Thanksgiving, Chole Island Getaway and Whale Sharks

So how do you celebrate Thanksgiving in a country where there are no turkeys? We were fortunate enough to be invited to the local American Chamber of Commerce affiliate's celebration at a hotel on the water. In exchange for providing some volunteer services during the event we were able to get in free. It was a lovely evening. We had the opportunity to meet other ex-pats, specifically from the American business community in Dar. The dinner was a benefit for a Tanzanian elephant protection NGO. They are using trained spaniel dogs to sniff to contraband ivory amongst other activities. It was fascinating.

Thanksgiving Dinner and cocktails on the Coral Beach Hotel veranda

Working at the registration table greeting guests as they arrived

The grounds were very tasteful and the tent had AC!

There were about 300 guests. The food was good and the pie contest produced some notable desert.

The following weekend we had a three day retreat north of Dar in a hotel along the beach with all of our fellow GHSP volunteers from across Tanzania. Peace Corps called this training "IST" and everyone does it about 6 months into your deployment. It was good to see our fellow volunteers and catch up. We were joined by our counterparts from the hosting institutions as well as PC staff and Seed staff from the US. There were many educational sessions. It was time well spent.

During a lecture on multi-drug resistant TB

Laurel and her counterpart, Joel

Grace, one of my counterparts from Muhimbili, delivering a lecture on TB

Three days later we actually celebrated Thanksgiving at home with Zanzibar Mix, an all-in-one meal from our local roadside restaurant. It cost only $1.50 USD per bowl. We are increasingly sampling the roadside food in our neighborhood. Last week we discovered an ice cream store only 200 yards from our apartment.

The following weekend we travelled to Mafia Island. It's about a 30 minute flight from Dar. We flew on a prop plane that seats 12. We were interested in a weekend out of the city. Laurel had arranged for us to stay at Chole Mjini Lodge, a very unique destination that sits on an island in the middle of the Mafia Island nature preserve, an aquatic sanctuary that has some of the best scuba diving in East Africa.

Chole Mjini is a very unique property. It has no electricity nor running water and guests stay in one of 6 tree houses. It is the work of a couple who bailed on corporate life almost 20 years ago and created this property on the grounds of the former seat of government of the Mafia Island archipelago  when the Arabs and then the Germans ruled here about 100-200 years ago. It is very ecologically friendly out of necessity since the entire island lacks power. Proceeds from the lodge also helps fund a foundation which has brought schools, healthcare and jobs to the island's one thousand residents. I encourage you to read more about at Chole Mjini

Leaving Dar we were finally able to appreciate the tremendous sprawl that results from housing 4-5 million people in one and two story homes. It goes on for miles. 

The airport on Mafia Island was tiny, as was our plane.

After a 15 minute taxi ride across Mafia we boarded the dhow that serves as the ferry to take you across to Chole Mjini. We were glad to see the beer coming along with us.

The manicured paths at the lodge.

Our treehouse

The view from our upper balcony, the second story to the treehouse. I slept here at night and let the sea breeze keep me cool.

Another of the treehouses

So, how do you get a hot shower if there is no running water? You use this ingenious kerosine fired double walled fire tube which heats water on demand and is filled from a hidden cistern of water that is refilled daily. It works. Eco friendly tourism in action!

These are some of the ruins on the hotel property. We had a candlelight dinner here on our first night. 

The next morning we were off to go swim with the largest fish in the sea, the whale shark. They migrate through the underwater preserve yearly. They are massive but totally harmless as they are baleen feeders that only consume plankton. This is one of the attractions on Mafia. Chole Mjini operates its own operation on Mafia. We picked up several guests from other hotels and were joined by "Ben from Sweden" pictured here with me en route on the dhow.

There were about 10 of us and we searched for 2 hours to finally find one whale shark. Once you see them they stop the boat and off you go in snorkeling gear. The sharks swim back and froth through the plankton cloud so you just hang in the water and wait for them to come to you. They are beautiful animals. We had strict instructions on staying 6 feet away from them so as to not disturb them. They basically swim out of your way if you position yourself in their path.

Here we are in the water alongside another boatful of tourists.

This is the best picture I got. In the foreground you can see the rippled water. Immediately in front of this is a small patch of whale shark with the characteristic spots that scientists read like individual fingerprints to identify the animals. Chole Mjini has had a hand in facilitating research on these mysterious animals. They disappear for months at a time and are thought to go very deep to hibernate. No one really knows where they go but some stay resident in the park for the year and do not migrate. They just cannot be found.

Laurel walking back to the beach from our dhow after the excursion.

The next morning I was off to scuba dive in the pristine waters. This dhow picked me up at a high water pier and we had a fine time diving pretty shallow reefs. The dive master was my dive buddy and helped me get back in the swing of things after four years out of the water. The last diving I did was the Great Barrier Reef while visiting Laurel in Australia during her on her MSF assignment in Papua New Guinea.

Laurel stayed home that morning and read/relaxed.

That evening we (5 guests and the proprietors) sailed out to a sandy spit that is exposed by the low tide and had a evening beach party awaiting the sunset.

It did not disappoint.

On our way back from the sunset cruise/beach party.

 By now regular readers will be wondering "How is he going to work bats into this post?" It turns out Chole Island has a huge population of fruit bats that live there and fly to nearby Mafia every evening to eat fruit from the orchards. We toured the island the next day with a local guide and found hundreds roosting in the local trees in and around the village. It was our first chance to see them up close. We were very excited!

They are covered in yellow fur to our surprise. They fuss and fight with one another during the day periodically making screeching sounds and flying from one roost to another. It was fascinating to see them up close. I just wish I had brought binoculars!

Sign outside the old abandoned mosque built by the Arab traders who used Chole Island as a headquarters for their save trade.

Mosque ruins

The foundation associated with the hotel built a new health center thus providing the island's population with nurses and a doctor. This is a huge improvement since previously they had to take sick people to Mafia by ferry, a dicey trip with someone like a woman in labor.

Doctor's Room

The only motorized vehicle on the island, a motorcycle ambulance.

Local village house with typical mud and stick walls and frame.

The island's other claim to fame is its shipbuilders. They are widely acknowledged as being the premier dhow builders in East Africa. They make everything by hand. This boat was 30 feet long and took two men four months to build. It would sell for $4K USD we were told. Merchandise (coconuts and fish) from the island is sailed to Dar (a two day affair) and sold there.

The primary school for the island. The foundation provides tuition and board for the island's children to attend the secondary school on Mafia thus enabling the island's children to get a decent education. Most could not afford this luxury before the foundation began its funding. It is all part of the intricate partnership the lodge's owners have established with their neighbors. It is generally acknowledged as one of the most inventive and eco-friendly tourism partnerships in all of Africa. Kudos to the proprietors who have made this their life's work.

We have stayed at some pretty wild and memorable places on our travels but Chole Mjini stands out. It has to be near the top of the list of spectacular places I have seen in my lifetime. Kudos to my spouse for making this happen.

This is a stock photo from the web to give you an idea of the scale of whale sharks. The one we saw was not this big but it was still quite intimidating yet harmless. Having it swim by me 6 feet away on two occasions is an experience I will not forget.