Thea and I set off on our expedition to coastal Tanzania early last
Sunday morning. The trip started off on a rather unfortunate foot, with
us getting seriously ripped off for our bus tickets, thus putting us on a
very tight budget for the rest of the trip. We took the bus from Arusha
to Tanga, a large port city, which took 8 hours, and then hopped on a
daladala to the village of Pangani. The ride between the two cities took
two hours on the daladala, and like in Arusha, there is ALWAYS room for
one or ten more on a daladala. Needless to say, it was incredibly
cramped, and contact with strangers armpits and flab were impossible to
avoid. Word to the wise- if personal space is important to you, NEVER
ride a daladala. Luckily for me, I'm pretty much used to it by now. We
arrived hungry, hot, and tired in Pangani at 4 pm, with absolutely no
idea where to find the elusive Inn by the Sea. With no money to spend on
a taxi cab and an insurance policy that explicitly forbids "piki piki"
(motorcycle) rides, we were determined to walk. A nice man named Mto
(river) volunteered to guide us. Along the way, we ran into our first
saving grace of the trip: Hot Hot. A very well respected villager in
Pangani, who knows everything about everything in the village. He
brought us to our hotel, gave us a tour around Pangani, even promised
that he would take us to meet the local fishing and mangrove
commissioners. After a dinner of rice and beans, we ventured back to the
hotel, and enjoyed the glorious waters of the now familiar bucket
shower. After, crisis struck- the power went off, which wouldn't have
mattered at all if the room hadn't been about 100 degrees with the fan.
It was an uncomfortable night to put it lightly, and one that Thea
referred to as "the worst night ever". Checking out the next morning was
a celebrated event. Hot Hot informed us that, to get to our final
destination of Oshongo, a small fishing village on the other side of the
Pangani River, in addition to paying for the ferry, it would also cost
30,000 shillings to hire a car to take us to our hotel. Well aware that
we did not have the money for that, we began to brainstorm other options
of how to travel 16 km from the ferry to the village. Bikes, we
decided, were the answer. We boarded the ferry with two bikes, three
backpacks, and a bag filled with fruit, seriously doubting that the
roadway would be as flat as Hot Hot said and imagining how hot the next
two hours of our lives would be. Lucky moment number two: we were
approached by a woman who worked at the hotel bar (Drifter's) who
informed us that the hotel manager happened to have two friends on the
ferry, and was sending a car for them, and offered us a lift, free of
charge. We gladly accepted, vowing to try our bikes out later in the
week. The manger's friends turned out to be lovely people. Leslie, an
Australian fisherman who was born in Kenya and had family in the Tanga
region, and Claudia, a civil servant from Germany who had worked in
Ghana and has done extensive traveling throughout Africa. The two of
them semi-adopted Thea and I, lecturing us about the importance of
sunscreen and bug-spray, offering us food, and sharing fascinating
stories about their lives with us. Leslie even accompanied us in our
journey back to Tanga, a feat that would have been most difficult
without him. Both Thea and I were very sorry to say goodbye to the two
of them, and hope that someday our paths may cross again. It was such a
humbling experience to meet people who were so willing to do anything
they could to help a couple of strangers, for no reason beyond they were
once in our place. New friends did not stop there either. Thea's
research project requires her to survey village fisherman about beach
management units, and other conservation efforts, so translators were
required. We were invited to dinner at on of the translator's homes, and
were told that we would be welcomed back at any time. Tanzanians are
known for their warmheartedness and overall kindness. After visiting the
coast, I now see why. Everyone we met was exceptionally nice. They
appreciated our attempts at Kiswahili rather than laughing like most,
and we even noticed a severe decrease in the irritating cries of
"mzungu".
I went to the coast with the intention of completing a
project about biodiversity in the mangroves lining the river, but after a
walk with Les through the intertidal zone, I quickly changed my mind.
The life was unreal. Gorgeous starfish in bright reds, giant clams that
actually spit water 4 feet into the air (into Thea's face), even
well-hidden octopus, living under the cover of sponge and brain corals.
I'm a scuba diver, and I'm not sure I've ever seen a reef that
beautiful. The overall trip was incredible. It felt more like a vacation
than anything else, between the bathtub waters of the Indian Ocean,
breathtaking sunrises, views of the Milky Way, bike-rides down the white
sand beaches, and coconut flavored everything. When it was time to
leave, Thea and I were half crushed at the prospect of returning to
Arusha, but the knowledge that safari are next on the agenda, and then
we return to the coast made it tolerable. We were greeted by lots of
hugs and questions about the coast when we got back, and there were
several half joking "Ugh, I hate you's" thrown in there, but it was
lovely to be reunited with the group. Tomorrow, it is off to Ngorongoro
Crater to try and find rhinos, and then I finally get to live my
childhood dream, the one that brought me here: Serengeti. After that,
Lake Natron and Maasai home-stay. I'm sure I speak for Thea and I though
when I say that thoughts of the Indian Ocean will never be far from our
minds, and we are excited to return and introduce Sarah (who changed
her ISP after seeing our pictures) to our coastal paradise.
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