Finding Nemo

What shall I do after all that happend during the last week? Exactly, I should go on holiday! Spontaneously Anna, Anya and I decided to vissit the girls in Tanga and then go to Pangani from there on. Pangani is well known for its beaches and coral reefs. After a few phone calls we found an accomodation which was run by English people, which had decent prices and offered tents right at the beach. It even had its own restaurant and it offered snorkeling tours – perfect!

A little while ago Anna and I met Jan in Dar es Salaam. Although he is in Tansania with the same organisation as us he lives and works in a solar project and therefore he is into the things that go on at the student house. We wanted to ask him whether he wanted to join us. Of course, it did not take long to persuade him to come. He also asked whether another friend of his who was living in Dar es Salaam with a different organisation could join, too. We agreed, as a group of four seemed to be a nice size.

After work on Thursday we took our heavy backpacks directly tot he busstation to jump on the next bus to Tanga. Tanga is a town on the East coast of Tansania, near Kenia so weh ad to drove 7 hours to get there. During the trip Anya did not feel very well. Fortunately, we soon arrived and phoned Lucas who is a bajaji driver to bring us tot he student house. Jan and Elisabeth who had arrived earlier from Dar es Salaam were already there and greeted us. But there were also two other and new girls welcoming us. Leonie and Elena had arrived a week ago and only a few days ago they arrived in Tanga. Because Anya was still not feeling better she went to bed early while Jan, Elisabeth, Anna and I went tot he only pizzeria in Tanga. There we began our holiday with really nice food.

Anya was already feeling a bit better the next morning. We all had breakfast together and after that we wanted to go tot he market in Tanga. Still, we told the new girls that they could also come to Pangani if they wanted. They both agreed enthusiastically tot hink about it and phone us during the morning. So we went to town a bought tons of fruits and material. Anya had been very quiet and did not look well. Because I did not think that it takes 24 hours for an upset stomach to get better I called a bajaji to take us to the next hospital. We wanted to be back soon as the doctors would surely test her on malaria, give her mediactions and get it over and done with. At the reception oft he hospital I tried to tell the people what we needed while looking up all the words in my little Swahili dictionary. The guy at the counter gave me a piece of paper and told us to wait. While we sat in the waiting area Anya was suddenly feeling worse. After she had collapsed and I had put her feet up, I tried to call for help in three different languages. Still, the people think pole pole. Finally a lady came in a pink costume, black slippers and white stockings which were pulled up high to help Anya get to the examination room. When I am talking about an African hospital one should keep in mind that those hospitals can be very different to European hospitals. After I heard many horrifing stories from the people in medical placements I was actually impressed by this hospital. Although there were always two people which were being examined in the small room, it was very clean and well equipped. The doctor was speaking good English so he was able to ask Anya a lot of questions. The nurses took care of her and put her on a drip. While I went tot he pharmacy to collect medicine, transfusions and needles Anya was already getting better. As I arrived back the others were there too and brought fruits for us to eat.

In the late afternoon we were finished at the hospital. Although the doctors wanted to monitor Anya and to give her another injection the next day she wanted to leave. She had planned to go to Pangani and also Anna was a nurse and could give her the medication.

After discussing everything with the doctor he agreeded for us to leave. Luckily everything worked out so well. This unplanned day trip had cost us a lot of time. Leo and Ele phoned us and asked whether it was possible if they joined us. Of course it was possible! We all met at the busstation and drove to Pangani together. As we arrived at the Peponi Beach it was already dark. We were taken to our tents where we left our bags and went straight tot he restaurant to have dinner. I had Coconutrice with homemade mango-chutney and vegetable curry. The food was really nice and I could have eaten it every day from there on. The rice was similar to rice pudding only with coconut flavour. During dinner and even later while we sat together in the open lounge we talked about everything that came to our minds.

The next morning I woke up because I heard a sound and I thought it was raining. As I peered out the tent I soon discovered that it was the sea making these noises. Last night we neither saw nor heard the sea because of the tide. While I was taking in the scenery outside a little monkey jumped down a tree looked at me suspicously and hid in the bushes. I think one could call this a “natural surrounding“.

After breakfast our whole group marched tot he reception to collect some snorkeling gear. When we were equipped with snorkels and fins we continued our way to the sea where a small sailing boat was waiting. We got into the old boat and made ourselves comfortable until we reached the coral reefs. There we were able to jump into the water. With our diving goggles on and our bums up in the air we explored the world underwater. The corals were really beautiful. Some were colourful others extremely entwinded and if you looked a little closer you could see fish whizzing around. I chased hugh cluster of guppy fish and I even saw red saddleback anemonefish. While I was in the water I entirely lost track of the time. After we climbed back on board we noticed that we were really tired and hungry. Of course there was a solution for this problem. We sailed a little further and arrived at a sandbank which was simply stunning. The water which surrounded the small island was cristalclear and extremely blue. The sand was snowwhite and there were no other people on the sandbank As we were chilling in the shade we ate sandwiches and had cooled drinks. If someone had asked me whether there could be anything better than that I would have said no. We splashed around in the water, lay in the sand and had fun for the rest of the day. Sadly time flew by very quickly.

The next morning we hung around in some hammocks to read and get brown. This place is absolutely perfect to just relax and forget about all the troubles of the past few weeks. Nevertheless, we had to collect our rucksacks at midday and make our way tot he bus stop. Weh ad to wait quite a while for a bus to come. Finally, a dalladalla arrived but it was packed with people. We were sqeezed into the small bus with 32 people and had to travel 2 hours. This is Africa!

The weekend was apart from our little trip tot he hospital perfect but definiteley too short. If it was up to me I could have spent much more time at that peaceful place. It is very nice to have a private beach and those lovely coral reefs directly on your dorrstep. Even our group worked well together. I love the fact that everybody is spontaneous and open here in Africa. You always meet new people who sooner or later belong to our little community of volunteers.