At 3’oclock in the afternoon Haroldo and I agree we must urgently have a work meeting. At this time the sun is too strong for any photos or filming. Our meeting does not involve laptops or emails, not even a pen and piece of paper, here on Chumbe Island we have our daily meeting basking in the pristine waters of the Indian Ocean. Today’s meeting topic: “our route post Zanzibar”.

The Island of Chumbe is small -entirely fitting in the photo only yards off shore. This island is made up of and surrounded by coral, but it has a small sandy beach perfect for any afternoon meeting.

Chumbe Island, a half-mile-long coral rag island just eight miles south of Zanzibar’s infamous Stone Town, has become a celebrated ecotourism success story in the Zanzibar archipelago. Its history is a narrative best told directly by Sibylle Riedmiller, a German conservationist and the story’s protagonist looking for a coral reef to protect in the late 80s. After years of complex negotiations among several actors, Sibylle’s determination persevered and in 1994 Chumbe Island Coral Park (CHICOP) became Tanzania’s first marine protected area gazetted by the Zanzibar Government.

After our afternoon meeting, we witnessed first-hand the motive behind creating a Chumbe’s marine reserve. Geared-up with snorkels and fins we float just a couple hundred yards off shore, parallel the island.  “There is a blue-spotted sting ray over here” calls out Karlyn Langjahr, Chumbe’s project manager. A few minutes later Khamis, former fisherman and now guide and park ranger, points out a hawksbill turtle swimming our way, followed by a huge grouper fish. But what is most amazing, besides the 400 species of fish that can be seen in this reef, is the amount and the diversity of the corals reef.  Neither Haroldo nor I, in our years of snorkeling and diving (from the Caribbean to the Philippines), have seen such an amazing coral garden.

While we could only capture a giant green clam (left) and a star fish (right) without underwater cameras, Chumbe’s Coral reef sanctuary protects more than 200 species of coral, representing 90% of all coral species in all of Eastern Africa’s coast.

Despite having won nearly every international and local award in sustainable tourism (from the World Legacy Award to BA’s Tourism for Tomorrow Award), Sibylle’s vision was not rooted in ecotourism but rather in marine conservation and environmental education. The revenue from tourism on Chumbe merely provides the means for the conservation of the Coral Reef Sanctuary and Forest Reserve along with the extensive list of educational initiatives. Chumbe’s staff, numbering near 40 – a pretty good staff-to-guest ratio with a capacity for some 15 overnight guests – consists of much more than waiters and cleaning staff and includes trained park rangers who serve as guides.

The park rangers, many former fishermen from neighboring villages, have been trained in park management and monitoring techniques for reef and forest. Along with local and international researchers supported by CHICOP, they have collected data indicating that fish size and marine diversity have increased in the coral park while illegal fishing incidents have significantly decreased.

Nearly all staff members are native to Tanzania, most coming from Zanzibar’s main island. There is no doubt that the chef is from Zanzibar, as our dinners boasted a delicious spicy mélange of flavors, providing us some of the best meals of the journey!  After our candle-lit dinner on the beach – yet another romantic moment I wish I was accompanied by someone other than dad – we went in search of the Chumbe’s night life. Sadick Magwiza, who began as waiter in 2000 and after years of training became an assistant manager, takes us in to the rag forest of the island to find the world’s largest land crab. They were not hard to find, numbering in the dozens, these crabs can reach up to a foot and a half in diameter.

Chumbe hosts a large diversity of water and land crabs. Although threatened elsewhere in the Indian Ocean, the rare Robber or Coconut Crab (Birgus latro) (Right) is common on the island.

As we retreat to our bungalow for the night we are reminded why Chumbe received such high marks in ecotourism. Each of the seven eco-bangalows was constructed using local materials as self-sustaining units with their own rainwater catchment, composting toilets, grey water filtration, and photovoltaic panels for electricity! The room temperature is regulated by a fan that runs on solar energy and a thatched-wall lowered by a coconut fiber rope, providing a bedside view of the Indian Ocean.

Hitesh Mehta, a friend, eco-lodge architect, ecotourism expert who insisted we visit the island, calls Chumbe’s visitors’ center and seven eco-bungalows “a true work of art.”

This entry was posted on Monday, March 8th, 2010 at 4:52 pm and is filed under Tanzania. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.