Steve’s wedding was great! He, Loyce and the bride's maids walipendeza sana (looked very attractive)! I couldn’t see for most of it, since their camera man had employed use of the midday sun to illuminate the wedding party, blinding us and giving our snazzy suits the greenhouse effect. It was a really nice wedding, though. The ceremony was in St. Joseph’s Cathedral by the ferry port to Zanzibar in Dar es Salaam. They had a fantastic choir and the mass was a mixture of Swahili and English. I was very excited to see that Loyce’s family had hired a pickup truck brass and drum band to escort us through town. The wedding itself was mostly Tanzanian-style, but with very good style. There were three bottles of champagne shaken and corked, every single guest of the wedding gave cheers to the wedding party, ngoma (drums) was danced, kichekesho (jokers) was played, and the food was excellent! All I really had to do was pendeza (make the wedding look nice) and attack the beer table once formalities were over. Oh, and I had to wipe Steve’s brow constantly, although it was not sweaty. If you ever saw a Tanzanian wedding, you’d understand.
After the wedding, Loyce, Steve, Papa Steve and I headed off to Zanzibar. The highlight of this trip was a full day of dhow sailing from Stone town to Bale Island and Changuu (prisoner) island. Steve, his dad and I were all very curious how a dhow was actually sailed, and we found out! It basically had a mast, and a triangular sail with a spar going from the bow and up past the mast. This was connected to the mast by a rope gooseneck, and the tack had a sheet which was tied to a plank going across the stern just fore of the skipper. The halyard ran through a hole bored into the top of the mast and was fastened to the stern, doubling as a backstay. A single side-stay was switched back and forth according to which tack we were on. The rudder and tiller looked like they’d break in half at any minute. The boat was quite fast reaching or downwind, but upwind was challenging as it could only point about 45 degrees off the wind. Tacking is impossible, and gibing is accomplished by releasing the sheet and side stay, pulling the fore end of the sail spar back to lift it over to the other side of the mast, passing the sheet around and retying the sheet and side-stay. In really heavy wind, it was too difficult to force the spar over the mast, so the sail was allowed to fly freely before the bow, keeping hold of an end of the sheet, and brought back along the opposite side. I was amazed that even in 15 to 20 knots of wind and with no keel, the boat was quite stable, probably due to it’s weight and length in proportion to the sail area.
Anyway, we sailed out to two islands, went snorkeling at a coral reef beside Bale island, and saw the old slave barracks, quarantine hospital and giant tortoises on Changuu island. Changuu also had the best beach I’ve seen on Zanzibar yet, with perfect sand and very few people. All together it was a fantastically adventuresome and relaxing day. I had wanted to sail aboard a dhow since I first saw one about three years ago. Also, I should mention it was not a tourist dhow, but normally a fishing boat which we hired for the day. The two-man crew did not even know much English, certainly not enough to lead any tours, so it was a genuine fishing dhow.
Now I am back in Dar es Salaam again, and I will stay here a day or two, then go to either Njombe, Lushoto or Kilwa Masoko. I haven’t decided which yet. I just heard there was an earthquake in Tanzania. If you’re worried, don’t be! I was in Zanzibar and had no idea.
