Leg 2 Mombasa - Tanga

Leg 2 - Sorry guys more pics are on the way...

Sand Island – Tiwi Beach 30 Aug 05

Sand Island, a beautiful little hide away set on it’s own protected beach, named after a little sand bar in the middle of the bay. Rustic well equipped chalets dotted around the bay amongst the palms forest provides the perfect place to relax and get away from it all, situated only 25 km from Mombasa they are ideal if you want to escape the busy touristy spots like Diani Beach but still experience the beautiful tropical beaches of the Kenyan coastline.

The kind manager answered our call and upgraded us from a tiny two bed back shed to a beautiful little self catering bungalow over looking the turquoise waters! This quaint little spot would be an idea location for a welcoming meal for our two new recruits, Mark and Kyle.

After what was a good opening paddle for Mark who really didn’t know what he was getting himself into with regards to the amount of energy one dispenses while on the water, we arrived at Sand Island.

Wanting to get a gauge just how fit Mark really was I asked him the night before: “So sir I’m sure you are quite fit?” Knowing Mark and his dedication to everything I knew he would have spent sometime in the gym preparing himself for the 2 weeks of adventure! Not wanting to eat his words in a couple of days he quietly replied: “We’ll see tomorrow!” As the previous entry noted – paddling in the open ocean is quite different from sitting in an air conditioned gym on a rowing machine!

Kyles arrival – Kyle

Waking up early on the first, the K2K team was greeted with an amazing East African sunrise. I arrived late the night before from the Mombasa airport and had not seen the

dew covered backdrop of the Sand Island cottages – a forested bay lined with corals and palm trees – a big change from the snow covered Cape weather.

Not two minutes after waking up I was handed the standard paddling gear and a cheeky cup of one minute oats – time to paddle! With Kiboko (the 2 man kayak) in hand, partnered up with Mark, we headed towards the reef protected sea. Not a standard stroll as it seems to be custom in these parts to dodge the possible falling coconuts from 10 meters above.

All greased up with some Island Tribe sun cream, Richard, Mark and myself headed off into the blue yonder… Okay, not so – it was low tide so we only managed to paddle about 200 meters before running aground on the reef banks. After a few deliberations and some advice from the expert Rich, it was decided to walk within the reef until navigable water was found again. Since my K2K training comprised of 3 sessions in the gym over 1 month, I felt that this was much better than negotiating the ocean swells crashing over the reef – I know, chicken!

The paddle was straight forward for the experienced – flat water in front of Diani beach for about 18km. I was dead, holding my head high to not show the pain! Mark was easing the pain of his previous days paddle with a couple Neurofen’s, I was red in the face from exhaustion, and Rich was ahead in the distance having a nap on his boat waiting for us to catch up.

With frequent checks of the GPS to ensure that we were still heading Due South, Rich navigated us perfectly to the Pinewood beach resort. Graham and Shayne were waiting for us with ice cold Coke’s and a more than welcome plate of ‘not so slap’ slap chips. Pinewood is at the end of the busy Diani beach resort stretch offering seclusion from some of the other resorts. This was to be our home for the next few days, and it certainly wasn’t the ‘roughing it in Africa’ that I was expecting – yes, I had landed with my bum in the butter!

Pinewood Village -

K2K had set its sites on another Kenyan sea side resort since it had left the hospitable protection of the last – Turtle Bay. When the expedition was in its infancy Pinewood was the first resort to answer, saying that our trip sounds amazing and that they would love to have us come visit, we have therefore being looking forward to our arrival for an awfully long time! Being able to spend one or two nights in the comfort of these resorts is a huge treat for all us tired wore out paddlers, and is greatly appreciated!

Pinewood, a small boutique resort with unique accommodation options for guests that are looking for something special and different, and where personalized service is at the forefront. The new in-house ‘Aqualand’ offers the most comprehensive watersport facility on the Kenyan Coast. Situated on the beautifully secluded mile-long sands at Galu Beach, 25 miles south of Mombasa and about 1 hour from the airport.

Your holiday can be as active or as quiet as you wish, we were definitely looking for a quiet and relaxed couple of days to recover and recharge our batteries!

