Mozambique
vilanculos coastal wildlife sanctuary... one of the top biodiversity hot spots of africa.
by Melissa baird Home to the last remaining dugongs on the planet, and endangered loggerhead and leatherback turtles, this sanctuary is situated along the Indian Ocean coast of the Inhambane province and forms the southernmost portion of the spectacular San Sabastião Peninsula- Bazaruto Archipelago in
Mozambique
. I had been to
Mozambique
before ? to Bilene during the total solar eclipse of 2002 and then to Ponta do Ouro to swim with the bottlenose dolphins. My latest quest was to find a dugong. They still exist but apparently only about 300 of them and then who knows exactly as no-one I spoke to had actually seen a dugong unless it was starring in a nature film. Dugongs feed off the marine grasses that grow at the tide line which made them easy pickings for hunters. Apparently they are rather docile too, which didn?t help matters much. As you fly over Vilanculos you will see the freshwater lakes splashed over the ground and you are welcomed into a tiny little tropical airport with a ?fast-food? restaurant offering delicious Mozambican fare, mostly created with ingredients grown in the kitchen gardens around the airport. A devastating cyclone in 2007 pretty much wiped this place out and the slow redevelopment of the town is noticeable as you make your way to the sea by taxi along dusty potholed roads lined with the surviving coconut trees and gargantuan paw paw trees that drop fruit at your feet on a hot afternoon. It was humid as I waited outside the airport for my transfer and I watched huge black ants busy themselves over the thick green grass, transporting their larvae full of knowledge that it was to rain very soon. A twenty-minute water taxi ride across the glistening turquoise Indian Ocean deposited me on the banks of Dugong Lodge which has been completely rebuilt after it was almost blown and washed away in the cyclone. The lodge is right on the shoreline and the tide goes in and out with a rhythm that reconnects you to the communication between the moon and the earth. The hermit crabs scuttle across the grainy sand. Looking at the sky I saw two yellow-billed kites swoop past. Later, as we took a dhow boat ride along the coastline, the white egrets perched themselves in the branches of the mangrove trees looking out to sea like patient sentries. The lodge has solar power in the rooms and a generator that runs at specific times during the day for extra power. They are busy establishing kitchen gardens although a lot of the supplies still have to be brought in by boat from Vilanculos. The lodge is set within a 25 000-hectare sanctuary and 40% of this is fenced. It is the only commercial venture in the area and is part of the ecotourism initiative that must have low-density impact on the region. Dolphins and whales are common sights as well as shoals of tropical fish close to the shoreline. There is active conservation of all indigenous species, marine flora and fauna. The other major objective is the improvement of the social and economic standards of the local community through job creation; the building of a school and the building of a primary healthcare centre. In the sanctuary you will find a kaleidoscope of wetlands, mangrove swamps, tiny islands that appear at low tide and coral reefs, salt marshes, freshwater lakes, tree and scrub forests on the coastal dunes, as well as patches of savannah and miombo woodlands. The average temperature of the sea is 25 o C. The rain the ants foretold came on the second day. It was a ?leave me alone? sort of day, the sort that is better to experience in paradise than in a grey city. The trees were bent over in disgust and the birds could not be heard. I wondered if it was a day to find the dugong but the boat wouldn?t go out in that weather and I had unfortunately run out of time to wait for a better day to explore. So the dugong remains a mystery to me although I have read much about them now; they inspired mermaid myths and one can understand why ? they are creatures of what was once an abundant and forgiving sea. I could not explore the natural surrounds further but I could turn to the people around me. They were gentle and polite, amazed at our presence in what to them must have been a version of hell after the cyclone. Sometimes it is favourable to go to a place with no memory to it so it can all begin anew and stay as such in memory. Outside Dugong Lodge?s main entrance there is a msasa tree that seems to know all about everything already. I went away alone but I find you always meet people to entertain and enliven you. The travelling companions included a couple on honeymoon from Italy, young doctors who had the manners of nobility about them. The Dugong Lodge staff were delightful, amusing, cheeky and knowledgeable about the region. Dylan, all of six years old and already an expert at mimicry, ran down the long deck as the boat was pulling out to sea to take me to the airport and my flight home. He was yelling at me: ?I know why you are leaving,? he shouted, ?it?s because the mozzies (mosquitos) bit you!? , because in the short time I was there I had become the landing pad for the entire mozzie population. In reality though, I was leaving because of a print deadline. As I write this I am on another deadline and the words come out according to the time frame they have been given to live, like stories of birth and renewal and of life itself. I?m going back though, to find the dugong and rewrite the myth.
faCt file travel sniPPet
travel 07
to get to vilanculos take a Pelican flight from OR Tambo airport. My experience with them was excellent ? although be aware you can only take 15kg of luggage otherwise you will be charged for overweight baggage. pelican air Services a subsidiary of federal air tel: 011 973 3649 fax: 011 973 2513 email: daleen@pelicanair.co.za web: www.pelicanair.co.za visas will be issued on entry. forex at or tambo but they accept rands, dollars and meticais. Dugong lodge Central reservations: 012 470 5300 email: reservations@legendlodges.co.za on tHe raDar: CoConut trees bring Hope to inHambane provinCe inhambane province ? in the south of
Mozambique
? is home to a plethora of coconut trees that have been sustaining the local population for decades. Prized for its flesh and oil, the coconut is now making headlines with its ability to link environmental preservation to economic activity and forest health. Coconut oil
Mozambique
, a boM community partner business, has trained just under 100 families in sustainable harvesting techniques giving them vital access to an economic framework to enable them to better support their families. www.bom-mozambique.com
