An entry in the TFS Travel Journal.
Another bland breakfast, though on their lovely ocean-front terrace. Wendy then left for her spice tour and Milton went to his Chumbe island day.
Milton’s day: Boarded the small, old motorboat for the hour ride to tiny Chumbe island. It is a coral island which Tanzania has turned into a marine reserve, with 7 log and thatch mostly open-air bungalows (with solar power) available for overnight stays. As I was the only customer, I had a private day with Omari the ranger, who looked like Patrick Ewing’s 15-year-old, smaller brother.
First, we did some fabulous snorkling in the almost-too-warm Indian Ocean for about an hour. The coral reef is vibrant, pristine and mostly undisturbed, comrised of dozens of different types of coral. We also saw, of course, myriad fish (thought of you, MJS) including a large (but shy) puffer, a long and narrow yellow trumpet fish, several that seemed to contain virtually all 64 crayola colors, some sting rays, and a large lobster poking his head out from under some coral.
Time was then up, so we went ashore where a table had been set for one. Omari went to eat with the workers who were finishing up construction on the visitor/education center, then they went into the small stone mosque for afternoon prayers. My lunch was some tasty beef and chicken samosas, and fresh pineapple.
I then sat under the thatched hut looking out at the blue and bright aqua water for about an hour while waiting for the ranger to re-appear. He finally did, and we set off on the nature walk. Quite an interesting place — had once been all undersea coral, then the ocean receded, leaving the island. Now, it’s mostly forested but with the coastline all craggy coral, and old petrified coral forming much of the inland ground we walked along. He pointed out many interesting trees (some extremely poisonous) and we saw a coconut crab, the largest in the world, which can exceed 10lbs and is so named because they climb trees and dislodge the coconuts. Also saw many fossils embedded in the old coral, including a 2-foot long giant clam. We then climbed the 100-year-old, 110-foot-high lighthouse, getting a wonderful view of the island, the ocean and the Zanzibar mainland.
I had broiled in this tropical sauna for long enough, so I took a different, even older, boat along with some workers back to the hotel. Along the way, they cracked open a fresh coconut, which we all shared and which was delicious. Then it was back into air-conditioning for the next few hours.
Wendy’s day: Salim the guide and Eddie the driver picked me up in their un-air-conditioned van and we went first to the Maharubu ruins — a palace built in 1870 by a wealthy Arab who had 99 concubines and that burned down 19 years later. Then it was to several spice plantations, avoiding kamikaze bicyclists and drivers along the way, and being stopped by the police 3 times to show registration and insurance.
At the plantations, we’d walk through with a guide who had a large dagger and would hack away (after a climb, sometimes) samples of the plentiful offerings (which were for sale in small huts out front of each plantation) which included coffee, cardomum, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, cocoa, vanilla, lemongrass and more. After smelling and touching each one, there would follow a lengthy explanation of their uses, how they’re grown and the locals’ favorite recipes. At this point, we had several young children chasing after us offering fruit which had fallen from the trees and trading cards with animals on them. Also noticed that there seemed to be an inordinate number of police around, and I was told that it was because there were prisoners doing the menial, hard-labor tasks at that plantation.
As we had by then been introduced to every spice more than once, we decided to head back to the hotel, with a stop at what had yesterday looked like the best jewelry store on the island (looking for the famed tanzanite, GG), but which had been closed. Alas, it was still closed today, and when we inquired at the woodworking shop next door we were told that the owners had left for Tanzania in the middle of the night last week in a big hurry, and that they didn’t think it would soon be reopening. So I instead walked a few doors down and admired some of the henna designs that were being painted on several female clients’ arms and legs, passing on getting another for one myself. As it was around 100 degrees, I went back to ac paradise for the afternoon.
Around 7 or so, we headed up to get our cab to Two Tables, the restaurant recommended for a real local experience. First we couldn’t find the driver, then Robert (the English hotel manager) started to drive us, then we found the driver, then we finally got there. It was as promised: two 8-person tables in a room literally in a couple’s home; they’re muslum, so we had to leave our shoes at the front door. The wife does the cooking and the husband is the waiter, and they’ve been doing this for over 14 years. We were the only ones there initially, as we started with a refreshing juice made from passion fruit, oranges, pineapple, avocado and mineral water, some fried vegetable balls with coconut chutney, vegetable soup, fried green bananas and some sweet puffed bread with a lentil curry. That was all delicious and quite home-made. Then an English foursome was seated at the other table, and shortly two English women in their final year of med school joined our table. It appeared that the kitchen was trying to equalize everyone, so we basically watched the others get what we’d just finished until our entrees were eventually brought.
In the time that we’d been there, the power had gone out twice, which is actually a daily (or sometimes oft-daily) occurance on this island. Everyone seems to have a backup generator, so the lights and fans usually go back on within 5 to 10 minutes. Our entrees were a beef curry and grilled tuna w/lime juice, which were not bad but not as tasty as the first few courses. Dessert was a grilled banana and some zucchini-like thing in a light yoghurt sauce. We paid the $15 bill and went outside to find the hotel’s taxi awaiting us. Unfortunately, it was a small truck which we both certainly wanted to ride in the front of, so the three of us smushed in for the relatively brief ride home.
We bowed to our air conditioning and crawled under our netting, knowing the next bed we sleep in (after our overnight Nairobi-London flight) will be our own.