Mary, Pinewoods manager was very accommodating and made us feel right at home. We arranged a couple of tours into the surrounding communities and a tour of their new Treetop resort they are currently building further down the beach. The area is littered with resorts and it was interesting to chat to the locals and hear what they thought new developments in the area.

The real issue for the surrounding local community is whether they will be employed by the resort once it is completed? There was talk about another resort which promised employment opportunities, only to bring in staff from further up north! However the relationship between Treetops and the fishing village seemed balanced and the elders we spoke to were confident that they would be employed going forward. Speaking of elders, the eldest person in the village was 60 years old! Of a estimate population of 60 adults!

After running around visiting the local communities capturing as much as we could on film it was time to kick back and relax! Kyle was of a different opinion and heard rumours that the Kenyan Brewery’s were having a poor year and wanted to help them exceed their annual budget!

It came close to ending in tears when we had to tear each other out of the local night club – Shakatack! After spending a couple of hours dancing to the local Kenyan rhymes!

Lucky Boys – Mark

Whilst staying at Pinewood, Hamid – Pinewood Hotel’s Sport guru/ Tour Guide – took us on an afternoon trip to watch and film a local soccer club match; the Lucky Boys vs. the Ready Stars. What a game. What a crowd! Fans were sitting around the pitch and in the trees. Yes, in the trees. The video camera definitely took a double take on the tree top supporters.. welcome to Africa! The game is played very intensely and when soccer balls are hit out of bounds i.e. into the surrounding bushes, there are a team of boys ready to get stuck in and find it. As for the field, it is quite patchy with isolated patches of dry grass whilst the rest of the field is sand. The game style would suit a Bruce Fordyce type athlete because all you do is run. And when the ball finally comes your way you try and keep it close to you and show some special tricks to the adoring fans before kicking it as hard as you can forward. It doesn’t really matter where the ball goes after that just so long as you got a chance to show off how many times you can bounce the ball on your foot and make it balance on your head. I’m definitely stretching this a bit but seriously there is so much talent, ball-skill-wise, but not much thinking as to game strategy and finding players. Looking past all this and you find yourself smiling and enjoying the overall atmosphere of the game.. you will not find the hooligans you find at a standard European football game which was very refreshing. For all the British/ European football crazies reading this (it’s a popular blog so there must be many) you need to travel to Kenya and watch any local soccer match and learn how you can watch and not have to throw toilet paper onto the field or bite your neighbour’s ear lobe when things get tense..

Dream holiday home up for grabs!

After leaving Pinewood Mark and I headed off to see if we could find a decent place to spend the night, our first attempt was at someone’s beach house. We managed to phone the owners with the help of the gardener. Mark told them our situation and that we were looking for somewhere to camp for the night. Well she was not interested in our plight, and told us we could stay for USD 100, so we headed off to find a new spot. About 1km down the beach we pulled into another beach house, again we phoned the owners who after a bit of sweet-talking let us stay the night. She explained to us that they are trying to sell the place, a truly amazing house on a great bit of beach, 20kms south of Diani. Anyone who is interested in buying along the Kenyan coastline I suggest you get in touch with us and we can forward you onto the owners, this spot is incredible, the perfect family holiday house – it’s a shame it is not closer to Aussie!!

Shimoni

Sorry to see our beautiful spot disappear into the distance, Mark, Graham and I set off for Shimoni. A little town opposite Wasini Island, famous for its great snorkelling and dolphin spotting! The paddle was smooth sailing, passing Funzi island and across another relatively deep bay. A black sailed “pirate” dhow was up for a race but I’m sorry to say his little sail was no match for the strength and power of our strokes!

It took us a solid 5 hours to finally pull up at a quaint little spot owned by and Mia a kind couple heavily involved in deep sea fishing, if that is what you are looking for this is the place to do it, Simon, their son holds a number of records and would rather spend a week on the ocean than one day in the city! I think would take the city option after our little dhow crossing up to Lamu!

They run a couple of neatly furnished cottages which they kindly allowed us to use for our cooking and eating purposes. Over looking the calm channel out towards Wasini island where we had two delicious meals on the stoep.

