As he ushers me in, I’m introduced to his father, the head of china wholesale garden umbrellas the Dargah at Bankot. We have 13 more days to go. An undaunted Shivaji raged on and lost many men to sea. There’s only one problem. The sun is never kind in a Maharashtrian summer, but on the water, the sea around me amplifies it. I spot the sea entering a bay, but I can’t remember it on a map. I see a narrow stretch of beach and make for it. We’ve completed 90 km in three days with 14 hours of sleep, and today I’ll push that to 120 km when I hit the picturesque beach of Harihareshwar. He tells me the story of how Shivaji Maharaj once passed through Bankot during his naval assault on Murud Janjira. Also, I haven’t slept much. He returned to Bankot for blessings.The sun is never kind in a Maharashtrian summer, but on the water, the sea around me amplifies it. We take a photo together and he invites me to his house for chai. He explains that I’ve landed in Bankot, and I’m lucky to have missed the beaches up ahead that swallow swimmers whole. He’s baffled further when he spots my ‘huge’ kayak. It’s Day 4 of my 17-day solo kayaking expedition from Mumbai to Goa. And I’m coming down with a fever. Needless to say, he was victorious in his second attempt. And I’m left grappling with where I am.As I make my way towards it, my dad tells me he’ll find me on land. I have two options, to cross the bay I find myself in, or go back and find Harihareshwar. It’s the first time an Indian has attempted this, but things are not going according to the plan. I must have waited 10 minutes in the sobering heat, when Shadab comes down from the hillock and introduces himself.Typically, I plot my route out on my GPS watch. A delay in the import of my kayak has resulted in setting off in the brutal heat of March. The good Baba took me up to the Dargah. With the help of his son Shadab and his brother, he donned his regal attire and blessed me on my own sea voyage. Suddenly, it all made sense. I decide to head for the bank on the other side. We decide to take a rest day, as Shivaji did. He has kayaked the 3,000km west coast of India solo). But somewhere after 30 km, my watch dies. As we sit there having chai and rusk, he tells me how he spent a large part of his life in Bombay, until he was chosen to come here and take up the role of the Baba.(Kaustubh Khade is an IITian, Asian Silver Medalist in kayaking & a Limca Book Record holder. I crash-land on the barren white beach, half naked and completely exhausted. He’s baffled anyone would want to paddle solo from Bombay to Goa, with no motor or sail. The then Baba of Bankot warned Shivaji to stay.He explains that I’ve landed in Bankot, and I’m lucky to have missed the beaches up ahead that swallow swimmers whole. I don’t know where it is.

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Like all people with albinism, Yakobo has very poor eyesight and is extremely vulnerable to skin cancer.. "There were times when I was afraid in the past, but now I thank God because we can sleep at night without a gun," says Yakobo, who works as a fishmonger in Ukerewe market.According to the Ukerewe Albino Society (UAS) there are 75 people with albinism living on the island of 200,000, a proportion roughly in keeping with the national average."In many respects, Ukerewe is at the forefront of integration of albinos in society."This is the best time of the day: the day has begun but the sun is not yet up," he china garden umbrellas says.Yakobo suffers from a genetic condition called albinism, meaning his body does not produce melanin leaving his skin, hair and eyes devoid of pigmentation and protection from the sun.His brother Zacharia accompanies his songs with an air guitar.Canadian charity Under The Same Sun (UTSS) has documented 161 attacks on people with albinism in Tanzania in recent years, including 76 murders, more than anywhere else in Africa. "It was in Ukerewe that the first census was done.But the sun overhead is not the only threat to albinos. "When his father saw the colour of the child, he was not happy, and he has abandoned us," she says.Here in Tanzania, as well as in Malawi and some other parts of sub-Saharan Africa, albino body parts are sought after for potions and charms thought to bring luck and wealth, and many fall victim to murderers who dismember their bodies to supply this grisly black market trade."Here, we are safe, we are surrounded by water, no one can commit a crime and escape easily," said Yakobo, who has three wives but regrets that not one of his 11 children is albino."But we have never had an albino murder," points out Ramadhan Khalifa, president of Ukerewe's albino community.""I'm not afraid of being attacked," says Kajanja Neema, 36, dissecting tiny fish for the evening meal, along a busy street from the main town of the island.

