24 MAY 2015

With the sound of the Indian Ocean lapping up to the white sands of Pongwe, a gentle breeze tempering the remaining heat of the day, the sweet taste of the slipper lobster lingering on my lips; and it puts a whole new stamp on the day.

Our day started at Arusha in the morning shadow of Mount Meru, and it seemed that the long awaited wet has come – or least given a taste of things to come. Heavy rain beat a tune on the roof of our lodgings during the night, but just heavy cloud remained as we arose. We bade farewell to Doctor Gordon and Sophie whom we will catch up with when we are in Brisbane, Jon and Sandra, who are leaving St Judes to take up some educational work in Rwanda, and the St Jude’s staff who looked after us so well over the past couple of weeks.

Our Precision Air flight was from Arusha airport which seems to cater mainly for small aircraft, and Jenny was quite alarmed to see that the largest plane there was about a 16 seater. Our plane arrived in due course and Jen was relieved to see that it was the ATR 72. It was quite cramped and with basic comfort but a smooth enough flight. Zanzibar airport was like a cauldron and within moments our shirts were wet and clinging. Immigration control involves writing your name and passport number on a scrap of paper which is not read, so it is a remarkably quick process to go through the formalities, We are getting quite adept at brushing away the grasping hands reaching to take command of our baggage, and we soon found Sammy, holding aloft a sign: “William”.

Our car is a little Suzuki 4WD which is big enough for the 2 of us and our luggage. Sam came along for a couple of kilometres then pulled over gave us some paperwork: we paid him $150 and promised to meet him at the Zanzibar Ferry Terminal at 11.30 Friday. It was a very informal transaction. Our first job was to find the ferry terminal as we need to confirm and pay for our tickets two days before departure. It was a very interesting exercise negotiating the narrow and twisting lanes of Stonetown. We managed to find the terminal, and miraculously, a car space. As we alighted the car the heavens opened, so what was a sweat-drenched set of clothes became thoroughly sodden with tropical rains. Again we had to fight off the helping hands and people willing to take to your destination, for a price of course. We came away, not quite unscathed, but with tickets.

We then set about finding our way to Pongwe. Sam had left us a rudimentary map, and waved his hand vaguely in an Easterly direction, but Stonetoown is not the easiest place to navigate, with its confusing pattern of lanes and streets, roads clogged with everything from barrows, cyclists, motor bikes, busses, tractors, pedestrians all competing for a piece of the road. Armed with a temporary confidence and memory of observations from the Dala Dalas in Arusha, we tooted and swerved our way through the streets until we got to something that looked a little like the road we needed. By this time we noticed that my IPad had a saved map of Zanzibar showing the probable roads, and an indication of our position on the map. Thank you Google! Soon the road cleared and we were able to scoot along confidently.

Eventually however, the paved road gave way to a quite good dirt road, but we were thrown into confusion as the road deteriorated to a narrow track strewn with pothole and lake-like puddles left behind after the recent heavy rains. We asked a helpful looking chap and his hand swept confidently in the direction we were going – Pongwe, ya, ya, keep going. So we stumbled on until Jen’s courage gave way when we confronted a fairly wide creek of unknown depth. As it happened, a young man came by on a motor bike, and he assured us he was going to Pongwe, and that path was navigable, so we set off in pursuit. The path became even narrower, with the thorny scrub reaching out to grasp us as we passed by trying to dodge the worst of the puddles. The little Suzuki did a great job, never once faltering, even if the driver was inclined to. After about 10km of this, we eventually came to the main road where our guide pointed us in the right direction. We asked him if we could give him some money in appreciation, and unlike the graspers of the city, he seemed genuinely taken aback, but did of course agree, and rode away with an unexpected 20,000 shillings in his pocket. Without his guiding we would still be stumbling around the hinterland of Zanzibar. As we had  passed through an occasional village, the often sullen looking locals did not seem overly happy to see us, so being lost in the dark in their territory was not an attractive proposition.

Pongwe Beach Hotel is set off the main road and the track was not unlike the worst of what we had already traversed. Still, seeing the welcome gate was a great relief, as was being met with refreshments and a wet towel to cool us.

We have the same pleasant room as last year with our own pool which I put to immediate use. There are only about nine people staying at the hotel, so there is plenty of attention and service. Jen is already road testing the bed.

Now for some serious relaxing! We will have a bit of an explore tomorrow, and definitely find a more direct route back to Stonetown.

till next post, kwaheri.