The following day was spent snorkelling on a reef just off Wasini Island, walking amongst mangrove forests and trying desparately not to capsize Kiboko (our double Perception sea kayak) as Kyle and I managed to transport Mark (who sat between us like a king on his throne) safely across the 2km passage back over to the mainland!

The evening began as usual – Chef Shayne producing yet another delicious meal, but ended in a some what abnormal fashion! Sorry, you are going to have to wait for the release of our book to hear the rest, it had something to with Kyle’s 1L bottle of Klipdrift and a couple of Smugglers armed with pool cues………! I have said enough already, all I can say is that we were all very happy that no one had to paddle the next morning!

Moa

We had left Kenya and were now in Tanzania, the boats where on the roof and our goal was to get back to the water ASAP. We found a little fishing village, Moa, on the coast and asked in our limited Swahili if it would be possible to camp. They were more then happy for us to do so and after speaking to the Village Chief and the other 25 members of his ‘party’ we found a decent spot. Within minutes our camp was set up and we where sitting around relaxing. The chief offered us lunch which we gladly accepted. We went to a local restaurant and we ate with 3 of the other elders, communicating more with sign language then vocally. We didn’t know it at the time, but when the chief had asked us to lunch, with his 3 deputies…we where paying. After a delicious meal of ‘Rice, Beans, Tomato, and Fish Heads’ we went back to camp to relax. Then they arrived, first 1 then 10 then 250. The whole village was out on an excursion to see the ‘Wazungos’ (White Wanders) and they were amazed. 6 hours later they were still sitting and staring at us, expecting us do magic or breath fire, who knows. But they did not budge and their stare never faltered. We felt like caged animal being looked at in the Zoo. That night one of the village elders cooked us a meal, and brought it to us…it was ‘Ugali’ and fish, defiantly the same fish from lunch that non of us ate, but it was dark so we turned off our head torches and ate. The fish was surprisingly very nice, a lot better then it looked.

The next morning we woken at 5am but one of the villages who had written us a letter it went something like this:

Dear My Friends

What I am wanting is monies and watch and shoes and hat and football and fone. I am poors mans and you friends. My nickly name is Joe Bomali. And I am thank you for friends to me. My address is P.O Box ### Tanga, I am poor mans so I don’t have fones, maybe one day I will be luck and have fones.

Your Friendly,

Joe Bomali

Moby Dick – Mark

Moby Dick is alive and well and living about 10kms outside Tanga in Tanzania. Really really. Rich took Kyle and myself on a 30km paddle where we would get the opportunity to spend a night out in the middle of nowhere out beneath the stars. So, towards the end of the 30km leg we were all paddling looking for an ideal spot that wouldn’t be covered in sea water by high tide and would provide a comfortable enough foundation to set up our tents. After paddling for a bit, and doing a few ‘reccies’ around certain spots, Rich and Kyle managed to find an elevated crop of land about 50 metres long and not very wide. Anyway, we settled into our new home, set up the tents and began putting a fire together. There was an area that was near a blow-hole that was surrounded by enough coral to shelter from the wind should it get up later in the evening. I took up the goal of putting up some decent coals and all was going well before ‘Moby Dick’ began to voice his unhappiness at being disturbed. As the tide began to come in Moby would spurt more and more water out of his blow-hole. Rich had said that there was no way I would be able to keep the fire alive with all this going on. I, being the stubborn S.O.B that I am gladly took up the challenge saying that I would be able to stave Moby off at least until the tide reached its highest and would begin going out. Pride is a terrible thing. I ended up stubbing my front toe on coral trying desperately to run from the wooded area of this small rocky outcrop to the fire and thought I was winning, until Moby gave the final say. A large wave entered the blow-hole and it was all pretty much over. Moby: 1, Mark :0 .

