on Pemba

Since I didn't get to post nearly as much as I would have liked while we were in Pemba, I'm going to try to post now and then about some of the experiences we had, and throw in some pictures as well. So here's the story of the day:

The day we went scuba diving, we boated out to a island called Misali. To get there, we hopped on a local bus (daladala) the diving company had rented for the day, and arrived at the mini-port about 20 minutes away in a village called Wesha. The problem with ports in Pemba is that most of the coast is choked by mangrove forests, and when the tide is out, the coast is nothing but muddy tidal flats. So our departure was delayed because the tide was so low that the boat sat on the mud, stranded. When it was time to board, we grabbed our gear and waded waist-deep in the murky, salty water to the boat.


At Misali, Juma and I got off and set about exploring the island while the rest of the group did their first dive. The thick, green forest soon surrounded us as we set off to find Turtle Beach.
We soon realized the path didn't get many visitors, because cobwebs stretched across from one side to the other, suprising us in the face a few times. Juma made me walk in front to bear the brunt of the web attacks. Juma cried pretty much the whole stroll, scared of cobwebs, spiders, and walking. At one point we had to crouch down almost to my knees to go under a spider web, and another time I actually totally ruined a web before I realized it and brushed the spider off of my clothes. Not having learned my lesson, I walked my forehead straight into a large spider's web--the same kind of spider we had in our back yard (in the picture), though not as big as that one, thankfully. (Do click on the picture to see a larger version and experience the enormity of the thing. The big one died about a week after I took this picture, and the little one from the left took over its web. Within about 6 weeks, it grew to be almost as big as the one on the right.)


Instead of making it to Turtle Beach, we took a detour to a sacred cave. There are three such caves on Misali, and they are said to be inhabited by jinn (rendered genie in English, but don't think Aladdin) or spirits.
These spirits can help diviner-healers treat illness, when given the proper treatment of sacrifices and gifts. I can see how people would associate ghosts with the caves; they're kind of creepy, and they probably make ooooing and whooooing sounds if there is wind. A sign asks tourists like us to respectfully stay out of the cave, as healers still use them. Though I think I would have needed a climbing rope to get down into it had I wanted to anyway.