Garra Rufa (for indeed that is their name!) are described as toothless and 'friendly', but to us they looked like 100s of predatory, ravenous, shark-like carnivores with a big fat grudge against humans. We took a deep breath, put our trust in the advertising slogans, lowered our feet into the water...... and screamed......for about 5 minutes! The fish instantly attached themselves to our feet and sucked - the sensation was bizarre and initially alarming. It was a strange mixture of tickling, pins and needles, and mild electric shocks. There then followed a 20 minute fish feeding frenzy, during which we distracted ourselves by sampling some weird and wonderful teas, and gradually acclimatised to the sensation of being eaten alive. By the end it was verging on pleasant... and the softness and smoothness of our feet afterwards made us forget our initial unbridled panic and girlie screams.
Just for the record the fish in my tank looked like this at the end, having enjoyed 20 minutes of gorging themselves on the generous supply of hard skin that I kindly donated - the fish equivalent of a double Big Mac with extra fries, washed down by an extra thick milkshake. No wonder they all sank to the bottom, emitting air bubbles from both ends, and mouthing 'no more, no more', when I removed my feet.A huge thank you to my lovely friend, Denise, for a wonderful day out and for my fabulous feet!
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