Best spot in Tanga – Graham/Shayne

After seeing the guys off in Moa, Shayne and I headed for Tanga to find a place to stay. We had been given a contact at the yacht club by Bill Morris but unfortunately for us this contact was ‘on safari’ at the time so we had to make another plan. Roughing it like we are, we decided to head to Tanga’s finest hotel, the Mkonge Hotel, to see if they would be interested in letting us stay there for 2 nights. It was a long shot as we had usually pre-arranged this sort of thing with the other hotels and resorts that we have been to. We told them what we were doing and that they would most likely feature in our documentary and on our website and that we would promote them as much as we could. A few minutes later we were being shown around the hotel and more importantly to our room! The hotel is perched atop a set of cliffs and looks out onto the yacht club and has a magnificent view of the whole bay. Our rooms were also great (Dstv, hot shower, toilet – the sit on and flushing type! and we each had our own bed!). We got 2 next to each other with an inter-leading door. This was really handy due to the number of times that either the one room or the other locked their keys in! The bar area and restaurant were amazing and both had a view out over the bay. After filling our bellies with cheese burgers (the paddlers had peanuts and energy bars – lucky buggers!) we headed to the pool to relax with a Kilimanjaro (local beer) or two, did some filming and took a whole lot of photos. That night, while the paddlers ate some basic pasta and fought the blowhole, Shayne and I dined on prawns and chicken (after a starter of course), followed by a dessert of ice cream and fruit salad. We managed to stumble back to our room where we watched TV until about 2am (paddlers still fighting blowhole!). The next day, while lounging at the pool, we got a rude sms from the paddlers saying that they were 4km away (I had grudgingly sent them the GPS co-ordinates of the yacht club the night before*) and that we should get ready for them. We downed what was left of our beers and made our way to the yacht club were we waited a couple of minutes before they arrived. They thought that we were joking when we turned into the hotel but had huge smiles on their faces when the first beer went down on the terrace!

*We usually do this so that the ground team can get ready with all the cameras to film and photograph the arrival of the paddlers

Captain Zanzibar in the Doldrums - Kyle

Pemba island – the beautiful paradise island in the Indian ocean – now we just have to get there!

Having read (and heard many many times) of the K2K dhow trip to Lamu, we were now to catch a dhow to Pemba... why? Coz it’s the cheapest mode of transport. Much of the previous day was spent negotiating with port authorities and dhow captains the price to get to Pemba. This would normally be as easy as getting a bus ticket from one place to another, but this part of the world seems to dominated by ‘Mzungu tax’ – the premium paid by travellers straight into the back pocket of local officials – and believe me, everyone makes themselves out to be a local official!

The negotiated price for the dhow was USD8 per head, and we had made friends with the highest port authority in Tanga so as to avoid any Mzungu tax. Our captain was adamant that the time of departure was 1AM English time, not Swahili time – K2K arrived at the port at 4AM only to find all the dhow’s and crew fast asleep at the port- Swahili time rules in these parts – we boarded.

The K2K team passed out on the warm concrete cargo of the dhow, only to be awoken by cries out from land ‘Wazungu dokument’… the sleeping wazungu hesitantly crawled to the port security office only to dodge another bribe – the dhow set off for Pemba.

The dhow crew could not speak any English, and our Swahili was limited to ‘hakuna matata’ – this lead to some creative methods of communication… the language barrier was later broken when a peace offering of Marlboro Lights was offered to the crew – instant friends were made resulting in the mzungu captaining the dhow and sharing the ugali and smelly fried fish with the crew.

A couple of hours into the trip Mark looked pale and was not drinking fluids. After having ruled out sea sickness and malaria, Mark let us know that he was having trouble having a pee off the back of the rocking boat – this was evidently causing much pain, but the only sympathy he received was a couple of laughs.

The Rough Guide travel book reads ‘a 5-6 hour dhow trip to Pemba’. 14 hours later in the dark and no wind we paddled (with sticks) into the harbour of Wete, Pemba. Mark loved the flat water – he managed to release some water eventually and more importantly have a drink to wet the dry mouth. The dirty beds of the government hotel were fabulous!

Dhala Dhala joyrides! – Mark

Once reaching Pemba Island, there are these taxis called dhala dhalas that you need to negotiate with in order to get around. You travel 14 hours on a dhow risking sea sickness only to have the chance to meet a bitter end travelling on one of these! It is one of those experiences that needs to be captured on IMAX to fully grasp the intensity of what exactly goes on. The bargaining part is actually pretty straight forward, these guys are only interested in turn over so getting passengers on quickly with as little fuss as possible is the name of the game. So we all get on for our first trip which will last about 40 minutes to get to our destination; Fundu Lagoon. Ok, all the mums please stop reading now..

