7th February - Annabelle

We woke up quite early and headed to Mombassa to plant mangroves. We had to walk down the hill to the creek, the tide was out so all the mud was exposed. The mud was really thick and clayey, we were squelching knee deep as we walked along. We had to cross the estuary about waist deep in water. 

Our first job was to fill old yoghurt pots with the clay. By this point we were all covered head to toe in the mud and all throwing it at each other. Then we went round and picked all the mature propagules off the trees - these are the mangroves’ seeds. We stood these up in the pots full of clay to make a nursery garden and planted about 600 in the nursery. With the rest of the propagules we planted in the clay in the shape of a fish and in spaced out lines. Once mature, each mangrove will provide the equivalent of 2 years of oxygen for an individual. We planted 1000 mangroves in total, so two thousand years of oxygen! The mangroves are so important in sequestering carbon from the atmosphere and also supporting the local communities livelihoods. 

Once we had trudged and squelched our way back through the mud we tried to wash ourselves off in a bucket as best we could, before heading to the shopping mall and supermarket in Mombasa for some frozen yoghurt. 

Once we were home we got in the pool before going to the beach bar for a few drinks. We came home for supper and watched Harry Potter.