Despite the air conditioning I didn’t sleep too well as it was too warm. The breakfast was not as enjoyable as at Emerson & Green, in fact the food at this hotel not up to the standard that we had enjoyed in Zanzibar. We had arranged with the taxi driver who had collected us from the airstrip to pick us up this morning at 10.00am for a trip to Pangani but first John asked him to turn left at the exit to explore the area to see if John could identify the house where he used to live. John recognised the Rascazone Swimming Club where he used to go when small, but was unable to identify the house. We then turned around and headed towards Tanga where the drive stopped to fill up with Petrol.
Pangani is south of Tanga and the road was appalling, the taxi is ancient, 20 years old, at least, with most of its accoutrements either missing or just fallen off. It took forever to arrive at the Orgivia Lodge for lunch. However the scenery was worth it as every few kms. we would pass through an African village, the houses were constructed similarly to the farmer’s houses in Zanzibar. They consisted of a frame made of upright poles laced with cross members and the gaps filled in with mud. They had pitched roofs covered with coconut palm fronds which are very plentiful in this area. As it was examination day in the schools today all the small children were at home. Similarly as in Spain the sheep, goats and calves are taken out every day to graze. In this area there are enormous sisal plantations, hectare upon hectare of sisal in different stages of development, some of the plants that had already been cut appeared to have short trunks.
After arriving at the lodge we were shown the estate. For bedrooms there are separate stone rooms and tents with “en suite” bathrooms set on platforms and they looked amazingly comfortable. The gardens were beautiful and we walked through them on a concrete path down towards the sea where there was a swimming pool, a bar and chaise longue. From here it was a short distance to the beach and sea. It would be a lovely place to spend a quiet holiday.
We returned to the main building and as we approached the entrance there was a Mahogany log carved with a myriad of elephant, so many it was impossible to count them. The thatched roof building consists of an office, dining room and kitchen. The huge dining area is open and overlooks a lawn.. We invited our driver to have lunch with us. We then had a very welcome Kilimanjaro beer and the driver a Coca Cola. After ordering we all three sat down, we were the only guests, the driver had ordered a hamburger and chips and we a salad of pasta, mango and chicken. It was delicious. After lunch we set of for the return journey on a single track road that passed through villages where at one house was a large gathering and the driver said it was a wedding party.
On arrival back in Tanga John asked the driver to go down Pangani Road to see if he could identify another house where he once lived however the driver didn’t seem to understand the instructions and we never found it, we did however pass the church where he was christened.
Before we went out to Pangani this morning we met the wife of the owner of the Mkonge Hotel, she is an Austrian and her husband an Indian they met in London. They own three hotels the other two are in Mombasa and Nairobi. She was bewailing the fact that as in every other part of East Africa after the bombs, there are now too few tourists. We then asked her was it safe to go out for a short walk, yes but we were to remove watches, rings etc., and take no money. This was advised was because, recently, a Japanese tourist had been attacked at 2.00 pm recently. We went out around 6.00 pm and it was the time when people were returning from work and alighting from Matumbas. I didn’t feel entirely safe. We walked down he path to the Rascazone Swimming Club that we had seen this morning but we were not allowed to enter as it was a 200Tsh., entry fee and we had no money.