September 2023: Kisawa’s first Island Residency invited award winning South African underwater photographer and editor, Helen Walne to explore a loose brief – life underwater in the seascape surrounding Kisawa and BCSS.

The result is a kaleidoscopic photographic journal, documenting and peacefully existing within the jewel coloured, multi textural coral settings and greeting otherworldly sea creatures up close and personal.

“I have a yearning for the crazy colours of Kisawa: the spits of calico sand jutting into an Indian Ocean that changes from ice-blue to translucent jade to whale-eye ink. Bony beached trees, and the mercury-silver of early-morning water on our boat trip to find humpback whales. The cool calm of thatch and wood, the neon fish – all decked out like an Eighties music video – darting and hiding behind mounds of honeycomb coral”.

Helen was carefully guided around the sanctuary house reefs, in addition to the greater Bazaruto Archipelago with assistance from Dr Mario Lebrato, BCSS chief scientist.

“Freediving at Two Mile Reef was ridiculous! The corals are in such pristine condition, and the abundance of tropical fish so magnificent. We even came across a juvenile green turtle pottering amid the turrets and canyons. Our boat trips with Mario from BCSS took us to the depths of the ocean, where humpback whales slapped their tails on the surface, spinner dolphins rode the bow wave and an elusive hammerhead shark glided by”.

Helen marks the first in our new Island Residencies series, where Kisawa invites international artists from mixed platforms to explore the stunning biodiversity, culture and environment of coastal Mozambique, through their own unique perspective.