Fish Frenzy

From the lakeshore, the lights of fishing boats stretch in a thin line. The horizon twinkles. But one morning I was lucky enough to peer down from a place very high up, very early in the morning and see the boats as they really are--a swirling mass across the lake, arms spread out wide. It was like a galaxy of stars that I'm normally only able to see in one dimension suddenly made 3-D.

The past week fish have been throwing themselves into fishermen's nets. In town the price of mgebuka has dropped to 8 for 2,000/= (that's 8 fish for approximately $1.60). During the morning the town smells of fish; rattling pickups fill boxes upon boxes with dagaa and bring them to village markets. Women with plastic basins on their heads sell kuhe door to door. On Saturday I was visited by 3 different fishmongers before 9 am.

I tried to capture the sight of boats on the lake, the impossible number of lights, their twinkle. I wanted to compare the evening arrival and morning departure, but slept in too late for the morning shots. By the time I got out of bed half an hour before dawn we were surrounded by the buzz of outboard motors. All the fishermen were racing home to their villages--so I briefly admired the morning star and went back to sleep. Dreaming of fish for lunch.