Tanzania, Day 15

July 31, 2010

Today was an out-&-out holiday. We got up late, lingered through breakfast, & then got a taxi out to the Slipway market. The Slipway was the touristy spot that Doug & I visited in Dar es Salaam 2 weeks ago when we first arrived in the country. This time, however, the 4 of us took advantage of the market only long enough to use the washrooms, & then headed out to the end of the breakwater where we purchased tickets for a boat trip out to Bongoyo Island.

Most people have heard about Zanzibar, that exotic island off the coast of Tanzania. When Tanganika sought independence from Great Britain in 1961, it joined together with Zanibar & the 2 names combined to create 'Tanzania.' Doug & I had hoped to take a ferry over to Zanzibar this weekend but there was a pre-election referendum vote today & political unrest was expected so all foreigners were advised to stay away.

But many people are not aware that there are many other islands off the coast of Tanzania & Bongoyo is one of the smaller (& closer) of these. For 25,000 Tanzanian shillings (about $20 in Canadian funds) you can purchase a ticket which includes the boat fare there & back plus the admission to the marine wildlife reserve which encompasses the whole island.

The boat ride involves a 30-40 ride in a small passengers-only ferry over a little patch of the Indian Ocean. You get a marvellous ocean-side view of Dar es Salaam as well as a look at the extravagant homes all along the waterfront. This is the part of town where the diplomats live & their homes are about as far removed from the typical Tanzanian mud hut as can be imagined. On our way out to the island we passed by yachts anchored out from the diplomat homes, Arabic sailing dhows, & dugout canoes like elongated wooden clogs from which people were fishing.

Eventually we pulled up on the island, a genuine tropical paradise. Bongoyo appears to be about a kilometer long & half a kilometer wide, covered in trees & criss-crossed by a couple of walking trails. Only one end of the island is 'developed' (if you can call it that), with a few grass beach-huts for shade, a thatched dining shelter, & some outhouses. The beach is like something out of an in-flight magazine: white sand, blue blue water, just a bit of surf. No jellyfish, no sharks. When you walk up on the beach the caretakers come out to greet you, confirm that you have an admission ticket, & then take your orders for food. The menu is pretty simple: fish, prawns, chips, beer.

And so that's how we spent the day. We swam, we dried off, we ate, we drank, we swam some more. We talked about the tourist industry in Tanzania, the bad reputation of Dar es Salaam (somewhat deserved) & how day-trips like Bongoyo Island could be better marketed. We walked around a bit & looked in the small tide pool just beyond the dining shelter in which 50+ eels (might have been morays) swirled around like something conjured up by a snake-charmer.

At most I suppose there were 30 of us on the island when the last boat of the day arrived at 4:30 to take us back. It was a long ride back because we were fighting wind & whitecap waves all the way; skin tingled with so much exposure to salt & sun.

And now we're back, showered, supper over, in for the night. Tomorrow Greg & Brian will head to Mikumi park for the night & Doug & I will start the long trip home.