Pangani, Day 5 & 6

The rest of the weekend, we relaxed, swam and wandered along the beautiful Pangani beach. In my opinion, The "Swahili Coast" is home to some of the most gorgeous semi-remote beaches in the world. While property on the coast is going fast, tourist development is still relatively low and quiet, deserted beaches can still be found. At Peponi, simple cottages of humble resorts and a small fishing village are the only sign of inhabitants.We walked past the village to the cove at the end of the beach where we sat all day, painting, drawing, reading and swimming. A group of young tourists like ourselves is hard to ignore in a small village and in the afternoon when the tide was out, a group of kids wandered over to see what we were up to. Tanzanian kids are generally, very quiet and shy, but obviously very curious about the Western world. It is not uncommon to find yourself surrounded by wide-eyed children, touching you and examining your possessions like you are a tourist attraction yourself. With our collective Kiswahili, we soon had the group of very quiet, inquisitive kids coloring, painting, running and flipping all over the beach!Tanzania is famous for its National Parks and booming safari industry. The "Northern Circuit" of parks is the most traveled area in all of Tanzania, with Zanzibar probably being the close 2nd for tourism traffic. The Eastern Arc Mountains and the Swahili Coast are some of the most amazing places in terms of bio and ecological diversity, yet remain relatively undisturbed from the regular tourist exploitation. Hopefully, these areas remain this way in order to preserve the last of their precious, natural resources and wildlife.

For more info on conservation projects on the Swahili Coast & Eastern Arc Mountains, check out these sites!

http://www.seasense.org/ for info on endangered marine life conservation


http://www.africanrainforest.org/ for projects and partners of the African Rainforest Conservancy