Watamu After the Whales

Published: The East African Nation 17 November 2018

With the Humpback whales now on their way back to the Antarctica with their babies in tow, my bucket list still has room for the gentle giants of the ocean because l missed seeing them. For decades nobody saw the whales on our side of the Kenyan coast since they had been hunted close to extinction.

Then one fine day in 2011 people out sailing beyond the reef in Watamu thought they were seeing things when they saw gigantic whales leaping out of the water and reported the sightings to Watamu Marine Association.  It was the start of whale-watching safaris organized by the Hemingways Hotel, a staunch supporter of the whale conservation. The whales only began to recover after the international ban on whaling in 1979.

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Humpback whale in Watamu, Kenya coast, Indian Ocean, doing its back flip Copyright Jane Spilsbury/Watamu Marine Association

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