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Published: March 9th 2007
Tanga is a sleepy friendly town onshore from the northern Zanzibar archipelago island of Pemba. Tanga was a pleasant surprise. Grown from the heydays of the most important eastern African port, it reduced in importance with the competition from the other eastern African country ports. It has probably one of the most reasonably priced accommodation in Tanzania - the cozy Ocean Breeze hotel was ours for just 12$ a room. Without the touts and the fledgling tourist infrastructure, one is assured of being able to walk around and get a local feel of the place.
We settled in and went out to search for a late bite to eat. With bellies filled we then decided to take up the invitation for a drink at the
Tanga Social Club from Mr. Amir who Richy befriended during the many stops using the Simba Video bus. We found the place and in stepping through the doors stepped back in time to the colonial days africa (minus the dastardly colonials - Richy and his shorts too under dressed to play that part 😊 - hehe). The bar, decor and manner were as it would have been in the 50's when the place was opened.
Sure enough Mr. Amir was there and we tucked into a cold beer and great conversation with Mr. Amir about Tanzania past and present. Joined by his friend Mr Joshi, whom Mr Amir had not seen in a good few years, we continued to drink the night away celebrating new and old friendships under the slow rotating ceiling fans and persistent mossies. Thank you for the laughs and the generosity of your hospitality gentlemen!!!
The morning of our departure, after a lie in from the happy juice, began with views and cries of hawkers making up chai for the morning breakfast crowd in the market opposite the road. Not wanting to waste the morning away, we got up to get some pictures and San went on her quest to look for a head scarf to serve as a headband, shawl or even beach wrap. The centre of town is actually the administrative centre, so other than offices and some places selling food, there is no where to buy clothes. After asking around, she went on her own across the railway line where the hub of daily shopping lay. After some 15min of searching, in vain, she went into a
fabric shop and chose her own piece of cloth and have her muti-purpose garment made up instead. A real return to the 60's in Malaysia where fashion was individually created, without the trappings of mass china/ vietnam factory production and 'everyone should look like Kate Moss in that MNG number'. With glee, the hunt for a roadside seamstress was on. Promptly one was located outside a local chemist, working on other orders on her trusty Singer. The proprietress of the shop on hearing the chicken and duck talk that ensued with the swahili speaking lady, came out to translate. Easy conversation flowed whilst waiting on a little wooden bench that had been provided by the enterprising seamstress. Life could not be more nostalgic sitting under the shade of the 5 foot way as the town buzzed on in the background as locals went about their business. Within 10 minutes the garments were completed under skillful hands and one scarf and one shawl for a princely 7 Tanzanian dollars 😊
Food palace is another gem in this little treasure box. Managed with an eagle eye, Mr Jitu makes sure his kitchen runs to time to churn out delicious curries and
Masalas. This is one place not to be missed. A tad reluctantly, we trundled off to the tiny airport in the afternoon to board out tiny plane (10 seater cessna). We traveled the 100km across azure seas to
Pemba's capital, Chaka Chaka.
After catching a taxi into town we began the normally straight forward hunt for digs. But our complacency was to bite us... big time!
Three hours later we had checked out ALL the 5 overpriced available places in town to stay and walked 2km with full gear to Mamy Inn - a very run down house but the cheapest at USD$20 a night. They didn't throw in the fact that it was overrun by mosquitoes which was still ok, nor the fact that there was NO running water - not OK. We persevered stoically on thinking about sticking to a reasonable budget and brushing off the the buzzing critters that stuck to our sweaty smelly bodies which acted like it had a film of UHU glue - for about half an hour. In the end under moonlight, we walked the 2km back into town and bit the bullet for more costly accommodation at the Pemba
Island Hotel. This place was paradise by this second visit! It had air conditioning for crying out loud and satellite tv - luxuries rarely experienced for hard cores like us *cough*! Our beleaguered arrival gave a good backdrop for Richy's bargaining skills. We ended up getting the local rate for our room - we must have looked destitute! The feeling of gratefulness and gratitude at this stage is overwhelming and completely otherwise indescribable. Another good man, Nassor, the hotel manager.
The following days were spent cycling to some very ruined ruins at Pujini, walking to the very simple fishing village of Wesha and diving the reefs of Misali island.
We had really looked forward to Pemba for a bit of tranquility and beach life. We ended up generally disappointed with the place. Heavily over priced for what it has to offer - the diving was a whopping 115Euros for 2 average dives and accommodation at least double that on Zanzibar and mainland. Having said that it did have its rewarding experiences. The street scene outside Mamy, as we walked back into town, was candle lit as the villagers mingled chatting away around the food stalls powered by charcoal
- people shouting 'Hujamba' and 'selamat' as you go by - kids running off giggling when you replied to their 'how are you's?' and chanting bye bye endlessly, running after your bike or walking behind in a group at a safe distance. This was a place where travellers are viewed rarely and as a curiosity, a group of people that provided some entertainment for them to watch on amused at our strange behaviour - where a Chinese girl cycles (being very conservative, no girls or women cycle there) and walking to places like Wesha when others took transport.
