Sunday, December 26, 2010

Pemba Bush Camp

Alex

Justin

Pemba Bush & Dive Camp

Dressed for Christmas

Sunset Bush Camp

Russells Lodge Wimbi Beach
Blog 11 Pemba

Wimbi Beach. That is the place to be seen! So we are told. Russell’s Place is on Wimbi beach. Well not exactly on the beach, rather on the other side of the road of the properties that border the beach. I am not sure what Russell will do, if in the unlikely event the person who started building the four houses on the beach properties over the road from Russell’s Place, decide to complete the project, as the present access system to the beach works just fine. Out of the gate past the guards, over the dirt road, over the broken fence, past the unfinished houses, around the piles of rubbish, onto the beach, Simple.

If the tide is out you have to work a further 500m to find the sea. Is it pretty? Not really. Is it what we expected? No, definitely not and I certainly would not drive 7500 odd kms to come to Pemba, but we have had a really interesting time getting here and I believe Pemba Dive and Bush Camp, which is where we have made our reservations for a ten day holiday, will realise our expectations.

Russel is an Aussie from the Gold Coast who makes laid back feel busy. He started Russell’s Place soon after the end of the Frelimo war, to accommodate the Overlanders travelling down from Tanzania. Trade in those days, he tells us, was excellent, but then the ferry which provided the link across the Rovuma River sank, so most of this trade by passed him via Lake Malawi. They have built a new bridge across the river, but it is 200 km upstream and the roads on either side make crossing this bridge a serious challenge and not a particularly attractive option. Trade he tells us is OK but not that great. On the other hand the drop off in trade could also be due to the fact that he finds it a bit of a drag replying to booking requests!

Russell’s Place however reminds me of the Pudding Shop in Istanbul. It is the place that all travellers seem to pass through if they want the low down on what’s what. The facilities are great, clean and functional. His swimming pool is a blissful retreat from the heat, even though the water temperature and the outside temperature are on parity.  It was a great place to spend two days playing catch-up before the boys fly in and we move to the Bush Camp. A couple of cold beers, a painting or two, don’t know when I will find time for this Blog thing!

Pemba leaves a little to be desired. I imagined it to be a quaint palmed lined, seaside resort village, with turquoise seas and coral reefs, just like the brochures. It isn’t, but it must have been at one time in it’s history. It began as an Arab trading port. Being situated on a peninsula with a massive bay/lagoon on one side and the open Indian Ocean on the other, it certainly must have presented an ideal harbour for the Arabs to take refuge in their dhows as they waited for the Trade winds to switch from blowing from the North in summer, to Southerlies in the winter. (Dhows incidentally can not point into the wind, well maybe a couple of degrees but not enough to go back to Arabia!).

Pemba must also  have been a great place to “hang out”; chain up whatever locals you could find in the area for future sale as slaves, lie under the palm trees, bonk a few of the lasses and generally have a good time swopping whatever on whatever was the then equivalent of Gumtree. A good place to be! Then came the Portuguese. Why change a winning formula?

Majestic remnants of the good times can be seen falling apart all over the place. If there was a Gum Tree it has long been cut down and turned to into charcoal. The waste management policy leaves a bit to be desired. The dump in the middle of the town is full up and I don’t think that anyone has come up with an alternative option, but there again the work day lasts about four hours. Five in the morning to about nine, then you melt.
The upside is you can fly in and out of Pemba with ease. There is a runway that can land any aeroplane, it was built by the Americans to give them strike potential into Mogadisu.

Oh dear, something is wrong with the Kombi engine…aaaah, but we are in Pemba…..yea……but I don’t know what is wrong….aaaah, but I am on holiday in Pemba so have time to fix it …..yea…….but …. Its more than dirt in the fuel…..aaaah………but I have more time to look at it….yea….the valve guide has collapsed…..big aaah……there are no Kombi exhaust valves, valve guides or any kombi parts in Pemba……more aaaah……and it is the day before Christmas…..bigger aaaaah….. I have found parts in SA that are flying DHL from Cape Town………yea, yea, yea, …..and I have a mechanic who will do the job….yea…. but the parts have not arrived………aah…..so we may have to remain on holiday …..yea!

Pemba Bush and Dive is a great spot. It is situated on the lagoon side of the peninsular away from the madding crowd.

We left Russell’s, picked up the boys at the airport and drove to the Bush Camp. It has everything seen in the brochure, except the diving. The best diving is on a reef off Wimbi Beach, which we drive to on the first morning at the Bush Camp when I thought the lack of performance of the Kombi was a fuel blockage. It was spectacular snorkelling. Luke warm, clear water and beautiful fish; coral and seahorses. We don’t Scuba dive, but we are told  there is some spectacular Scuba diving.

The fun of the swim was marred somewhat by the body of a child washed up onto the beach. The body turned out to be that of a ten year old cerebral palsy girl who being a drag on the family resources was taken out to sea and dumped overboard. Africa is no place for the faint hearted.

We are now forced to stay put at the Bush Camp while we wait for the Kombi Parts to arrive. We are happy with that. We had a really relaxing Christmas and it really is a time to relax and catch up before the long drive back to Cape Town via Zimbabwe.

I have done a couple of paintings, a few sketches of the boys, mud bath, fishing, swimming, reading……. I like this forced relaxation!

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