Kapenta Camp

Here is a scene from the Namumu Kapenta Fishing Team’s home away from home, the camp at Chirundundike Island.

This was taken in the early morning as the boats were just arriving. Here the kapenta catches are being weighed before they are taken to the drying racks.

Each blue crate you see can hold around 50 kgs of fresh kapenta. Back in September, Namumu’s record-breaking month of fishing, these guys would come back with as many as 10 or 11 crates filled to the brim on each rig. During a bad month, there are times when both boats combined might come back with less than one crate between them. It’s a business with a good deal of variation and there ain’t much you can do about it. Every single fishing company on Lake Kariba is at the mercy of the weather and kapenta breeding habits.

Still, even during the worst months Namumu’s Fishing Team has squeezed out a comfortable profit.

Kapenta fishing is Namumu’s big money-maker, so pray that the work can continue to operate successfully and support the institution as a whole.

Oh, and Chuck, do you see that net in the background? That’s my boat.