Thursday, February 25, 2010

Take A Drive To The Tanzanian Coast With Me ....?

We'll pass the Usambara Mountains (home of the African Violet flower) and lots and lots of sisal plantations ..... (the plants which produce a stiff fibre used for making rope/twine)

Before leaving the tar road and travelling along a dry, dusty one .....

Which will end at the Pangani River .... where we'll drive on to the ferry and chug across the mighty river to the other side .....
The steady 'putt putt' sound of the ferry engine will accompany us as we float along ..... watching the river as it meets the sea .... a river with a tragic history, for it was here that many slaves were transported during Africa's wicked, wicked slave trade history. We'll look back on the town of Pangani - where the old slave depots and markets can still be seen - a town which was an Arab trading port for slaves to India to Arabia.

We'll drive off the ferry into a small but bustling coastal village ..... a heady mix of people dressed in bright cloths, wobbly bicycles, the sharp smell of salty fish and musky mangoes, multi coloured plastic buckets piled high with fruit and vegetables and balancing on heads, bleating tethered goats and lush green mangrove trees battling the incoming tide ......

Where we'll continue along soft, sandy roads lined with coconut trees and mud huts and littered with dried out coconut shells .... see people resting outside under the shade of ancient trees ... (providing little relief from the humid, stifling coastal heat, mind you).

Until, nestled amongst the coconut trees and tropical palms we'll finally arrive at the thatched beach house ....

Where we can - delightfully - stretch our legs and take a slow walk through the garden and along the pathway which leads to the beach at the bottom of it .....

Where we'll be met with this view .... of calm, azure Indian ocean waters lapping white sands .... and a few wooden fishing boats bobbing on the horizon ....

And miles of secluded and relatively untouched beach to either side of us ..............

And, after diving into the ocean, we'll turn out backs to the horizon and look at the beach from the sea itself ....

And say to ourselves -

That life is good.