Hot Hot on the East Coast of Tanzania

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After one very hot, very sweaty bus ride, which took an "African five hours" - meaning nine - and one absolutely terrible-but-can't-stop-watching Bollywood movie, we arrived in Tanga. They say it takes two to Tanga. But in this case it was about ten. We were not even off the bus (we actually still had another stop to go) when a crowd of taxi drivers invaded the bus, hassling us to come with them. They tried to convince us that it was the last stop and there was no other way to get to our hostel. After the bus driver came back from unloading some luggage, he promptly kicked the taxi-drivers off the bus and we continued to the real last stop. There, once again, we were plagued by more taxi drivers. They were worse than the "ticks" trying to sell us tours and various items on the street. They found it very hard to believe that we were going to walk to our hostel, and even claimed that it was closed - all in an effort to get our business and to take us to their buddy's hotel.

Once we shook off the ticks, life was good. Some people say that when one door closes, another one opens... well we ended up pretty lost looking for our hostel. We were hot, sticky, dusty... and pretty fed up with wandering around, following conflicting sets of instructions. (Never trust Tanzanian taxi drivers.) But then, to our great surprise we ended up near the ocean front and we found a great place to stay, right beside a small city park that also turned out to be a great local place for dining. We quickly checked ourselves into the Seaview and headed out for a cheap meal of Zanzibar hot soup - we were not really sure what was in it, except for a good dose of local potato crisps. We also scored a giant plate of fresh cut pineapple, mango, watermelon, papaya and cucumber. All for about $3. So far Tanzanian food has been simple, delicious and cheap. All of our favourite things. Tanga was really just a stepping stone to get to the coast - we had not yet been able to swim in Tanzania!

One highlight while we were in Tanga was Fraser's haircut. The hair-cutter ignored his length request and shaved his entire head, and face, while he was at it! But it cost less than a dollar, so Hakuna Matata, as we were told by many Tanzanians.

With our laundry done, our bags packed and wallets stuffed (literally stuffed: 1 US dollar was worth about 2000 TZ shillings, so you can imagine how much cash $300 looked like. Ushongo, where we were headed, had no banks or ATMs, so we had to stock up), we started our slightly crazy journey to Ushongo, just south of Pangani. We thought it was going to be pretty straightforward, but the hostel we were targeting was not quite as easily accessible as we had pictured. First we took a tuk-tuk (a motor-tricycle) from our hostel to what the young driver called the bus stop, which looked more like a random spot on the side of the road to us. Sometimes it's amazing how much faith we have put in others to get us from one place to the next. The tuk-tuk was followed by a dalla-dalla, or mini-van to Pangani (picture 27 people crammed in a 16-seater van!), then by a ferry across the Pangani River, and the journey finished with us on the back of small motorbikes on a 16km dirt road ride to Ushongo. We had some great help along the journey: the local representative of the Pangani tourist association (named HotHot, what a great handle!) was super helpful. After he'd set us up with our motorcycle drivers he literally followed us on his bicycle through town for a while, stopping to show us a few things on the way to the ferry. Talk about service!

Ushongo was extremely relaxing; we ended up staying longer than we had planned. It is a tiny fishing village where everything seemed just about perfect. Our banda, or tiny hut, was right on the sand with miles and miles of empty beaches only steps away. As it was still the low season for tourism (we figure it likely isn't even very busy during the high season, it is pretty far out of the way!), for the entire 5 days we saw only a handful of other tourists. The seafood couldn't get much fresher! And the Stoney Tangawizi drinks and Kilimanjaro and Safari beers, if not always cold, were still delicious. Ushongo was exactly the place we needed to be for a while. As much fun as traveling all over has been fantastic, we needed to stay put and do a little nothing for a bit. Our do-list was simple: swim before breakfast, read, walk the beach and chat with locals, venture into the village to pick up lunch (which was usually mango, avocado, tomatoes, chapatti bread and these great potatoes that were roasted, breaded, then fried with hot sauce), read, yoga (which caused the children to get fits of giggles), walk the beach, happy hour, dinner, watch the stars... repeat. We really did miss work. Said us, never.

After Ushongo we took another airy, if slightly uncomfortable (for Fraser. Nancy was in heaven) motorcyle taxi back north to Pangani, where we ended up chilling out in this sleepy town. Worth noting is the great local street food and awesome spiced hot milk. This was such a small town, with one main market area we frequented, and we began to feel like we were actually getting known by the locals. Again, there were only a few "mazungos" so it was pretty easy to spot us. One afternoon we rented some ill-fitting bikes, and sweated our way out of town for a change of scenery.

We weren't in a rush to catch a bus to the big city of Dar es Salam to the south, so we stayed for a few extra days in Pangani. This turned out to be a great decison. After hearing that the other tourist in Pangani was looking to share a boat ride to Zanzibar, we quickly changed our minds about the bus and ended up short-cutting to Zanzibar across Zanzibar Channel, a 5 hour boat ride from Pangani. The slightly decrepit boat didn't break any speed records, what with the 15hp motor, but thanks to the regular bailing by the captain she kept afloat the entire way to Zanzibar. And get this - especially Soo folks - we were crossing the Channel, with no land in sight, on the Indian Ocean, and our boat driver stopped to answer his cell. Also, earlier on this trip we have literally seen locals emerge from their mud huts in their bicycle-tire sandals chatting on their cell phone. So.... Tanzanians make very little money and some live rather remotely yet they still have great cellular access. Do you hear this Canada! Ok. Rant is over.

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Photos

No... we didn't get to drive them.
Weaving our way through sisal plantations (the fibre used to make the fabric worn by most women), on soft, yet packed sand, the wind in our helmetless hair... not a care in the world (except for Fraser's squashed crotch)).

Paradise?
Yes it was - the bed was actually really good and the mosquito net kept the bugs away - unlike our Costa Rica experience 20 years ago!

Fishing industry in Pangani.
Millions of little fish drying on the beach.