Ilha Blue

Our beautiful dhow Nankumi was wrecked by cyclone Dikeledi. Now its time to rebuild. Luckily Ilha de Mozambique is home to the best traditional boat builders on the African coast. In 3 weeks she will be back to her elegant self

WE GOT BATTERED by CYCLONE DIKELEDI The Cyclone hit Ilha de Mozambique on January 13. We were taken by surprise. It has taken time to get over the shock of what happened – homes destroyed, boats wrecked, buildings broken and storerooms flooded. But we know we can come back from this setback. Even in this time of political crisis in Mozambique we know we have to rebuild. THE IMPACT OF CYCLONE DIKELEDI ON ILHA BLUE The two traditional dhows, the Edna and Nankumi were torn off their moorings and pounded for 2 days against the sea wall. Our storerooms were flooded and Café Stone Town had doors, skylights and windows ripped open. But the worst impact was the devastation to the Ilha Blue team. It took almost a week before we knew, with great relief, that everyone was safe. Workers had lost their roofs, some lost everything, their homes reduced to rubble and possessions washed away. And this happened while they were sheltering inside from the cyclone. It’s hard to imagine how terrifying that must have been. OUR RESPONSE Ilha Blue is a social enterprise designed to benefit the employees and their families. So we helped create emergency shelter to protect families from the elements. We also set up a Gofundme to rebuild the homes of Ilha Blue workers that were destroyed. This is going well, even so it will take months for workers to rebuild their lives. For more info about the fundraising or to make a donation https://gofund.me/308c1be1 REBUILDING Self-reliance is very important to Ilha Blue. We won't pin our hopes on financial assistance to rebuild the business, and we wont tap into the gofundme account money (thats for housing only) instead we will tap into the good will we have generated over many years of operation to trade our business back to full health. The steps: • Continue to support staff to rebuild their homes using the money raised through https://gofund.me/308c1be1 • Repair the dhows using our own capital. This is a big challenge for Abdul and

This is the most amazing thing I've ever seen. A diver's chance encounter with a humpback whale feeding on sardines off the east coast of South Africa. Accounts of 'incidental feeding' by humpbacks migrating north to the breeding grounds off Mozambique are not unheard of but to catch it on film in this way is incredibly lucky. Local guide AndyCoetzee was filming the gannets feeding on sardines when the whale unexpectedly swam up through the middle. Fabulous! Note: intentionally swimming with whales in South Africa is illegal. The camera operator had no idea there were whales in the area when this event was captured