stories from the swahili coast

In the bend of every tide, you can hear the echo of a thousand footsteps of the first Zanzibar ancestors

Just off the coast of Jambiani, the Ngalawa moves slowly, almost silently, over a glassy, retreating tide. Ahead, the sea peels back to reveal fleeting sandbanks, while behind, women in bright kangas tend to their seaweed lines in the shallows. There's no sound but water and the creak of wood. No schedule, no expectationjust the soft pull of being exactly where you are.