Island Hopping to Pemba

Pemba had been on my list of places I'd like to visit in Tanzania since my last trip here, but it's not an easy destination to get to. I even contemplated including it when I was drafting up some tentative travel plans before leaving Canada this time, but getting there was either long or expensive. If it hadn't been for a poster in my Tanga hotel showing a $65US price to fly from Tanga to Pemba, I would never have gone.

What a mistake that would have been.

The plane ride over was worth every penny, for starters.

There's a dhow (traditional wooden boat) hanging out by this sand bank.
I wouldn't mind hanging out with them.

My first view of Pemba Island was actually the smaller islands on what
I guess you could call 'the outer bank' before the sea floor drops away.

I arrived at the airport on the east side of the island and caught a taxi to the capital city of Chake Chake. The city is built on a hill above Chake Chake Bay and I could walk from one end to the other in about 20 minutes. Two other wazungu got off the plane in Pemba, but they were picked up by a resort car. After that, I saw one white person my entire trip and he was a Peace Corp volunteer, not a tourist.

The view from my first hotel. It was closed my second night so I had to move to another one.

Pemba is beautiful but very poor. While both Zanzibar and Pemba feel that they are forgotten by the mainland government, Pemba is also forgotten by the semi-autonomous Zanzibari government. Unemployment is high and salaries, even for government jobs, are below what they are worth elsewhere. Politics is a big topic in Pemba, and I was a willing participant. "What do you think of CCM?" I'd ask feigning innocence, then I'd sit back and let them ramble.

I booked a guide, Nassor, for a full day tour of the island for Friday. We started by heading out the peninsula Ras Mkumbuu to the Qanbalu Ruins. The ruins are believed to be Africa's oldest Muslim town and a large portion of the Friday mosque remains.

The mihrab wall (the niche that points towards Mecca) from the outside.
The round structure is where the Iman would stand to call people to prayer.

After we were done checking out the ruins, we walked back to Nassor's car which was parked by the hut used by the anti-smuggling police. They were sitting down to breakfast and invited us to join them for some chai (tea), tuna, and cassava. Sometimes the best parts of travel are the parts you could never plan.

Have breakfast here? Well, if you insist!

We drove up to Wete, the second largest city, where I saw Pemba's Flying Foxes, fruit bats which are endemic to the island of Pemba. I've received a few odd looks over the years when I say this but I think bats are beautiful so I was delighted that we spied some in a tree.

Washing day near Wete

When we returned to Chake Chake, I headed to a little hut I had discovered earlier for some mishkaki na chipsi (beef skewers and chips). It was run by the delightful Hatim (at least, I think it was. My swahili is limited, and so is his English.) They were elated when I returned a second night in a row, although Kilo - their friend who spoke very decent English - wasn't there so the conversation was a bit more a struggle without someone to translate. As I was leaving, they asked if they'd see me the next day. In Swahili, I explained that I was going to Unguja (Zanzibar) the next morning, but that I hoped to return to Pemba some day and spend more time there. Hatim nodded, smiled, and then said in English, "I know you will be back." I hope you're right, Hatim.

Hatim's wife, Hatim, and the cook. If you ever go to Pemba, I'll give you directions.
You will not find friendlier service in Chake Chake.

The boat to Zanzibar leaves from Mtoani at the south end of the island but there isn't a hotel there (well, there is but none of the reviews sounded too positive), so I was up before the sun for one last car ride with Nassor. After he dropped me off, I walked the length of the pier while people swam in the water on one side and fishermen prepped their boats as they returned from a night of fishing on the other. 

The fishing dhows winding down after a night of fishing

I boarded the ferry (which was also a cargo ship), found someone sitting in my seat who refused to move, ended up sitting a few rows over after climbing over a sleeping family on the floor, moved my bags so someone else could also store their chickens there, and settled in for the five hour ferry ride to Stone Town.