We waited in Chaka Chaka for 5 days until the next ferry was scheduled for Stone Town in Zanzibar. We took a packed bus from Chaka to Mkoani mid morning and waited in line in the muggy heat to board the out-of-place, plush catermaran ferry with the crowd all surging forward to try and get on the narrow plank way. Once on board we settled amongst the unripe bananas and spice sacks for the 3 hour journey south and glad to be on the next leg of our journey. On arrival in Stone Town we exited the port and headed to
the nearby inn where we managed to get a good deal as it was out of the center. Our room looked down into a narrow alleyway and at night you could see the lighted street and watch people as they went to neighbours houses and shouted upstairs to be let in, in the good old way before door bells and cell phones. That same afternoon, we headed out after a much appreciated shower (it is hot there!) walked the maze of streets looking for the Air Tanzania office to get our tickets that would take us from Zanzibar to Johannesburg- following the map in the lonely planet we were let down again - we have found that with many of the lonely planet books, the latest issue is so out of date that most businesses and prices, even currencies have moved on. A useful tip for any guidebook is make sure the edition is no more than 18 months out of date!
At sundown we settled into a nice little restaurant/bar (Livingstone) with a little sandy beach to view the sunset from while sipping a reasonably priced ice-cold beer with kids and adults alike diving off the nearby jetty
and taking in their sunset swim at the end of the day. Stone town is another bizzare stop - an old, historical town infused with Arabic influence holding on to its character and unique charm despite the descending on it of thousands of tourists each year. Fortunately the maze of streets means that you rarely see your own kind while turning the many corners of narrow alley ways where cars can't get through so much transporting of goods still rely on men pulling and pushing carts. We sussed that the only way to reliably head in the right direction was to use the position of the sun as the streets slowing persuade you away from your general direction as you round every 'not quite' 90 degree corner.
We happened to be there just before the start of the
Sauti za Busara - an annual music festival that brought together performers from the Swahili speaking countries for a celebration of sound and dance. We were lucky to be able to catch the opening festival which got off to a jerky start with the mikes not working. Not that anyone really cared! It may not have the finesse of a Madonna concert but
why should it have? It is not about the flashy commercialism of music that supports artists' big Humvees and personal trainers. Rather, the enthusiasm and talents showcased brought out the true spirit of performance and music. Rhythms and beats meant for everyone and anyone, not just for those that could fork out for $200 tickets - only $10 per head here. Held at the fort, it lived up to the name of being the 'friendliest festival on Planet Earth'.
The Forodhani gardens just outside the fort host a nightly seafood market where everyone mingles as the sun starts to go down. Not unlike a Pasar Malam in Malaysia, minus the fresh produce and clothes. There was anything from grilled fish to murtabak (annoyingly known as 'Zanzibari Pizza'. - its like calling chow mien a spaghetti!). The atmosphere is generally relaxed, peppered with the bargaining and grassroots level marketing of 'how my stall will give you good value for money' that blights tourists even at the food level. On the subject of food and drinks, we also visited Mercury's Bar between the port and town, a homage to the islands most famous son, Freddy mercury who was born there.
An early morning visit to the market would have been a pleasant trip, unfortunately we never got up early enough. The prices here a lot cheaper than the touristy shops in town if you were looking for some scarves and food. The Palace museum was a hideout from the heat one of the afternoons with very good write ups on the history of Zanzibar ranging from the people, the culture, the trade-links. We were surprised that even with the amount of tourist money pouring in, the building is showing its age dramatically. The top floor balconies gives one a pretty layout of the town and port area, a nice close to a few hours with the museum exhibits.
So, that was our time in Tanzania over and we headed to the airport for our Air Tanzania flight in a rickety 737 200 series to Joburg. A few days here mall shopping and chilling and off again to Windhoek Namibia.... read about this one in a few weeks.....
Take care all! Comforting comments from back home are more than welcome!
The frustrating thing about
Zanzibar and Pemba was that no-one was comfortable with being photographed unless
it was for money. A little frustrating for Rich as you can imagine but a nice opportunity to put the camera away and let life flow by. We were glad that we were not staying in one of the fancy resorts which would only have allowed us a glimpse of the town and the people which is the real pulse of the place. Sure, we didn't have the chance to laze by a pool or your own private beach but we wouldn't have wanted to travel in any other way....
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Jason Frost
non-member comment
Nam
Rich & San, Enjoy Namibia - I guess that you're going to check out Etosha and all that it adds. If you get to Swakopmund, you could pay a visit to the Uranium mine that I worked at in the summer of '89. I also have vague memories of a pub called Kúkies Pub (not sure of the spelling), where the garlic chips were a revelation (but that could have been the beer). It's also where I discovered the Stroh Rum (remember that, Richy?). Don't forget to go into the desert to see the most boring plant (and oldest) in the World - the welwitchia mirabilus. You could also try some dune surfing. Enjoy. I look forward to seeing the pics, Jason