Habari za Ramadhani Pembani (Ramadan News in Pemba)

On the Indian Ocean.
Center of Chake Chake, dala-dala passing on the right.

I have an advice for tourists wanting to travel to Pemba: don’t come here during the Ramadan, unless you’re not staying in a full-board accommodation in a beach resort. Or if you don’t mind either fasting through the day together with the Muslims (me, I just can’t survive a whole day without drinking), eat bread and jam in your hotel room or having lunch in fairly expensive places, if there are any open in the town you’re staying in.

It is my fourth and last day in Chake Chake (and sixth day of the Ramadan), the main town of Pemba, which has been described as “the liveliest” of the three biggest towns on this smallish island, some 30 miles off the Tanzanian coast. I didn’t quite find it as such the first time we came here with the work camp group for shopping at the market, but now I can say that yes, it is somewhat lively compared to other towns (more like villages) of Pemba. Market, traffic (public minibuses, dala-dalas going to different corners of Pemba), people on the streets especially until 2pm and after 6pm, and a pretty good library, too. There is even a cinema, showing mostly Indian films for 400 shillings (25 euro cents) – although yesterday when I went there they suffered of technical problems quite a lot, the equipment is probably from British times...but the experience was great anyhow: film was called "The Duplicate" (1998), with the Indian superstar Shah Rukh Khan. Without subtitles, of course - I should probably check the synopsis from IMDB website myself! The dancing scenes were among one of the weirdest ever: first a kitchen scene, Shah Rukh as a cook, playing around. Then a ganster scene, almost like a parody of Tarantino movies or something. And then the obligatory Swiss mountain scene thing, with one shot taken even on a graveyard - brilliant!

But yes, Ramadan makes tourist’s daily life a bit difficult here. My original plan was to stay maybe two nights in Wete, in the northern part and two nights in Chake. My phone call round of Wete’s hotels however changed my plans, because one of the guesthouses is closed during Ramadan, one was full, and none of the others answered or had an old phone number. Instead I opted staying in Chake and doing day trips to nearby places, since here at least there were hotel beds available. The cheapest room I’ve seen so far has been 15 dollars per night, but I’m staying in Le Tavern Hotel, for 20 dollars per night. Not too cheap, eh? But I somehow like my hotel: it is very small, very clean, the staff is friendly (although speaking mostly in Swahili to me, apparently thinking that I can understand it perfectly, and one of the boys is sending me love letters) and most importantly, it is very central – less than 50 meters to the nearest dala-dala stands, food shops, internet, library etc. The only thing is that normally breakfast is included in the room price and served by the restaurant upstairs, but surprise surprise, during Ramadan the restaurant is closed. Not just during daytime, but all the time. No breakfast for me, then…the case is similar with all of the local restaurants here that normally cater good, cheap food (at least according to my guide book). Now the only places that I’ve found to be open (in general, even in the evening) is Pemba Inn Hotel’s restaurant (quite expensive) and Swahili Divers’ / Old Mission Lodge restaurant (very expensive). In the evening after 7 pm it's possible to get some street food, which isn’t exactly a culinary experience: either chipsi mayai (omelette with French fries) and mishkaki (barbecued meat sticks) or bread. At least it’s cheap…

OK, so finding a lodging and food during Ramadan might be a bit tough in Chake – in any other place it is probably impossible. Our work camp in Mkoani wasn’t affected by Ramadan, though – and the food was either very good or excellent all the time, big thank you for our cook Dinna! But a restaurant – I don’t think they had any in the town, really…but I don’t know if it is Ramadan or what makes people so overwhelmingly friendly towards me. On Sunday I got almost everything for free, starting from breakfast at Swahili Divers (“I’m sure you have a lot of other things to spend your money on than breakfast”), continuing with my little trip to Pujini ruins, about 10 kilometres from Chake. Dala-dala there I paid myself, but the driver organised his friends to take me to the ruins itself on a Vespa. Not having to walk those few kilometres to the Mkame Ndume’s palace (14^th-15^th century) ruins was very nice, considering that I could not have drunk any water if there were people on sight. When we reached the ruins itself, a guy emerged from somewhere and started to explain about them in Swahili. Not that I understood that much, though. But we did the tour and I was returned to the dala-dala stand on the Vespa – I didn’t really even have a chance to thank properly, when Ali (my Vespa driver / guide, sort of) already drove away. A strange experience, anyway.

All in all, I really do like Pemba, but right now staying here feels a bit too difficult. Since there isn’t any tourism, there aren’t any restaurants or affordable hotels for tourists, especially during the Ramadan. The island itself is really beautiful – virgin, as the locals say. Wild and untamed, but also very poor. One of the poorest regions in whole Tanzania, which I can easily believe, seeing the schools and hearing the teachers speak English (almost none at all, although education should be conducted in English starting from the secondary school). I can really understand why Pembans feel frustrated and left behind from the general boom in Zanzibar – all that tourism money and investments haven’t reached the shores of Pemba yet, unfortunately. That is also one of the reasons why the opposition party Civic United Front (CUF) has a large following in Pemba: the main party Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) just doesn’t seem to listen to the Pemban people, or do anything for the island’s development. For the stability of the islands, the decision makers should do something in order to prevent the stretching of the great divide between Pemba and Unguja before it is too late. At least the Pemban people – most of the time extremely friendly, kind of shy and very polite – certainly deserve it!