Back in Africa #3

We have been here for 5 weeks now and I am writing this blog from the beach in Pangani. It is a beautiful spot and one that I have been to be before many years ago! 1999 to be precise – I was here with the kids and some friends while John was travelling to Rwanda. I visited the lodge that we stayed in and, unfortunately, it is closed and run down at the moment. There are plans to renovate so I look forward to seeing it when it has been restored. As I look up, I can see coconut trees blowing in the breeze and, with the Indian Ocean behind me, it is a writer’s paradise.

I have had 2 ‘firsts’ happen to me since I last wrote – one horrendous, the other, amazing….I will get to them shortly.

We left Arusha for our trip down South on the 4th June. We stopped in Moshi which is about an hour and a half from Arusha. We made a stop here so that we could check it out for future reference. We liked it, it is a much quieter place than Arusha which is somewhat chaotic especially in town. We are remaining open and flexible to where we will do what we want to do here and so, everywhere we go, we wonder…..

In Moshi we stayed at a place called TPC which has to be seen to be believed! It is East Africa’s biggest sugar factory – it employs 10,000 people, has its own school, hospital, football league and lodge to name but a few things and it also boasts its own electrical and water supply. It is a massive project and it excited me and John with what is possible when you put your mind to something.

After TPC, we went into Moshi town and stayed in yet another hotel (it soon loses its ‘romance’) the highlight here though was that you could see Kilimanjaro from the hotel! I never tire of staring at that mountain. John treated me to lunch in a ‘food court’ in an outdoor park – it cost the grand total of £3 for food and drink – he knows how to take a girl out on a date!! He also had a £1 haircut – If you’ve seen the movie, ‘Dirty Rotten Scoundrels’ – Ruprick – (you know who I mean, no idea how to spell it!) I needn’t say more!

Transport has been our biggest challenge while we have been out here because anyone who knows Tanzania knows that, if you don’t control a situation, you never know what could happen next. We have been in many ‘cars’ (I’m sure some of them wouldn’t be allowed on the road in Britain). So, with this in mind, planning on how to make the long trip to Tanga, was another challenge. We went to the bus station which was completely manic. Touts were everywhere wanting our custom, we stuck out like sore thumbs. We eventually got ‘guided’ to a stand by a policeman and so we thought we were in safe hands. We purchased tickets which cost about £10 for the two of us. (for a 6 hour journey?? we should have known better) Anyway, we checked out the company with Innocent, a great friend who’s opinion we trust and he said, ‘no, don’t do it!’ If a Tanzanian says no to a bus company, then who was I to argue! We hired a driver from the hotel instead which of course cost us a great deal more than £10 but, I am alive to write this blog! So it was worth the cost.

Our final destination was Pangani for a couple of days on the beach before our seminars started in Tanga. We tried to get a bus again but it was absolutely packed to the rafters and so we said, ‘thanks but not thanks, we will get a taxi tomorrow!’

Slightly disappointed that we weren’t making the beach that day, we quickly resigned ourselves that that was the way it was and we stayed in a place we have stayed in many times before, the first time being 1997. The Panori – The same staff are still there now but it is very run down and it was here that I had my first ‘first’ and it was the horrendous one!

During the night, I felt like I was being bitten all over the place, thumbs, ear, hand, arm and I couldn’t figure out what it was but then it/they went for my eye and I started to scratch it thinking it was a mosquito bite. When I woke up – although I’m not so sure I slept! – I couldn’t open my eye, it looked like I had been in a boxing ring. (see photos). I asked John if he’d hit me but he denied it so I just accepted that it was a mosquito! I donned my sunglasses for the next couple of days and, even now, 3 days later, it still isn’t quite right. I do have two red marks on my eye which has convinced me that it wasn’t a mosquito. I don’t know what it was but it has made my likelihood of going back to the Panori rather unlikely!

The next day, after a long and arduous journey, (taxi driver got lost), we eventually arrived at the beach and all of the previous days ‘woes’ melted away. Emayani Beach Lodge. What a stunning place. And here is where my number two ‘first’ happened.

Near where we were staying, there is a turtle project that was begun by a German couple. They are working with a neighbouring village and are helping to protect the turtle which is very endangered. We were told that at 5.30pm on this particular day, the turtles were about to hatch and run into the ocean. This we had to see. We had seen it on David Attenborough’s TV show, ‘Africa,’ but, to see it in real life, was amazing! 150 baby turtles running to the sea. It was great. Saddened to hear though that the statistic of survival is 1 in a 1000! Only 1 will make it to adulthood. All the more reason to support projects such as ‘Maziwe’ What a privilege. http://www.friendsofmaziwe.com if you’d like to know more.

It is the wonder of East Africa, you go from moments of despair (bites, buses and getting lost) to moments of elation in a matter of 48 hours. It never ceases to amaze me. I sit here in the evening breeze of Pangani wondering what our final two weeks will bring…..Thanks for reading and I will see you then……