Coastal Humidity

Our travel day to Pangani was long and hot. I had tried to buy tickets the day before but one of our new friends – he’s a friend; he’s added me on What’s App. I just can’t remember his name – said that we didn’t need to. Buses to Tanga (where we would have to change buses) leave every 30 minutes. I kept asking which of there were the fast buses to Tanga. “Oh, they’re all fast. Four hours to Tanga. All of them.”

Haven’t sworn on this blog yet, but I have to start. Bullshit.

I knew, from my previous visits, that there are regular buses to Tanga but that two of the companies are known for being quicker than the other ones. Well, we didn’t catch either of those companies. What should have been a 4-hour ride to Tanga, turned into a 6.5-hour bus ride. This was followed up by the slow bus to Pangani. It was slow because it was one of the big busses that drives the route so it had to stop in every village to pick-up and drop-off supplies. Ben, an Englishman we had met in Lushoto, left an hour after us and arrived in Pangani almost two hours before us.

If you could see my face right now, it’s making the Queen Victoria ‘We are not amused’ face.

To add to the joy of the bus ride, once we were out of the Usambara Mountains, the temperature was a cool 32°C with a humidity of 75%. That was it for TC. No more Tanzanian bus rides after that one.

On the upside, this is how the ride ended.
It was followed by a beer. Then another beer.

You will all be relieved to know that Fawlty Tower’s Manuel has been reincarnated as the well-intentioned but social awkward Balthazar of Seaside Community Centre Hostel, Pangani. In his odd, inept way, he kind of made Pangani for us. Our first night there, we decided to stick to the hostel for dinner. Balthazar brought us a menu. We ordered and he let us know that they were out of everything we wanted. What did they have, you ask? Fish. Lots of fish, such as red snapper. Oh, we love snapper. We’ll have that. They’re all out of red snapper. If our plates had arrived with chicken on them instead of fish, I would not have been surprised.

TC and Ben discovered that when you order fish in Tanzania, you get the whole fish. Head, eyes, angry little mouth included. I knew this; I have no idea why I didn’t think to tell them. We ended up ordering a larger fish divided between the three of us. I got the tail which was easy to eat. Ben got the middle, and poor TC got the head.

This was a different order of fish, but you get the idea.
Also, I obviously have no problem with my food looking at me as I eat it.

The thing was, this continued the entire time we were there. Settling our bill after a few beers on the beach? I’d like to pay now. You pay? Yes. Now? Yes. Okay, so you will pay now. Yes. Okay. [Awkward pause while he stands there looking at you.] I will bring you the bill now, yes? Oh good grief, YES!

Perhaps the best service we got was when there was no service because everything
stopped for a Tanzanian Premier League game.

Our days in Pangani were very lazy. For one thing, there isn’t much to do. For another it, it is so hot by 11am that you don’t want to do much. And the humidity! It didn’t matter if you showered in the morning or the evening; the minute you stepped out of the shower, you started to sweat. Sitting in the shade on the beach wasn’t too bad because there was a slight breeze. Walking around town involved multiple stops to have a cold something; pop, water, beer. It didn’t really matter, it just had to be cold!

The view from one of our cold liquid refreshment stops

We lost Ben to beaches on the south side of the river, but we picked up Lucas, a nomadic Dutchman, in the process. He happily came with us to eat dinner, drink beer, and watch soccer his first night. He and TC hit it off and as TC was game to head straight to Zanzibar from Pangani but I had no interest in two weeks on Zanzibar, they decided to head off together while I headed back to Tanga with the intention of heading to Morogoro.

The Pangani ferry crossing the Pangani River

My plans changed when I got to Tanga and had missed the bus I was hoping to catch. Instead of play bus-hopscotch to get to Morogoro, I hunkered down in Tanga for a night intending to catch the direct bus the next day. I’d quote Robert Burns, but I’ve already done that. I decided on a whim to fly to Pemba, part of the Zanzibar Archipelago, for a few days before catching a boat to Stone Town. 

The dhows of Pangani They head out at night to fish.
If you sit on the beach, you can watch their lights blink on the horizon.