I headed on a beach walk after lunch to check out the Mnarani Aquarium and "town". There wasn't much town to see, more of a hovel with a Hilton turned Doubletree hotel perched snobbishly over a beach littered with fishing body's and full of sea urchins. So the guests just pose on recliners and read, while below them teens whafting terrible body odor surprisng distance through the sea breeze enjoy pickup games of soccer on the sand.
A man had attached himself to me at our hotel beach, and he was still with me. I had to pee SO badly but was terrified of going on the shallow sea and stepping on a sea urchin after Capt Kirk's panicked screams when I exited his multi-function fishing boat yesterday. I still am terrified to swim at our beach which defeats the purpose of going to Zanzibar!
Along the way I heard "Australian man!" A few times in a posh London accent and saw the Indian-descent newlywed dentist and doctor pair, their perfect teeth gleaming in the sun. I had met them in ngorogoro lodge after dinner, drinking Jameson with my Yorkshire safari mates. They had left London and moved to Manchester to enjoy their extra time and extra money in the sticks. They were staying in a real dump but were loving their trip.
Eventually we passed the lighthouse and came to a hovel surrounding a natural tide pool. This would be the Zanzibarian town aquarium. Why not? It was rather clever, clean and low maintenance, since it was tidal. The aquarium entrance was dodgy but I explained what I did and why I was interested and the Aquarium manager's face totally lit up.
I volunteered to work the afternoon on an endangered green sea turtle conservation project helping the manage record measurements and take benchmark photos of the hatchlings. I have been doing this professionally for three years now, and I hope I was able to instill some international scientific rigor in their ongoing work.
We recorded length and width of the shell with callipers, then recorded the diamond markings down the center and sides of the shell and weight. I also took pics of each turtle with his Samsung phone, and selfies of us. My mate loves to pose.
I looked back through the journal's records and there seemed to be a discrepancy in the markings over time but I bet the measurements were good.
I instructed my mate to wash his hands before and after handling the animals to not pass diseases back and forth.
The project had made a big difference in public awareness. It's now illegal to kill these cool creatures in Tanzania. Fishermen were decimatine them, and restaurants feeding them to tourists. No more.
And they are breeding and repopulating due to turtles natural beach breeding habitats disappearing. Awesome day out.
The walk back was harsher with my sand flea still on my tail and another rasta flea looking for a piece and speaking to me in excellent Spanish. Luckily the rising tide was hitting the ticks already and I waded through the surf around a rock (watching for urchins!) and ditched them.
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