Kayaking in the Mangrove of Itapareca island

It’s the first time I book an experience on AirBnB but this one looked genuinely interesting and different from all the other tours that we have seen around Salvador. It’s a visit of a mangrove with a kayak, going around it to look for clams and then enjoy the company and the little beach that the host has in front of his property. It’s on the island of Itaparica – the opposite side of Salvador, across the bay.

As soon as we go down the Lanchinha, the passenger ferry, we are welcomed by Carlos, our host. With his wife, they have settled down the very tip of the island 20 years ago. They are environmentalists and focused on stopping dynamite fishing in their area. (among a lot of other projects with the community). 

We start to chit chat right away in the 40min car drive to his home. His little slice of paradise is a small plot on which they have built by themselves a small house, and it sits right in from of the beach. We met his daughter and many pets. We feel welcome and it’s really relaxed. 

We start to get ready and pull the kayaks to the beach. The Mangrove is right after the small cape at the end of the beach. It’s low tide so we kayak up river until he pulls by a river bank. We then try and find a way inside the mangrove on foot but the mud is really deep and has not settled yet. We only stay and look on the edges. They were some nice birds looking for shells as well as an eagle.

And that’s our next activity, along the river beds, Carlos explains how and where to find the clams. We sit down chit chatting away raking in the shallow pools and in the mud with our fingers. We get a decent amount for a meal for 3. As he says, they will take 2 days to filter their muck out once back home, so we are eating the loot of another couple who came a few days ago. 

As we continue our way upriver, we see the village harbor, which is not completely dry at low tide and villagers doing the exact same thing as us: fishing and looking for clams. They also fish for crabs but pulling a flat net on the bottom with fish in the middle. The crabs all come to it and once in a while she lift the nets and collect the hanging crabs before putting the whole set up back in the water. The lady fishing crab is someone Carlos knows well and we watch her for a little while. Today wasn’t very good she said.

Others are ranking sands on the mangrove banks too and they are a lot more efficient than us with their small rake.

Time flew by, we hardly see it passing – it’s already 1 or 2 pm and we kayak back to the beach. Carlos let us pick two plastic chairs and we sit in the ocean looking at the tide rising. ( and it’s rising really fast ! ). He comes to us with some caipirinhas but we decide to have them under the shade of the trees at the lunch table instead. We continue to enjoy our host company – he shares about their work here, and the difficulties encountered when working on protecting nature – but also their daily life and fitting into the community. We eat a simple meal of spaghetti vongole, have a beer and chit chat the next few hours away enjoying the sea breeze.

The day was so pleasant, we really didn’t see it go. Before we realize it’s already 5pm and we need to get ready to go. We take a quick shower and change into dry clothe. On the drive to the harbour, we realize that we will miss the 6pm last Lanchinha back to Salvador but there is the very last ferry at  7pm, and that’s where Carlos drops us off. 

We met an incredibly interesting person today and his warm welcome will be certainly remembered. This was a fantastic day, simple, relaxing with great company and enjoying the outdoor. 

It’s topped by a nice ferry ride back to Salvador, and it’s night time – the city lights are all on for a beautiful skyline.