Chake Chake

The view from one of the 'too expensive' hotels we checked in Chake Chake
Arriving in Wete
Approaching Pemba



Simon and I could not decide if we should go away somewhere during the school break or not, or even where we might go. In the end we settled on trying Pemba but couldn't find much information about it anywhere as it's not very touristy. One of the books I read said that there was a ferry twice a week from Tanga, leaving Monday and Thursday. This meant that we had to get to Tanga by Sunday... we still hadn't decided on Sunday so we wondered if we'd just be stuck in Tanga, we left anyway.
On Monday we took a bus to Tanga (8 hrs) and arrived in the afternoon. We found a very cheap place to stay ($7) and went investigating transport to Pemba. A ferry was due to leave the next morning and it was $7 for Simon but $20 for me, I tried to convince them that I was a resident but they wouldn't budge. We asked them when the ferry returned and found that it would be the following Sunday... too late for me to get back to school on Monday. So we didn't buy any tickets, yet.
We walked back to get my passport (needed to get to Pemba) and found an airline office and booked flights back from Pemba for $30 - they accepted that I was a resident and I got the half price. We took that ticket plus my resident visa back to the ferry office and got the ticket for $7.
The next morning we caught the ferry and it took 6 hours, it was hot and stuffy and many people just lay on the floor. Pemba is mostly Islamic so I had to cover my shoulders and wear long things on the ferry trip and all during the stay there... too hot for my liking.
We got off in Wete and took a dalladalla (this type was a ute with bench seats in the back and a roof ontop) to Chake Chake and began looking for accomodation.
On the ferry we met a family from Austria, Rudolf Steiner, his wife Ingrid and daughter, Elizabeth (27 yrs). We farewelled them from the ferry but again met them in Chake Chake also looking for a place to stay.
There were not many options so we were stuck with a place called Swahili Divers where Western fun-seekers come to dive the excellent reefs off Pemba. Very trendy and too pricey for us, but again we got the resident's discount.
Everyone we asked told us there were beaches near, but there were none. We had to take a dalladalla to the East (for 50c each) and then walk 5 kms to find a good beach. We found a reef first as it was low tide and we walked right out to the edge of it looking at all the interesting things in the knee-deep water. We also met many local fisherman catching fish and octopus.
We were eventually escorted to a lovely little beach where we could actually swim and lie on the sand. There were boabab trees on the cliffs over the sea and it was beautiful.
The next day we went out to Misali Island where there are still voodoo ceremonies (of which Simon wanted to stay well clear) and where the famous pirate, Captain Kidd was said to have buried treasure. It's also an amazing place to snorkel as the reef is about 5m from the white sandy shore. But I was getting sick (sore throat and ears) and lay shivering on the beach. I did a bit of snorkelling (probably didn't help my health) .