Tanzania & Zanzibar: Day Twenty: Pongwe Beach Hotel

After a delightful self-service breakfast it was time to lounge on the beach once again (camera icon), below, viewing a small boat (camera icon) moored a little way out to sea, that looked as if it might have been a much nicer place to be. But only just.

     

However I began to get a bit bored just doing nothing, and decided to hire one of the mountain bikes (camera icon) on offer in Reception, and just take off on the roads around.

This is the sort of thing that I particularly enjoy, being away from the artificial world of the tourist destination, and in the real world of the local people (camera icon) and (camera icon), opposite (note the huge satellite dish in the right hand picture).

The vehicles seen varied from the decrepit (camera icon), below, to the slightly better (camera icon), below, but the various animals wandering around seemed to be in good condition (camera icon) and (camera icon), opposite.

     

However it was the houses that interested me most. These varied from being in very poor condition (camera icon), below, to absolutely superb (camera icon), below.

     

There were also a very large number of only partially constructed houses alongside the road (camera icon), opposite. Partly this is due to poverty, with construction proceeding very slowly, as money becomes available, but apparently partly because, about 40 years ago, the people were told by the government that they could take and keep parcels of land for free, but only if they showed that they had begun to build thereon.

Hence vast numbers of bare foundations, mouldering by the side of the road. Governments never learn, do they?

After quite a long time out on my ride I got back to the hotel (with rather a sore bum) in time for lunch, taking it easy for the rest of the day, watching some local ladies way out to sea apparently looking to harvest some ocean-based food - fully clothed (camera icon).

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