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After one more overnight stay in Dar es Salaam, we headed North for another night in Tanga. It was nice to be familiar with the place upon arrival. After a 9-hour, uneventful bus ride, we arrived at 9 pm and had our choice of taxis. As it turned out, our driver was instrumental to our functioning over the next couple of days. We went back to the Inn By The Sea, otherwise referred to as the ‘Inn By The Theives’ because someone stole our binoculars from our room last time. Still it was the easiest and cheapest place to stay. We were just more careful.

We spent our time in Tanga taking care of business - planning our trip to the Island of Pemba, emailing, posting cards, co-ordinating boat and bus tickets, etc. Everything takes about 5 times longer than you expect. We eagerly returned to our room to see if Jay’s booby traps had been tripped by the thieves. All was well. The aforementioned cabby took us to our ferry earlier in the morning. Just as the ferry was leaving, he came jumping back on the boat to get us. We forgot to pay for our room at The Inn by The Thieves! He was nice enough to deliver the money to them. Nothing like having the Tanzanian mob after you.

Pemba is an Island just north of Zanzibar. It is more remote, has less tourists and thus was more attractive to us than Zanzibar. The ferry was more like an overloaded freighter with seats. Jammed packed with people, products and bad smells. We found a small corner by the door as every possible seat was taken. We were asked to move to the ‘tourist’ area which was a totally segregated, glass enclosed room with lots of seats. We weren’t about to sit there with all the crammed locals staring at us. We stuck it out where we were. We arrived on Pemba Island where we had made reservations in the ‘Sharook Guest House’. We were met at the Wete dock by the usual flood of touts offering to escort us to the best guesthouse in town. One guy said he knew we called and would take us to Sharook’s Guesthouse. We were suspicious and tried everything in our power to get rid of this guy. We couldn’t figure out how he knew we called. We felt pretty bad when we discovered that he was actually Mr. Sharook’s son! We met two fellow malaria sufferers at the guest house and spent a few days hanging out with them. It was good for Jay to sympathize/sulk with them.

The first day on the island, we took a guided tour to a neighboring island to see some remote villages and old ruins. We hung out with a group of local kids (real tough guys) while we were there. They were so cute; they loved seeing their pictures on the digital camera and kept asking Jay to take more. We also went on a walking tour of the village of Wete where we were staying.

On the walk, we passed several spice fields with garlic, mint, cardamon, tea, and cinnamon; the smells were amazing. We also came across a sort of family backyard jamboree. The group was singing old Swahili songs to deep drum beats while dancing to the music. A rare sight for tourists. Then our guide took us to his house to meet some locals and have some coffee. They love talking to westerners because most of them are just learning English and enjoy the chance to really try what they know.

The following day, we rented a motorbike and explored the north of the island (approximately 14 kilometers). The village kids would see us approaching and rush to the roadside to call out “Mozungo, Mozungo, Jambo” (whitman, whiteman, hello). Tracey waved the entire drive while Jason drove through the obstacle course of potholes. He managed to throw Tracey off the back of the bike only twice. Just a few cuts and burns to show for it. The roads were horrible, but the scenery was beautiful. We first visited a beach with crystal clear waters and blinding white sand. You could see your feet when you were above head deep water - it was amazing! On our way back to the guest house, we took a walking tour of the protected forest and learned all about the natural medicines used from the plants and trees. We were very impressed at how much our young guide knew.

We spent one day relaxing in the village, enjoying the rain and meeting the friendly locals. Wete, and all of Pemba, is a very peaceful, Muslim community. On our last Pemba day, we were invited by Andrew, a guy we met (from Vancouver!) to go with him and friends to a remote beach on the North of the island. The group consisted of a local and a group of westerners doing research or volunteering on the island. A two hour dusty drive later, we arrived at one of the most beautiful and secluded beaches ever. Never-ending white sand, huge waves and nobody but us. It was awesome. One notable character we met was Hajj (the local), who is involved in the primitive fishery assessment on Pemba. Thus, him and Jason had much to dicsuss. He is very active in local environmental projects and spent most of his day picking up trash that washed up on the beach. Quite an inspiring fellow. He has been sponsored to attend a conference in Vancouver in February so hopefully some of you will get to meet him.

Against our instincts, we booked a cheaper boat back to Tanga. Mistake! This tiny shitbox was crammed with way to many people. We had about 1 square foot each. Then the drive shaft snapped and we floated for 2 hours. We arrived in Tanga worn out and behind schedule so we decided to skip any business we had planned and went for some dinner and drinks. The next day we set up our final Tanzania adventure to the Usumbaro Mountains.

The bus ride to Lushoto in the Usumbaro Mountains was typical of our African travel experiences. We were shuffled from bus to bus and then after a breakdown we were transferred to a Matatu (minivan turned into a bus, which carries an average of 20+ people). We made it to our guest house and met up with our guide Kibwana who was referred to us by one of the research students on Pemba.

The Usambaro Mountains are full of lush hiking trails through remote villages. The houses and agricultural fields are built into the mountain sides. We planned 3 single day treks. It turned out that Kibwana was a little round at the waste, so although the first day was very interesting, we wanted a little more. When we asked for more challenging hikes, he agreed, but you could see the pain in his eyes. During the three days, Kibwana took us to some beautiful look-off points, we visited mountain villages, enjoyed delicious picnics of market fresh veggies and fruit and toured a local orphanage. When the village children saw us, they would run over, singing the familiar Mozungo chorus and would follow us far past their village. We also shared the trails with the local women and men, going about their daily lives. It was a wonderful cultural experience.

Kibwana accompanied us down the mountains to the highway where we caught our bus back to Nairobi. Fortunately, this ride was problem free. We arrived in Nairobi, got a cab to a decent place for the night and prepared for our flight out of the Dark Continent. Having already been to Nairobi, the shock of the city was a little less this time and we handled it well. Maybe we even learned a thing or two since we were last in the city 2 months beforehand.

Overall, our experience in Africa was incredible. Kenya and Tanzania were beautiful, scary, relaxing and stressful, all in one. We wouldn’t trade them for anywhere else we’ve been.

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