon
DIY close up on Coconut Johe's dreadlocks decors
I just like this photo of kimma with her hat and one of her favorite pieces
The mangrove trees we will dance with a lot, right on the plantation's beach
Kimma looks very serious. It actually was quite hard work, she's just focusing!
The White Rabbit hole?
This shade nets were quite an installation, but they were worth the effort, oh so much!
Our fresh water is given to us by the lovely owner of the land and brought to us with the loyal tractor. Of all the Qiurimbas, this is one of the only 3 islands with fresh water, pumped from a well into tanks for us... Water is life!!
Obviously no electricity in the coconut plantation, all we have is a small generator we sparingly use, and the tropical sun
Reza & Brent taking a break. I just like the spontaneus smiles in this shot. Brent is from Cape Town, but lives now in Mozambique, building a new resort on one of the islands. He joined us coming from the sea on local public transport...
I had really built a relationship with this beautiful dancing tree!
And here he is, Coconut Joe, who once was just a coconut tree and has been given life by Myrtle and Jules. I loved him at first sight!
And this was my little spot - remember the borrowed camping gear??
Alice's home
Colorful lovely set up for such an unprofessional camper.. right??
All of this was happening during the 3 days before the eclipse, from 29 to 31 of August 2016
We also dag long drop toilet. I have no record of it, but it was a fine job!
We were sorted. The land belonged to lovely people who were taking care of us beautifully, refilling our tanks with water and our cooler boxes with ice every day, for a ridiculously low price. I will tell you more about them soon enough...
During this frantic and lovely set up time, other travelers and friends joined us from different directions, living their own adventures. Some of them, arrived only late at night, the night before the eclipse.
And our spot looked like this, that night...
And this was us.
You remember that shade netting job that took ages? that's how it looks at night!
Coconut Joe has his charm at night!
This tent was called the Fish Bowl, it was our lounge. Here you can see Simon watching drone footage while other fishes are floating around him...
A coconut tree with the milky way as a hat, a fireplace on one side and a fish bowl on the other
This is one of my fav shots I also printed ad given as Christmas present Kimma and Reza ;)
The Milky Way really looks good next to the colorful galaxy we created!
I was dying for the party to start: as I said, I came from a place of frustration and ready to dance it all out...
Come, let's finally meet everyone and watch this eclipse!