Travel

A stunning white leaffish (leaf scorpionfish): A combination of backlight and fill light was used to make the fish pop and pull out some extra details. Leaffish are relatively common on dive sites with structure
 

Typically, when a wildlife photographer imagines Kenya, thoughts go immediately to the vast African savannah replete with elephants, lions, giraffes, and other charismatic megafauna. Yet Kenya holds an entirely different allure for those of us obsessed with weird fish, cephalopods, and the small wonders of the marine world. Tucked into the far southeastern corner of the country, within sight of the Tanzanian border, lies Wasini Channel, an off-the-radar spot that is home to a wonderful array of photogenic critters.

Though it isn’t officially dubbed “Little Lembeh,” that is precisely what we’ve taken to calling it, as both its geography and its brilliant diversity of marine life echo the famed Indonesian macro mecca. The channel stretches roughly three miles long and a mile-and-a-half wide, funneling powerful tidal currents that sweep through like clockwork. These shifting waters usher in an extraordinary cast of characters—from frogfish and ghost pipefish to cephalopods and an almost absurd abundance of nudibranchs. Every dive is a treasure hunt.

For macro enthusiasts and critter-focused photographers, the Wasini Channel is well worth the trip. The area is best explored with Pilli Pipa Dhow, a dive operation run by the knowledgeable and welcoming Yatin Patel, who is a gifted spotter with an uncanny ability to uncover the sought-after subjects—and a wonderful sense of humor. Big pelagics are virtually absent, so leave the wide-angle gear at home. Your macro setup is all you’ll need: diopters, focus lights, and your best macro strobes. You’re all but guaranteed to return with a memory card full of exceptional images—and the sense that you’ve visited one of Africa’s most underrated underwater gems.
 

A painted frogfish the size of a tic tac! Wasini Channel is a frogfish hotspot and we got to calling it “Little Lembeh.” The geography is quite similar, the diving is similar, and it hosts a wonderful array of weird and wacky critters—the only difference is the channel itself is smaller
 

The fish with many great names: spiny devilfish, Indian Ocean walkman, demon stinger. Regardless of what you call it, it is an undoubtedly cool fish! Not overly common in Kenya, this was the very last subject we found on the trip
 

Ghost pipefish do not live very long lives as adults. They live fast and die young, and as such, when they are around, there are tons of them, as they all seem to settle out of the larval stage at once. I’d hoped to see a ghost pipefish or two on the trip, and we ended up seeing robust ghost pipes on every single dive. Here, a shy male hides behind his larger lady
 

A spectacularly colored and patterned painted frogfish: This one glowed and could be seen from 15 feet away despite being just over an inch long. For frogfish lovers, Wasini Channel is absolutely a destination worth visiting. We saw four species, and there are at least seven that inhabit the area. On several dives, we would encounter double digit individuals
 

There are several anemonefish species in Kenya and they all share their anemones with the domino damsel. Seemingly, these damsels are just as immune to the anemone stings as their more famous housemates
 

While it may look identical to a thorny seahorse, the species in the Indian Ocean is actually genetically distinct and is its own species. Several other seahorses share Wasini with the “thornies” but the spikey aesthetic and diversity of colors makes the latter the best of the bunch for pictures
 

While Wasini is very much a macro destination, if you look really hard, you can find wide-angle opportunities
 

Wasini isn’t necessarily a hotbed of cephalopod diversity, but we did see several octopus species and bobtail squid, and the pharaoh cuttlefish are downright abundant. During night dives, it wasn’t uncommon to see double digit individuals, and one of the wonderful things about cuttlefish is each one has his or her own personality, meaning no two are alike with regards to how they behave around photographers
 

A stunning juvenile painted frogfish, hanging out beneath a sponge and some seagrass. The variability of painteds is what makes them one of my favorite species. Short of blue, they come in just about every color you can think of, and some have truly amazing patterns as well
 

One of the cutest fish on the reef, a yellow boxfish: While the habitat in Wasini Channel isn’t much to look at, there are still plenty of classic tropical reef fish to be found
 

A classic circum-global (unfortunately) reef fish: Thankfully, in Kenya, lionfish are native and we saw five different species. Indeed, they suffer from being “too common” and I often overlook them as an interesting subjects—to my own detriment
 

A frogfish fishing: There are so many small fish and ”bugs” in the water at night in Wasini that your lights would inevitably draw a crowd at night. And this greatly pleased the frogfishes as they’d just hoover up snack after snack that was brought right to them by dive lights!
 

A full-body image of the spiny devilfish: As far as fish go, this wild beast is about as far from a fish-like aesthetic as a fish can get—while still being a fish
 

The only adult frogfish of the entire trip! This beautiful painted frogfish was found on a mucky, rubbly slope and we were able to visit it on two separate dives. Fortunately, the second time, it was in a much more photogenic spot than when we initially found it. Adult frogfish are not seen frequently in Wasini. The two main theories is that they head for deeper waters as adults or they drift out onto the reefs outside the channel
 

A final robust ghost pipefish: The lateral compression of ghost pipes makes them good subjects for backlighting, and sometimes you get lucky and can see whatever their latest meal was in the stomach!