Fly 540 Africa

Work commenced last month on building The FlipFlopi Dhow – the center-piece of a pioneering one-of-it’s-kind project to construct the first boat made entirely out of recycled ocean plastic and flipflops!

During a press conference which took place on the shores of the Indian Ocean at the build site in Lamu, Expedition leader Ben Morison officially launched the build phase of the project. Accompanied by representatives from the County Government and other members of the boat building team, Ben showed off the first key parts of the Dhow which have been crafted by a unique collaboration between plastic recycling experts in Malindi and traditional Lamu boat builders.

Each of these parts weighs nearly 1 tonne, and in the next 12 months will be assembled using local expertise and 200,000 recycled flip-flops into a 60 foot ocean going Dhow. Never before has a concept of this nature been attempted and the launch of the build will reveal the pioneering techniques and skill used to transform plastic and flip-flops collected from Kenya’s beaches – into the ocean going Flipflopi Dhow that will set sail for Cape Town in South Africa in January 2018.

The FlipFlopi Dhow is being built on the island of Lamu on the Kenya coast – which has traditionally been the most important centre for dhow building in the region. Lamu is the oldest and best preserved Swahili settlement in East Africa, having been inhabited since 1370, and boat building is still dominated by traditional techniques. Waste plastics will be used to construct the entire boat – the keel, ribs and structural elements from recycled plastic products including bottles and bags, and the hull and decking will be covered completely by recycled flip-flops. Despite the unusual materials, the vessel is being constructed by local craftsmen using traditional methods. This means no power tools and no computers … just centuries old knowledge.