Jambiani
Jambiani is a small collection of villages on the southeast coast of Unguja, more commonly known as Zanzibar.
Many of the locals are involved in the farming of seaweed, which forms a large part of the local culture.
Around 15,000 locals, mainly women, walk out to the shallow wash of the sea where they tie down thin lengths of rope with stakes.
Seaweed is then attached to these farm–grids and left to grow naturally. Once large enough, it can be split in two, reattached, and both parts will continue to grow as if nothing even happened.
Eventually, you end up with more seaweed than you can shake a stick at, so it’s collected up and shipped out.
Around 11,000 tons of seaweed is produced in Zanzibar each year, most of which comes from Jambiani.
Jambiani also has a lot of coconut trees, of which the leaves and their fruits are used to various ends.
First, the coconuts are cut down and the husks split open on sharpened sticks that have been stuck into the ground.
Beyond the obvious nourishment gained from the flesh and water of the coconut, the rest of the coconuts prove useful as well. The husks are taken out to the shallows and placed under heavy rocks where they’re left for roughly three months while the fibres soften. The heavy rocks prevent them from washing away with the tides.
Once soft enough, someone will take the fibres and roll them on their thigh into short individual lengths, then roll these lengths together to create a length of rope as long as is needed.
While someone’s up the tree cutting down the fruits, they may also cut down some of the leaves that they’ll then split down the middle, and weave the individual leaves together to form a divider, perhaps as a fence or wall.