KOSI BAY, South Africa — “There’s a way to hold the spear,” Fano Tembe says, aiming a traditional fishing spear at the sand to show the tourists how they’ll be stabbing a fish in a trap they’re about to visit. “This is your aiming hand.” He cradles the middle of the pole in his left, palm-up, fingers open. “The other is your throwing hand.” His right clutches the top of the spear at shoulder height. “You don’t push the spear, you throw it.” The tool becomes a javelin, skewering the sand. The 28-year-old has been spearing fish since he was a boy. Now he’s employed by a local tour operator introducing the visitors to his peoples’ Thonga-style fishing method in Kosi Bay, a remote estuary and four-lake system on South Africa’s east coast, about four kilometers (2.5 miles) south of the Mozambican border. For this demonstration, Tembe is a giant, standing over a tiny, meticulously built model of a fish trap, explaining how the Thonga people have used this unique method to harvest fish for over four centuries, according to written records, although locals will say it goes back more than 700 years. Be wary of the mullets (Mugil cephalus), Tembe warns. “When they get tired, they hide between your feet. Don’t try to spear that fish [then].” Mthokozisi Nsele comes from a long line of Thonga fisher people with knowledge of the spear and kraal system shown by Fano Tembe (right). He now runs his own two-boat tourism operation…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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