Quirimba - island life

In addition to the coconut plantation, Quirimba Island is unique to many of the other Quirimba archipelago islands around because of its village feel. There are about 4,000 people--a large proportion of them children--on the island. Most live off the local natural resources like fish and agro/horticultural products.

Below-left a few men cutting a up a ray they just caught. Unfortunately the islanders have fished their waters somewhat destructively over the years, using methods like putting poison in the water, using explosives even. As a result, the reefs and other marine habitats have been damaged. With the government declaring it national park land, however, hopefully the situation will improve. Below-right, a dugout fishing canoe, usually carved out of a single tree trunk:










Like I said, there are a lot of children on the island. The population was only half what it was a decade or two ago, due largely to high birth rates as well as inreased immigration. Below are a couple brothers who were toting around some coconuts they had picked from (hopefully) one of their non-plantation palms, also called smallholder trees in the coconut biz. Unlike some of the adults who are sometimes a bit reserved or suspicious, just about every kid on the island is extremely curious and friendly. These two fellas wouldn't leave me alone once they spotted me on the beach, especially when they saw I had a camera:










More islander children below-left, this time in front of a schoolhouse that had just been built and actually looked in pretty good shape. I was told, however, that the government or outside agency that built it spent 3 or 4 times the amount that it should have cost. Unfortunately, inefficiency is a recurring theme in this part of the world. Below-right is a picture of a maternity ward that was gifted to the island by an wealthy hotel operator from a neighboring island, but if you look closely they only built about 2 feet of the structure before running out of the money because the funds ended up getting diverted to other things:










Below-left one of the many ruins left over from the Portuguese colonial days. This particular building I think was originally used for refrigeration--nowadays the locals just seem to kind of hang out in it for shade and gaze out the window at the water (look closely for kid gazing out window at water). Below-right, a group of woman hauling food from one part of the island to the other, by balancing it on their head...a common skill it seems of women in developing countries: