TRAVELSPECIAL
Healthy Foliose corals on a local reef
Scenes around Baraza
First , we settled into our rooms , or to be more accurate , villas . Baraza has 30 palatial villas set across its palm-fringed grounds . I walked through a reception area , past a spare bedroom and into a spacious lounge with day beds , a table of fresh fruit , and sliding windows that opened onto my own private plunge pool . Honestly , you could have played cricket in there .
House reef of the Rising Sun
Next morning , we strolled through Baraza ’ s sister resorts to the Rising Sun Dive Centre , whose manager took one look at my Celtic skin and gave me a free sunhat . Our dive guide for the next few days would be a young English diving professional , Kirsty Bose , who had become known as ‘ Kirie ’ due to the locals ’ preferred pronunciation of her name . Kirsty is one of those invaluable , have-a-go-at-anything types , an asset to any dive operation . She ’ d just finished a complete overhaul of the centre ’ s aluminium dive boat and was keen to get it out on the water .
One of the surprising things about south east coast Zanzibar is its three-metre tidal range , which seems odd for an equatorial location . It means that on any given day ,
you may be entering or exiting the water via a pontoon further down the coast ( a tenminute van ride ). The staff do all the heavy lifting with cylinders and kit .
Underwater , I was quietly impressed with the overall health of Zanzibar ’ s reefs . I was expecting something like the scrappy barrier reefs of Mombasa , or the dynamitescarred scenery of Pemba Island to the north . But what I got was a healthy reef with a diverse mix of leather coral , a few soft corals and thriving acropora . A proper lovely reef , in other words .
We started our day at a dive site known as Shindano , known for its big brain coral . The second dive took us to another barrier reef site , Pale Pale , which translates as ‘ over there ’. You can imagine how it came about . A hot day , a jaded boat captain : “ What ’ s the next dive site , skipper ?” “ Over there !” There was a gentle reef slope , some schools of blue-lined snapper and a beefy scorpionfish . Then , a surprise in the deeper section - a bonsai tree of soft coral , all alone on the sandy substrate . Not quite the treasure I had been hoping for , but lovely all the same .
With the equatorial tide in retreat , we returned by way of the jetty to the north
Kirsty Bose takes on Kilimanjaro Steps
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