Ok, the bags are on the top of this mini-bus impersonation only with cute wooden seating around the interior circumference of the car and an open air section also around the back part of the taxi where all the passengers sit and sh%t their load. These maniacs cruise along happy go lucky – lucky being the important word – with very few thoughts going on other than whether they checked their break pads last year.. or not. I had the experience of working in London for a while and so had the chance of travelling on the under ground. That is pretty much what you experience on a dhala dhala. You get on quickly, find a spot inside where you can, and then you’re off. And the speed just picks up until it peaks at somewhere where the passengers can no longer make out the surrounding outside terrain and the thought of ‘tuck and roll’ – should things become pear shaped on a hair-bend – becomes more of a recurring idea. You start mulling it over, thinking how best you should position yourself for when this speed merchant turns a corner and this makeshift thing on 4 wheels finally decides to go with the flow and lie on its back. Actually, I was looking around at most of us ‘Umzungus’ (whities) and saw that most of the chaps were travelling with their eyes closed clearly trying to transport their minds to a happier and safer place. I was getting so worked up! I thought when things go bad I would make sure I would get out of it and drag the driver behind a horse naked over a poison ivy field laced with coral. Crazy crazy. We all got out at the destination and walked straight faced with a bit of a newly acquired twitch towards a much larger and sturdier 4x4 that would take us the remainder of the trip to Fundu Lagoon.

Top Secret - Fundu Lagoon – Rich

Fundu Lagoon – Mind blowingly beautiful!!

I’m sorry but there are no words to really explain the share beauty and tranquillity of this amazing secret hide away, situated on the Wambaa peninsular on the Western coast of Pemba island, I don’t want to say any more……the fewer people who know about this place the better! Like your deepest secret you swear never to reveal!

Alas we have promised to help promote them and we are therefore committed to fulfil our promise and try return their grateful hospitality! Not that they need too much marketing, a place like this spreads like wild fire via word of mouth – if you are looking for the ultimate in barefoot luxury, your own private banner over looking one of the most beautiful bays, with no disturbances other than a couple of playful dolphins, then look no further!

Fundu Lagoon is what this is all about, there were enough honey moon couples to fill a handful of Dhala dhalas! Not that you would know what they are if you were staying there! All guests arrive by boat, except those who have spent the last mouth and a half paddling down the East Coast of Africa! I think we are probably their only guests to ever arrive over land! Sticking to our tight budget we had hired a driver to this remote peninsular!

We were all bumbstruck when Katea, the general manager of the resort showed us to our beautifully positioned luxury tents high up on the hill overlooking the turquoise bay below! Mark and Kyle were allocated the Directors quarters and immediately felt like the rich and famous!

After coming to terms with our good fortune and the fact that the 5 of us had landed up in one of the most romantic places on this planet without our loved ones….? We had to refocus and headed off on a village tour, led by Thomas, our very knowledgeable guide.

There are over 6 small villages on the peninsular with no real infrastructure to support them. The shocking road, lack of running water or electricity are a stark reminder of exactly where you are and the idyllic images of Fundu Lagoon seem to be dream like.

It took over a year for the villages to accept their new big brother and realise the benefits of having foreign visitors. Locals were initially looked upon as outcasts if they were employed by the resort, wanting to cut off all ties they were scared of the foreign influence on their basic and simple life style. Children didn’t go to school, there was no point, the boys learnt to fish, the girls learnt to cook and sew, and they all learnt how to harvest their sacred crop – cloves!

What if you didn’t want to be a fisherman or a basket weaver?

Thanks to guests' voluntary donations the village is building a school. We visited the school which is not yet completed but hopes to open at the beginning of the next academic year.

The villages now realise their good fortune of the resort and when ever guests are taken on village tours the locals run out and express their appreciation with a broad smile and the welcoming gestures – “Karibu sana!”, you are very welcome!

The village tour ended with the sun setting over the bay, a beautiful ending to our first day at Fundu Lagoon, a day we will always remember!

The following day was spent awestruck on the international acclaimed reef off a little protected island a couple of km from Fundu. Mark and I spent the day snorkelling, dodgy flying fish and pointing out the most beautifully coloured sea life, totally mesmerised by the beauty of the place. Kyle and Graham did a similar thing a little deeper, aided by oxygen they dodged super highways of brilliantly coloured fish and tested our new friend – Ike (our water housing for our Canon XM2 video camera!)

