Storm, Splattering, Sun and Snorkeling.

Another half term has whizzed by which included a visit to the Coca Cola factory and sports day.  As I have worked hard for 6 weeks it must be time for a holiday!

I decided that this half term holiday I should make the most of living so close to the Indian ocean. Vicki and I headed down to Mikindani a small village near Mtwara in the South of Tanzania.  As you know by now holidays in Tanzania are not without their adventures and this week didn’t disappoint!

We flew down to Dar on the Saturday evening so we were ready to catch the early morning flight down to Mtwara. It also meant we could enjoy some delicious proper pizza and maybe some Prosecco. We got up early ready for our flight and arrived at the airport in a thunderstorm. Despite the storm the flight for Mtwara left as normal (which we were quite  impressed by!) however, as we got about half way to Mtwara the pilot announced that the weather in Mtwara was quite bad (which we has worked out as we could see the lightning quite clearly!) and there might be a possibility that we may not be able to land in Mtwara and have to head back to Dar. The Pilot did sound optimistic that the storm may pass. About 5 minutes from Mtwara the Pilot announced that we were going to circle Mtwara a few times in hope that the weather may clear up enough for us to land (in this very small airport!). As you can imagine circling in a storm wasn’t the smoothest ride. After a few circuits the weather had not changed and there wasn’t enough fuel for us to keep circling so we did a u-turn and headed back to Dar. It was beautiful and sunny in Dar when we arrived and they said they would let us know when the flight would be rescheduled. With normal excellent Tanzanian communication after 3 more hours sitting in Dar departures lounge they announced that the flight would be rescheduled until 11am the next morning. Another night in Dar which we made the most of by shopping, eating ice cream and yummy food including Lasagne. We did evenually get there only a day and a half late!                                                                                                                                                                

We stayed in a small village just North of Mtwara called Mikindani. Even though the weather was quite stormy at the beginning of the week it was a lovely old Swahili style village to wander around, watch the local fisherman and the local wildlife.

 
 

The stormy weather meant that the roads into Mtwara were quite wet. Not a problem when you are in a car but created a bit of an issue when you are on a Bajaj (a three wheeled motorbike with a covered, but not at the sides, back seat).On our way back from visiting a Mtwara market a very kind bus decided to whizz past us just at the very muddy part of the road which meant I fashioned a new orange/brown spotted range of clothes and skin!

Yes this is the road not a river we are driving along!

The weather picked up by the end of the week so we drove south down to the coast to a the beautiful Msimbati beach which we only had to share with a few cows and goats

We did a bit of snorkeling  and saw an enormous purple star fish and amazing electric blue and black striped fish, along with many other colourful fish.

We even had our very own picnic site for lunch too.

There were lots of local fisherman on the shoreline including one that had caught a puffer fish. He gutted in front of us and there was eyes and guts splurting everywhere. Our driver took some very colourful fish home for his tea.

 

We decided the local ferry looked a bit crowded so we took the plane home and actually managed to land in the correct airport this time.








It was a great week with the normal Tanzanian randomness. I feel like I have made the most of probably the last holiday for a very long while that I will swimming in the beautiful turquoise seas!