A Couple of Days at the Beach:

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The first time I went to Kipopao was during our first week of “In Country Training”. The Thursday of that week was a national holiday. They call the day, Saba Saba, which mean Seven Seven… the seventh day of the seventh month.

We all met at the lobby of the Econo Lodge and walked through the city to the ferry docks. For 100 tsh (Tanzanian shillings), which is equal to approximately 8 cents CAD, we took a 10 minute ferry across the harbor to Mjimwena.

While it is so close to Dar es Salaam, this place is like another world. The number of fishing boats when arriving is amazing. You would think things are much more primitive on this side of the harbor, but there are many people who live here and work in Dar.

We walked along the beach to an area where they have limestone kilns on the beach. The area is rich in limestone, so they create this kilns made of logs. They then pile the limestone high on the logs and light it wood on fire. There is a lot of smoke and eventually the limestone breaks down into a powder. They bag it, and use the powder in the soil to neutralize the soil. This is all done for the sake of farming.

Near to these kilns are a series of shacks, and lean-tos. It is a little village of locals who come here to cook their lunches, etc on the weekends.

After touring the limestone area, we made our way to Kipopao Beach. This place is gorgeous. Only 7 km from downtown, this is paradise. The white sand is gorgeous and the water was warmer than the air on the day we first went there. There are the typical vendors on the beach, but they are far and few between compared to what we experienced in Puerto Vallarta. The beach is huge and the number of people is relatively few, so there is lots of room to spread out. They even have waiters who will take care of your food & beverage needs.

I returned to Kipopao last weekend for the day and I think it may become my weekly getaway. There are even a couple of resorts there that you can book a hotel room for Saturday night. It is relatively cheap and I like I am on vacation.

Link to resort: www.sunrisebeachresort.co.tz

There is another national holiday coming up on August 8th. They call it Nane Nane… eighth day of eighth month. I will probably spend the long weekend here reading books on my Kindle which, by the way, is amazing!!!!

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Comments

[Cath]

Limestone
With your experience of lime kiln and lime ridge, you could've had quite a conversation with the locals, if your Kiswahili [?] was in a bit better shape. The beach with the resort looks beautiful--always the contrast with the rusted tin roofs and the very well used fishing boats in other photos, eh?