My coordinator gave us Monday off this weekend, so me and nine other colleagues decided to take a trip to a small port town on Tanzania’s East Coast called Tanga. We thought about Zanzibar, but traveling to the island requires a bus ride and ferry or an expensive flight, so we decided to be time and cost efficient. We definitely made a great decision, and the weekend only cost me $115 for everything…
Tanga is an 8-hour bus ride away from Usa River, and it’s definitely not touristy. We felt really safe (safer than we feel in Arusha, which is always bustling with activity and tourists), and had just enough to do for the weekend. Friday afternoon, we piled into a rented out Dala Dala (which played MUSIC) and had a mini party until we reached our hotel, Inn by the Sea, around midnight.
True to its name, our hotel was indeed by a body of water – even though this body of water is the Indian Ocean. The beach was a sight and experience I’ll never forget. To prevent boring you, I’ll give a quick overview of the weekend.
Saturday was categorized by lots of beaching, finding a random guy with a boat to take us to the nearby abandoned “Toten Island,” Christine shouting, “HAPANA! SIJUI!” (NO! I DON’T KNOW!) for no explicable reason, exploring the town of Tanga, waiting inordinate amounts of time for every meal, crappy bar coupons, a terribly constructed drinking game titled, “Star Cap,” plankton that lights up in the ocean when you walk, and heading off to “Nani Nani Land” (AKA sleep).
Sunday consisted of more beaching, relocating to a cheaper hotel in the town of Tanga with a sweet view of the ocean, PB&J sandwiches for all, more Dala Dala rides, exploring Amboni Caves and Galanos Hot Springs, primordial screams while on canoes, pumzikas, more waiting for food, and a ridiculously fun and strange Tanzanian club called, “La Casa Chica.”
We returned to Arusha on a public bus, which turned out to be a luxury Dala Dala. We stopped pretty much every half hour, but managed to get home in 8 hours. All was well with the world.
Tanga is an 8-hour bus ride away from Usa River, and it’s definitely not touristy. We felt really safe (safer than we feel in Arusha, which is always bustling with activity and tourists), and had just enough to do for the weekend. Friday afternoon, we piled into a rented out Dala Dala (which played MUSIC) and had a mini party until we reached our hotel, Inn by the Sea, around midnight.
True to its name, our hotel was indeed by a body of water – even though this body of water is the Indian Ocean. The beach was a sight and experience I’ll never forget. To prevent boring you, I’ll give a quick overview of the weekend.
Saturday was categorized by lots of beaching, finding a random guy with a boat to take us to the nearby abandoned “Toten Island,” Christine shouting, “HAPANA! SIJUI!” (NO! I DON’T KNOW!) for no explicable reason, exploring the town of Tanga, waiting inordinate amounts of time for every meal, crappy bar coupons, a terribly constructed drinking game titled, “Star Cap,” plankton that lights up in the ocean when you walk, and heading off to “Nani Nani Land” (AKA sleep).
Sunday consisted of more beaching, relocating to a cheaper hotel in the town of Tanga with a sweet view of the ocean, PB&J sandwiches for all, more Dala Dala rides, exploring Amboni Caves and Galanos Hot Springs, primordial screams while on canoes, pumzikas, more waiting for food, and a ridiculously fun and strange Tanzanian club called, “La Casa Chica.”
We returned to Arusha on a public bus, which turned out to be a luxury Dala Dala. We stopped pretty much every half hour, but managed to get home in 8 hours. All was well with the world.
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| View from Toten Island |
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| View from "Inn by the Sea" |
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