We’re thrilled to welcome Izzy and Sam to our site in Mozambique for our next 2 week research program. Here’s what they had to say about their first week with us…

Arriving in sunny Mozambique after months in cold and rainy UK weather had promised a great start to our adventure and it didn’t disappoint! Monday and Tuesday comprised of lecture material which helped us gain a basic understanding of Love The Oceans’ mission and research purposes, along with a mini lecture on dangerous animals. Tuesday was also Melina’s last night, a volunteer who’d stayed a few extra days, so we had fun playing cards and not “getting caught in the rain” in the evening

The lectures on plastic pollution in the oceans was definitely grounding and inspired us to help collect water bottle caps in order to turn them into marine animal-shaped pendants. We cleaned the caps and brought them to the up-cycling machine from the Sea Monkey Project, which was really fun to do.

As well as paddle boarding, we went into the village with Pascoal and his family to learn about Mozambique culture! This consisted of visiting the primary schools with beautiful murals from previous LTO volunteers. We also visited his farm to collect mandioca leaves and roots for a dish called Matapa we we’re going to make, alongside peanuts and coconuts. That was such a fun and beautiful day!

Towards the end of the week, we went to Paindane bay to collect fisheries research from fishermen, which was very insightful and interesting to learn about their culture and species diversity. Looking forward to next week!