As we made our way down the Indian ocean, the captain had summoned a crew meeting. we all knew what was coming, we were scheduled to sail past Somalia in three days time. this was during the time that somali pirates had hijacked the Maersk Alabama ship of the coast of somalia. The majority of the crew didn’t give it a second thought that our ship would be hijacked, and i felt the same way until captain rik gave his speech during the meeting. the whole ship was talking about pirates, and the
Party in the indian ocean!
passengers were getting more and more anxious, especially due to the american crew of the Maersk Alabama being held by pirates and the sight of a dutch navy ship escorting us through the indian ocean.
It seemed everyone just wanted to reach the next destination which was Mombassa, Kenya. Safe to say the ship wasn’t hijacked and we had reached Mombassa, and everyone was ready to go on safari!
I had been advised not to take my equipment and film around Mombassa because i would have returned to the ship minus my camera and my wallet! so the crew had organized a
Tsavo East Safari
two day safari at one of Africa’s most popular national park’s. everyone had bought their new digital cameras and stocked up with plenty of batteries as we set off for a 4 hour journey to Tsavo East national park. 6 of us had squeezed into a truck that we would be our home for the next two days, and before we knew it the guide was pointing out all these animals to it. it’s one of the hardest thing i have filmed, coz i had no tripod, and to get a steady shot of animals moving on the distance is well hard! as the day wore on, we were getting a bit frustrated that we hadn’t seen a lion, and we resorted to drinking cheep kenyan larger in the truck. after being told repeatedly by the guide to keep the noise down, i looked to my left and there was a female lion no more than 10 meters away from the truck, it was insane and the cameras went crazy.
massai dance
On our way back to the ship, our guie had suggested we go and visit a massai village. wasn’t sure what to expect but we all said yes and we arrived at this village in the middle of nowhere. we were greeted by a family of massai warriors and what a welcome it was. we were treated like royalty and i politely asked if it was ok to take some pictures and do some filming. using the guide as a the interpreter, it was no problem at all and they even started posing like Hollywood movie stars! lol. the vilage itself consisted of a few huts made out of mud,sticks and grass. a large group of massai warriors formed a line and as the women started ‘singing’ the men jumped, and jumped some more. we were taken for a tour around the village and
massai children
being shown how they lived, how they hunted, started fire and various others. i couldn’t get over how warm of a reception we got, we didn’t understand a word they were saying but we laughed and all got along somehow. i was approached by a massai who was with his two sons hidden behind his legs. he kept pointing towards my video camera. he hadn’t seen anything like it before and i showed him and his sons how the camera worked. one thing that i will never forget was the sight of Joost (one of the dutch crew members) giving a can of fanta orange to a massai warrior to try, no surprise he didn’t like it and politely gave it back to joost.
As we pulled up to the docks, we were greeted by a load of media vans and reporters everywhere. then we realized the Maaersk Alabama was docked next to our ship. we couldn’t believe it, i was approached by a dozens of reporters but we were all told to keep quiet and made our way back onto the ship. Turned on CNN on the telly, and there was our ship on the news next to the hijacked Alabama ship.
So we left Mombassa and made quick stops in madagascar and maputo, Mozambique. next on the schedule was South Africa. we docked in Richards Bay and Durban for a few days before making our way to Cape Town. Being a massive football fan, i was eager to see the new stadiums being built for the 2010 fifa world cup. but i was told by a few of
Table Mountain, Cape Town
the south africans working on board there was much more to see in cape town. i remember it being an extremely windy day as we headed into cape town, so windy it wasn’t safe for the ship to dock, and we were anchored at sea for the best part of 6 hours as we waited for the wind to die down. it was frustrating, but the views of table mountain was incredible and soon we were given the all
Great White Shark, Cape Town
clear. we docked at around 9 in the evening and decided to ht a few bars in town, a few places i wouldn’t want to go back to in a hurry, but all in all we had a good night out. The next morning we all got up early to go shark diving. It was by far the best thing i have ever done, we were stranded on this small boat of the coast of cape town for hours waiting for a shark to be spotted by the dozen ships that were also out shark diving. then we got the call to get the wet suits on and take our positions in the cage.first thing i remember was how cold the water was, it was freezing! then one of the deck crew would throw the bait out and next thing you know
Shark diving!
this great white shark approaches the cage. i was a little bit scared to be totally honest with you! especially as it grazed the cage. and the next half hour was nothing different. i would have spent the whole day in the cage, but the water was too cold and we all took it in turns to go in the cage. we had been told all the horror stories of shark diving and i could see how it could go wrong sometimes. we were repeatedly told to keep our hands and feet inside the cage at all times. i remember my feet wandering out of the cage at times but the panic set in quickly and got my feet back in the cage sharpish!
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