A day with Kisite-Mpunguti dolphins

“Bahari imetulia leo (the ocean is calm today),” said the dhow skipper from Wasini Island and who calls himself Captain Barak.

“No guarantees but you might just spot the dolphins.” Barak may be in his 20s but has learnt to interpret the Indian Ocean weather with a high degree of accuracy. We needed good weather to spot the dolphins. He needs good weather since his livelihood depends on it.

We had left Diani early Saturday morning for Wasini, the small settlement close to the border with Tanzania famed for close encounters with dolphins.

In our team were several foreign journalists touring the country under the invitation of Kenya Tourism Board before attending the Magical Kenya Tourism Expo the following week.

They needed to familiarize themselves with what Kenya had to offer in terms of tourism products. Watching and swimming with dolphins was among them. But as we were to find out, we were not the only ones interested in sighting the sea creatures.

Earlier that week, the government had invited Kenyans to visit the country’s national parks for free as part of events to mark the World Tourism Day.

Nobody ever hated free things and the park officials manning the offices of Kisite-Mpunguti Marine National Park in Shimoni had a hectic time processing the hundreds who had turned up that morning.

Barak weaved his way among the throngs of eager visitors, directing his charges through the boardwalk and into his dhow. Shimoni operates like a bus terminus.

Skippers called out for passengers, advertising their boat, dhow or canoe as the best deal among the fleet.

Hawkers called out for prospective customers interested in brim hats, ice cream, coconut water, and anything else needed at sea. One must take care not to get into the wrong vessel, perhaps one headed for the Tanzanian island of Pemba.

We hit the waters shortly after nine o’clock. Gentle waves lapped the sides of the dhow, patterned after the ones that patrolled these waters for centuries while hauling ivory and slaves from Africa to the Arab world.

A lone octopus hunter patrolled the nearby waters, his head appearing and disappearing every few seconds in ghostly fashion.

He signalled Barak to move on, an indication that he had sighted some dolphins. And then there was one, judged as a juvenile by the seafarers. Few in our boat saw it. Few believed those who saw it.

Then they came in twos, and then threesome. The boats gathered around the sighting, akin to tour vans surrounding a kill in Maasai Mara.

There were cheers every time the dolphins leaped out of the waters in a coordinated fashion, a practice known as porpoising. The encounters were too brief to snap with our phone cameras as they would appear, disappear and reappear in different locations.

Dolphins are mammals, have lungs and need to periodically jump out of the water to replenish air supply. Capturing a dorsal fin was good enough.

The show lasted for about ten minutes before the dolphins moved on to explore their watery world. We moved on to the marine park where some in our team were eager to snorkel and explore the verdant coral gardens.

Actually, it turned out that only Pooja from India and Adele from South Africa took the plunge, the rest just happy to stay in the dhow for a tipple.

Three years ago, Kisite-Mpunguti Marine Park made history as Kenya’s first gold level Blue Park, a global recognition for achieving the highest science-based standards for marine life protection and management.

It joined a growing network of 21 Blue Parks around the world designed to protect and regenerate the oceans’ biodiversity.

By midday, we made our way back to the mainland as Barak and his team regaled us with their tales about life in Wasini. Barak was born and brought up here, an island of 3,800 people.

“Everybody knows everybody here,” he told us. “I was in school with whoever I will marry. Love grows, or dies here. But this is a cool island with no crime. We don’t even have a police station on the island.”

Barak and his team then broke into song and dance. Empty plastic containers became musical instruments. In unison, they belted out the globally-acclaimed Jambo Bwana to the amusement of his guests.

Even ‘Chief’ Obinna from Nigeria was taken in by the song as two glass bottles became his preferred instruments. Wasini hakuna matata….

A Swahili lunch and a brief visit to Shimoni Caves brought the eventful day to a close, happy that we had ticked off one item off our bucket lists.