Lake Baikal

Polly woke up on the fifth morning and the world had become water.

Polly aliamka asubuhi ya tano na dunia ilikuwa imejaa maji.

The train was running along the southern shore of Lake Baikal. The lake filled the entire window: not a lake so much as a sea, except for the perfect stillness and the impossible clarity of the colour, which was a blue that seemed to start somewhere deep below the surface and rise up.

Treni ilikuwa ikikimbia kando ya pwani ya kusini ya Ziwa Baikal. Ziwa lilijaza dirisha lote: si ziwa tu bali kama bahari, isipokuwa utulivu kamili na uwazi wa rangi, ambayo ilikuwa bluu iliyokuwa ikianza mahali fulani chini kabisa ya uso na kupanda juu.

Igor, the fisherman, had been awake for two hours. He was at the window with a small notebook.

Igor, mvuvi, alikuwa ameamka kwa saa mbili. Alikuwa kwenye dirisha na daftari ndogo.

"Baikal," he said. "It is the deepest lake in the world. One thousand six hundred and forty-two metres at its deepest point. It is also the oldest lake. Twenty-five million years old. Most lakes fill in with sediment over time. Baikal is in a rift valley that is still growing. The bottom drops faster than the sediment can fill it."

"Baikal," alisema. "Ni ziwa lenye kina kirefu zaidi duniani. Mita elfu moja mia sita arobaini na mbili katika sehemu yake ya kina zaidi. Pia ni ziwa la zamani zaidi. Miaka milioni ishirini na tano. Maziwa mengi hujaa mchanga kwa muda. Baikal iko katika bonde la ufa ambalo bado linakua. Chini hushuka haraka kuliko mchanga unavyoweza kuijaza."

The water outside was so clear that Polly could see boulders on the lake floor in the shallow areas. The clarity is up to forty metres in the right conditions.

Maji nje yalikuwa wazi sana kiasi kwamba Polly aliweza kuona mawe makubwa kwenye sakafu ya ziwa katika maeneo ya kina kifupi. Uwiano wa uwazi unaweza kufikia mita arobaini katika hali nzuri.

"It also holds," Igor said, "twenty-three percent of all the unfrozen fresh water on Earth. More than all the North American Great Lakes combined."

"Pia lina," Igor alisema, "asilimia ishirini na tatu ya maji yote safi yasiyoganda duniani. Zaidi ya maziwa makuu yote ya Amerika Kaskazini pamoja."

Polly looked at the lake. It did not look like twenty-three percent of anything. It looked like a single still blue thing.

Polly alitazama ziwa. Halikuonekana kama asilimia ishirini na tatu ya chochote. Lilionekana kama kitu kimoja tulivu cha bluu.

The train stopped at Slyudyanka station. Igor got off. He shook Polly's wing tip with two fingers, gravely. "Three days fishing. Then home." He waved through the window and was gone.

Treni ilisimama katika kituo cha Slyudyanka. Igor alishuka. Alitikisa ncha ya bawa la Polly kwa vidole viwili, kwa uzito. "Siku tatu za uvuvi. Kisha nyumbani." Alipunga mkono kupitia dirisha na akaondoka.

For three more hours, the train ran the shore. A group of Baikal seals popped their heads above the surface a kilometre offshore. They are the world's only purely freshwater seal species.

Kwa masaa matatu zaidi, treni ilikimbia pwani. Kundi la mihuri ya Baikal lilitokeza vichwa vyao juu ya uso kilomita moja kutoka ufukweni. Wao ni aina pekee ya mihuri ya maji safi duniani.

Polly thought about scale. Below her was water older than her species. Inside that water was a tiny pink shrimp called Epischura that did not exist anywhere else on Earth. It kept the lake clear. It had been keeping it clear for twenty million years.

Polly alifikiria kuhusu ukubwa. Chini yake kulikuwa na maji ya zamani zaidi kuliko spishi yake. Ndani ya maji hayo kulikuwa na kamba mdogo wa pinki aitwaye Epischura ambaye hakuwepo mahali pengine popote duniani. Alikuwa akiweka ziwa wazi. Alikuwa akifanya hivyo kwa miaka milioni ishirini.