Flamingo Estuary

Sunrise at Tofo Beach, 4:25am



Sunrise at Tofo Beach, 5:15am

On Mike’s recommendation, Mark and I got up at 4am to watch the sunrise.  Mark took pictures from two cameras while I kicked back and observed.  I thought about doing yoga, but I felt too settled into the wooden and blue canvas hammock chair.  Around 5:30, I went back to bed.  When the alarm went off at 6:45am, Joel peeked through the dorm door, “You guys up?  Truck’s here.”  “Ok, coming,” I whispered into the ray of light peering into the dark room.  We stumbled out to the truck, piled into the truck bed, and bumped along to our next destination, Flamingo Bay.  Upon Sean’s recommendation, we booked an expedition to a nearby estuary where flamingos can be found.  We weren’t too sure what to expect, just that it might take about 5 hours, we would have an opportunity to swim, there’d be lunch with a village chief, and we’d be sailing in a traditional Dow sail-boat.  From a distance, the wooden Dow with its patch-work sail looked romantic, but perhaps a bit small for the five of us, our skipper, and the director.  Like all things Africa, looks can be deceiving.  By the end of the day, we would easily fit 11 inside, and the heavy wooden paddle would, in fact, endure the duration of the day.

Traditional Dow Sailboat

Hiking with the Sand Between Our Toes

Crab Fishermen in the Estuary

The sun was out, the sand was squishy between my toes, and the water was deceptively clear (5 meters appeared as a mere 6 glossy inches).  We floated along from one island to the next, stopping to collect sand dollars and squish the sand between our toes, and transport crab fishermen carrying full nets on their head.  It was perfectly tranquil.  As we sailed, our guide, Johnny, sang like a song-bird at the mast.  He, too, was happy to be out sailing, and I truly enjoyed listening to his child-like falsetto.  He had a full repertoire of peaceful African songs that kept him humming all day long.  At one point, he asked if we recognized a Portugese song he was singing because he wanted it written down in English.  We listened carefully and identified it as “Silent Night” which got us humming Christmas carols.

Crab Mataba Prepared by the Chief of Survivor Island

Lunch with the Chief

Estuary Tour Lunch with the Chief of Survivor Island
LR: Annie, Mark, Chief, Mike, Heidi, Joel

We saw the occasional 10 inch jelly fish and small flocks of white flamingos, but not the full island of pink flamingos I had imagined.  How can a place like Flamingo Bay and Flamingo Island not be filled with scads of pink flamingos?  Apparently, the elusive little birds spent the day migrating away from us.  No matter, it was still a beautiful, peaceful day of sun.  In fact, I got so much sun that my legs and chest are beginning to look like their own version of a bright pink flamingo.  The African sun pays no regard to sunscreen.

Village Kids Playing Futbol (Soccer)

Flamingos

Repairing the Wooden Paddle