Russel and Cindy, the very friendly and well organised couple who ran the local dive centre had shown us some of their footage (professional underwater movie makers!) - of their morning dive the evening before! We were once again trying very hard to contain our excitement and were captivated by the unbelievable images they had taken of the spectacular underwater world! Graham who was initially not going to dive quickly changed his mind and signed up before he finished his next Tusker! (local beer)

It was therefore Kyle and Grahams job to attempt to capture something, anything close to what they had shown us, Ike was tested during the first dive and he made us smile when they returned to the surface without any leaking! A couple of weeks too late I know but better late than never! Their second dive was a new experience for both divers, it was Magnum’s (Kyle’s new found nick name, nothing to do with his little growth on his upper lip I promise!) first underwater appearance on film and it was Grahams first time behind the camera lens at 16 m! We all can’t wait to see the footage, trust me you are going to love Magnum’s little cameo!

Swahili Divers our saviour!

After our two amazing nights at Fundu, one in incredible luxury and the other spent on the beach…..?! We headed back to Wete to find a dhow returning to Tanga, we it thought would be as easy as bargining for a dhala dhala, we were initially told that our return trip would be far easier than getting there!

How wrong we were, we arrived in Wete the main port town, still not too sure how, thought we would be wrapped around one of the beautiful palm trees (Daladala drivers you have something to learn……….!!). We found only two dhows moored in the port, one was being off loaded while the other looked ready to sail at a drop of a hat!

It turned out that they wanted USD 250 for the sailing dhow and USD 300 for the motorised version, not even all Magnums charm could make them drop their price! We jokingly said we could fly for that much………!

Having spent our first night at one of the local Guest house, 5 squashed into a double room we were searching for something more friendly, chilled and a meal which we didn’t have to swallow without chewing!

Swahili Divers came to our rescue, the perfect spot to stay for anyone visiting Pemba, situated in the middle of the island’s main town – Chake, this easy going friendly atmosphere quickly smoothed our souls and offered the perfect refuge from the stinking heat and dusty streets. Not too mention the food! Peter, the head chef definitely has got a spot on our team, no offence Shayne but this guy was amazing!

After another crazy day running around, or should I say “flying” around the island compliments to the local dhala dhala drivers we were all very happy to rest early.

We spent the following day wondering round the markets, taking FBI pics of the locals, sorry if we offended anyone, and must have spent a good couple of hours at a local spice duka (shop) hassling the assistant before we walked out of there with enough spices to open our own back home!

Return crossing

Having gone to the airport the evening before in a Daladala, we were informed that no daladalas travel to the airport and that we would have to take a taxi. We were running a bit late so our bargaining power and time to argue was diminishing by the second, so we gave in and took the taxi. The price wasn’t too bad (Tsh5000, equivalent of about R25 for all of us), but was steep compared to the Tsh500 that we would have had to pay in the daladala – Shayne and I had paid Tsh400 the previous evening for a return trip! We arrived at the airport in time and went to the counter to check our baggage in and they began to check the money out of our wallets. US$55 for the flight (less than the dhow would have cost us, so, fine) then there was the US$5 airport tax which came as a bit of a surprise but this is often the case so we paid it. Lastly there was the safety charge for about US$1 each for…well, we still don’t know! No more hidden costs and we boarded the plane and were soon looking at the wonderland of Pemba from above. The dhows below seemed stationary when compared to us and we were all very glad on our choice of transport. There was no choice actually – we had to get back to Tanga by the following day to meet our new paddler, Mark, and the dhows had all left the previous day and were in Tanga which meant that we would have had to charter one specially to take us across the channel. The price of the dhow was going to be the same, actually slightly more, as the flight and it was a matter of 14 hours compared to 20 minutes. As I said, there was no choice! The view of the island from above was unbelievable. Turquoise waters and white beaches stretched into the distance on both sides of the plane, with patches of reef everywhere in between. It was gone too soon though and we all feel that for the price we paid, the pilot could easily have done a quick low-level lap of the island!