Pemba Island: we’re anchored in this wonderful bay, surrounded by mangroves and have just been ashore to visit the local village. We were met with a mixture of consternation, delight, reserve and welcome from the villagers who told us we were the first white people ever to visit them. When Corinne tried to take a photograph, most of the kids ran away. It was an extraordinary experience to be the object of so many questions, but in turn, when I indicated a little baby and tried to ask why she had a painted face, they simply handed her to me to hold. They called me the “oldie mannie”.