Oceans - Home again
It's strange to think that I've been back from the heat and the tropics for more than a month now. All I have left from Zanzibar is a fading tan, blurry underwater pictures and insufficient data.
Our last 10 days were spent on Mnemba, an exclusive luxury island with a stunning coral reef and sand like snow. There were rumors of turtles hatching during our time there, but they never did. Oh well, maybe some other time.
Our last 10 days were spent on Mnemba, an exclusive luxury island with a stunning coral reef and sand like snow. There were rumors of turtles hatching during our time there, but they never did. Oh well, maybe some other time.
Some of the things I saw on Mnemba are fish I've been hoping to see since the first day I arrived. Among them are my favourite of all times, the lionfish. Elisa pointed out how they seem more to fly through the water than to swim. It seems so effortless and so elegant. And yet their fins are venomous enough to half-kill you (or completely). So no wonder I was slightly nervous when one of them decided to take a closer look at me and force me to back off. It doesn't matter how small it is, I won't mess with it.
Cowfish are something else though, they're some of the most bizarre fish I've ever encountered, with their "horns" and "legs" protruding from their boxshaped body. They really do look like angry, miniature cows propelling themselves through the water masses. I couldn't help but laugh when I saw it. So. Cute.
And of course, the best of all. I found Marlin and Dory out on their way looking for Nemo. Our poor assistant struggled to see what I found so interesting with a clownfish and a surgeonfish.
Cowfish are something else though, they're some of the most bizarre fish I've ever encountered, with their "horns" and "legs" protruding from their boxshaped body. They really do look like angry, miniature cows propelling themselves through the water masses. I couldn't help but laugh when I saw it. So. Cute.
And of course, the best of all. I found Marlin and Dory out on their way looking for Nemo. Our poor assistant struggled to see what I found so interesting with a clownfish and a surgeonfish.
I don't know how to describe the beauty I have seen and how incredible it has been to travel to this part of the world and live there for two months. I will miss getting lost in the maze that is Stone Town, eating cinnamon gelato and diving down into the surreal underwater worlds.
Still, when people ask me where my favourite place in the world is, I always answer Sweden. This is not me trying to be all nationalistic or saying "home is always better"; it's just the truth. I've seen many place and nothing quite like here. When I wake up at home in darkness and look outside at the snow glistening like diamonds or to a dawn sprinkled with peach and apricot, then I get a glimpse of what Heaven will be like. There's nothing that compares to the barrenness of the North and the deep forests of the West. There is a certain kind of freedom in Sweden that I miss anywhere else I go.
But if you ask me where I'll end up - I have no idea. No idea whatsoever. Ask God. He knows better than me. I'm just tagging along the best I can.