Over the years, Ukerewe has become known as a haven for people with albinism.Hadija Namtondo is a 30-year old mother with black skin and a four-year-old albino son called Riziki. "We could talk, and I would feel like I had passed on a part of myself.People say that it started long ago when families would abandon their albino relatives on the island, believing their unusual, ghostly appearance was the sign of a curse.As elsewhere in Tanzania, body-snatchers have come to the island to dig albino corpses from their graves and in 2007 one person was attacked and had his white hair cut for use in witchcraft, says Vicky Ntetema, director of the Tanzanian branch of UTSS. And I think the fact that it's an island plays a big part in the minds of people, but reality is a bit more nuanced," says Harry Freeland, founder of the non-governmental organisation Standing Voice and the maker of a documentary about Ukerewe. They survived and thrived and others, ostracised by society, made their way there too. The initiative came from the former president of UAS, and it was in 2006."Even if physical violence is rare, discrimination is not.Yet Ukerewe island is relatively untouched by this phenomenon.Abandoned"Ukerewe is unique in that sense," says Freeland. Over the years, Ukerewe has become known as a haven for people with albinism. In a few minutes time Yakobo will put on a wide-brimmed hat and sunglasses and slather sunscreen over every bit of his exposed skin. Ukerewe, Tanzania: It's an hour after dawn on Ukerewe island in Lake Victoria and Alphonce Yakobo, face and hands withered by the scorching sun that has tortured his pigment-free skin for all of his 57 years, is vigorously sweeping the leaves outside his house. "Yes, Ukerewe is safer than mainland, but it's not perfect," he said, "Sometimes, people say they will kill us, and we never know if they mean it or not."Murder-free zoneOver the years, Ukerewe has become known as a haven for people with albinism.

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I see a lot of garbage here every day, every time,” Austrian traveller Vanessa Moonshine explains.“It would be suicidal if Kuta people were doing it.“This garbage does not come from people living in Kuta and nearby areas,” he said. The waves of plastic flooding into rivers and oceans have been causing problems for years, clogging waterways in cities, increasing the risk of floods, and injuring or killing marine animals who ingest or become trapped by plastic packaging.“No one wants to sit on nice beach chairs and facing all this rubbish,” he added.“It’s always coming from the ocean.”Indonesia is one of nearly 40 countries that are part of UN Environment’s Clean Seas campaign, which aims to halt the tide of plastic trash polluting the oceans.The waves of plastic flooding into rivers and oceans have been causing problems for years, clogging waterways in cities, increasing the risk of floods, and injuring or killing marine animals who ingest or become trapped by plastic packaging.29 million metric tons is estimated to be produced annually by Indonesia.”Some 72 km from Kuta, Mount Agung has been threatening to erupt for two months, prompting tourists to cancel visits and displacing tens of thousands of villagers living within a 10 km-radius of the volcano’s crater..“Garbage is aesthetically disturbing to tourists, but plastic waste issue is way more serious,” he said.But the island’s waste problem is no less of a threat, said I Gede Hendrawan, an environmental oceanography researcher from Bali’s Udayana University.“Microplastics can contaminate fish which, if eaten by humans, could cause health problems including cancer.Often dubbed a paradise on earth, the Indonesian holiday island has become an embarrassing poster child for the country’s trash problem. Kuta: Bali’s palm-fringed Kuta beach has long been a favourite with tourists seeking sun and surf, but nowadays its golden shoreline Beach umbrella with wind screen is disappearing under a mountain of garbage.

The problem has grown so bad that officials in Bali in November declared a “garbage emergency” across a six-kilometre stretch of coast that included popular beaches Jimbaran, Kuta and Seminyak.As part of its commitment, the government has pledged to reduce marine plastic waste by 70 per cent by 2025.Bali’s rubbish problem is at its worst during the annual monsoon season, when strong winds push marine flotsam onto the beach and swollen rivers wash rubbish from riverbanks to the coast, according to Putu Eka Merthawan from the local environment agency.Often dubbed a paradise on earth, the Indonesian holiday island has become an embarrassing poster child for the country’s trash problem.Plastic straws and food packaging are strewn between sunbathers, while surfers bobbing behind the waves dodge waste flushed out from rivers or brought in by swirling currents.It plans to boost recycling services, curb the use of plastic bags, launch cleanup campaigns and raise public awareness.Officials deployed 700 cleaners and 35 trucks to remove roughly 100 tons of debris each day to a nearby landfill. It’s really horrible,” she adds.The archipelago of more than 17,000 islands is the world’s second biggest contributor to marine debris after China, and a colossal 1.“When I want to swim, it is not really nice.“People with green uniform were collecting the garbage to move it away but the next day I saw the same situation,” said German Claus Dignas, who claimed he saw more garbage with each visit to the island.

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