I have been here 2 1/2 weeks now and believe that I am starting to miss civilisation. Its funny
that but I do miss the big city vibe, transport of any sort would be nice and some air conditioned
shops, just for a weekend. Oh and being able to communicate without playing charades would also
help.
It has been good to spend the time here though and get to know the locals:
Like Mike, The Israeli stockbroker, who drove down through Africa on his honeymoon and was
going back up the East coast when he got stuck here and now runs a timber mill; Shawn, the sound
engineer who has a house near Glastonbury, who is now the barman at the camp; Florian the French
Dive instructor who has to fiberglass his boat so I can go diving with him on Ibo; Oom Koos, a
retired Rekkie (special forces) and mercenary, who is selling land here; Carlos, the Spanish big
game hunter, with his Maltese Poodle "Poppie" ; James the retired Canadian English teacher and
author, looking for inspiration; Charles the game ranger, Kingsley Holgate the explorer, who does
documentaries about expeditions through Africa; Smitty, the carpenter, who reckons that if you
want wood, this is the place to be - there is so much great wood here, they use Mahogany to make
fires - and his sheep dog "Blue", who can open a cooler box, fetch beer, cigarettes and a lighter on
command; They are a great bunch of people, all friendly and helpful.
I have finished my PADI Rescue and First Aid Course, so should you per chance get lost at the
bottom of the ocean, I should be able to find you and bring you back, alive hopefully. I have been
keeping myself busy by diving and reading and just generally hanging out. I am reading The
Poisonwood Bible at the moment: its really absorbing and a great book for the beach (or the tube,
if you don´t have a beach handy).
As you can see my underwater pictures are getting better slowly but surely, I just wish the fish
would stay still. They are pretty skittish here and get alarmed and swim away as soon as I point
my camera at them. The poor, starving locals are doing what poor, starving locals everywhere do
and pillaging the reefs with no regard to the WWF guidelines for sustainable fishing or
protecting endangered species - much to the chagrin of the richer scuba diving sort of locals. We
observed and photographed them (We were bluffing that we were going to report them to the
police to get them to stop) drop there nets on the coral reefs, destroying hundreds of years of
coral growth when they pull them back in, and will pull out anything they can get there hands on,
including turtles and large conch shells. Ignorant people will buy this contraband (thinking that
because they are selling it, it must be okay, otherwise it wouldn't be allowed now would it?) and
then are surprised when they are arrested and fined at their home airport. Environmental
concerns are bollocks when there are squawking hungry mouths to feed.
The other thing that is taking some getting used to is how much attention I attract. As a
foreigner, its impossible to be anonymous: everyone looks at you, well at your shoes or shorts
anyway. The fact that you have shorts without holes or strops (sandels in Europe I think),
instead of slip-slops means you are wealthy philanthropist and obviously don´t need the clothes
you are wearing, and these should be distributed to the community. Posso eu ter seus Clasaum?
(Can I have your shorts?). Nãom Podis! (No you can´t) and then in English as my Portuguese fails
me at this point: What am I supposed to wear? Can I have yours? One of the dutch guys here has
decided, as seems to be the trend these days, that a preemptive attack is the best form of
defense and approaches the locals asking for money or clothes, before they can ask him. They get
quite upset, and can´t see the irony.
I am trying to learn Portuguese and have enlisted the help of one of the guys who works at the
camp. I just found out that he used to be an interrogator for Frelimo - The current government
and one of the forces vying for power in the 17 year civil war, which ended in 1993. At the
moment he is playing "good cop", but I am just waiting for him to roll out his interrogators kit
when I can´t remember my conjugation!
Not sure if I could stay here for any length of time, but its nice for now. We have also been
having a lot of rain. Well, rain is a bit of a euphemism for the torrent that empties the skies and
I have discovered that my all-weather "packaway" jacket was clearly made for all weather, except
this. The best thing is just to not go out, the roads turn to rivers and you get absolutely
drenched, but it only lasts for an hour or 2 and then the sun is out again and the temperature
goes back to a muggy 35 degrees.
Pemba - Mozambique
