Mozambique fishermen

In January I went to Mozambique to document the lifestyle of the local fishermen. It wasn’t the most pleasant trip that I have done. The South African tourist have made a real mess of the country. It felt like being in another country, brought out the worst in people and they treated the locals very badly. So bad that they forced the local fishermen to stop fishing during the holiday season. The local fishermen already live on the poverty line and this has made them very angry.

I wasn’t aware of this problem when I arrived and I couldn’t believe how aggressive the fishermen were towards me. It took a lot of negotiation to get going eventually and I had to provide huge amounts of money, just to able to document their fishing. I wasn’t even allowed to work in the villages. I did eventually manage to finish my assignment.

Anyway, the Guy with the Brown shirt in the image above was our translator and was supposedly a very important fishermen. One morning while they were launching the Dhows, a big wave came in and he ran away causing the only light hearted moment of the trip. He also had to admit shyly that he was no fishermen and that he was scared of the water. At least I manage to get a good photo out of the whole experience.