Pemban flying foxes and a rain forest

On Valentine's Day, we took a "tourist day" and borrowed a car to go see some sites on the island. Not far from our town is a roosting site for the Pemban flying fox, a large bat that has black wings but reddish-brown fur and a face much like a fox's. There were hundreds in one grove of trees.







I know they are hard to see, but each strangely-shaped blob is a bat, hanging from the branches.



Our second stop was a indigenous rain forest in the northwest corner of the island. Most of Pemba used to look like this, before people started living and farming here about 1000 years ago.









Notice how green everything is. And did I mention this is the dry, hot season?

play time

Juma has found many ways to keep himself entertained lately. His large collection of Legos came with us to Zanzibar, and these give us hours of entertainment.



The other day we made salt play dough, and had lots of fun making pizza. We take custom orders, too, so if you're interested, let us know.



We're currently looking for food coloring to make it a little more realistic.



Juma has also found several boys to play soccer--or football--with in the late afternoons when the sun isn't quite as hot.

Misali Island

For a weekend getaway (yes, we do need a weekend getaway now and then even when we live on a tropical island) we took a boat out to an uninhabited island about an hour west of our town.

It's called Misali, taken from the word for prayer mat, because it kind of looks like a Islamic prayer mat and faces north towards Mecca. The island also has a couple very cool caves that some Pembans believe are inhabited by spirits. Those wise in the ways of spirits and healing sometimes come to the island to give offerings and prayer to the spirits for help--for their health, their fishing trips, whatever.

The island has great beaches (which are surprisingly rare on Pemba but plentiful on Unguja). Note: All but the last two pictures came from google searches.



and is surrounded by a wonderful coral reef. Just feet out in the water is a huge coral drop off (think Finding Nemo, "They're going to the drop off!?!?"). Justin and I took turns snorkeling on the drop off; it was absolutely amazing, if not also a little freaky, wondering what large sea creatures might be swimming our way in the blue gloom.

We did not see any thing big, but we did sea hundreds of fish



including angel fish



parrot fish



trumpet fish



and clown fish.



Justin even saw a couple lion fish.



I was lucky enough to spot a giant moray eel. I could only see its head, but judging by that, it must've been over five feet long. I've only ever seen those after fishermen catch them, and have them on the ground for sale.



There were also lots of great corals and giant clams.



Juma had fun playing around on the beach, catching crabs of various sizes. Here's a tiny one, the same color as the beautiful white sand.



The only downside of the trip was the failure-of-the-sunblock.

trip to Unguja island

Juma and I recently got back from Unguja island (aka Zanzibar island). I had to go for work, but Justin also had to work, so he stayed here in Pemba. I took Juma with me, and he went to the international school for 2 days. He borrowed a uniform from his friend Franklin (his parents are also from Yale), and he was so cute! I forgot to get a picture, though. Bummer. Next time. He didn't want to go to the school, but he did great and liked it fine. He was placed in class 2 by his age, but he'll have to be in class 3, I think. Class 2 is just too easy for him. He did have a good time playing with Franklin and his siblings Maggie and Solomon. They get along very well, and live in a great house with a back yard, play room, zip line, and they live within minutes of a beach that also has a swimming pool.

Unguja is way different these days compared to Pemba and compared to what it was back in 1999. Both nights we were there we ate real Italian pizza and gelato! Mmm, mmm, mmm! There are so many tourists and tourist shops and restaurants and fancy hotels, it's crazy. It's nice to take a break from Pemba, though. But then we were certainly ready to come back to the quiet of Pemba where if we see two other white people in a day, we think the place is being overrun with tourists! It's nice that everyone here in Chake Chake knows us and isn't trying to sell us tourist packages to go to this or that beach.

Also, Pemba currently has a steady supply of electricity, but Unguja has none at all. Only people with generators (aka rich people and tourist hotels) can have electricity. Because there's no electricity, getting water has been a huge problem, too. Only people who happen to have wells can get access to any fresh water; they share liberally with others. Some sell water. Others have dug shallow wells of their own, and are only getting dirty water. It's pretty bad in the villages these days. The government promises the electricity will be back this month, but no one believes them. We'll see.

The plus side of Unguja, though, is that it has some commodities that we can't get in Pemba. So I managed to find a counter-top water purifier which I bought and hauled back to Pemba. It was only about 30 dollars, which is about how much we spend on bottled water in 2-3 weeks. So it'll pay for itself very quickly. Luckily we have a fridge, so we can just fill up containers and have cold water any time (the electricity is on).

Our work continues well. Justin is getting lots done in the Archives, and I'm making some great contacts that'll help me with my projects. I've hired a research assistant who is great and has tons of experience doing health research, so I am pleased.

Juma is doing great with homeschooling. Yesterday, we started to make a tambourine from bottle caps, learned about the founding of Rome, learned what a peninsula is, and wrote about our trip to Unguja. (I'll ask his permission to type it up here.)