Tanzania Days 11-14: Chilling on Chole

We spent the next four days in island bliss. Being so remote and shut off from the world was relaxing. Not having electricity was weirdly relaxing. Not having a schedule, though against my very soul, was also relaxing. We had a couple of open air massages which were relaxing. The one thing that was NOT relaxing was the call to worship every morning around 4a or 5a. It came across a megaphone over the whole island.

As mentioned, our little island consisted of our lodge and a neighboring village. No roads, no cars. Only dirt paths through the jungle-like foliage. We made several trips to the village for "shopping" and spent time walking around the accessible areas of the island.

Steps to our treehouse

If I had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, rather than walk to the toilet in the dark or use the bucket, I just came down the stairs and went underneath the treehouse. Quickly. Then right back up those stairs!

There was even a place to wash the sand off our feet next to the stairs.

The main office where we could charge our phones and camera during certain hours of the day. There was also a little bar inside here where we could get drinks.

The paths going through the lodge grounds were beautiful and well-manicured.

View from our treehouse towards the water at sunset

Shopping in the village. This guy sold paintings he painted himself.

Example of a house in the village, most all were made this same way.

We went on several snorkeling trips on the wooden boats owned by the lodge. The snorkeling here was much better than I expected. During certain times of the year (not this one), the whale sharks migrate through.

Some of the coral

Many of the fish I had never seen before as they aren't found in Caribbean waters.

Moorish idol

Convict surgeonfish

Giant clams

Spotted surgeonfish and convict surgeonfish

Clown fish and anemone

Slender squirrelfish

Lizardfish

Eel in his hideyhole

Redlip parrotfish

I believe this might be the Indian Ocean version of blue tang.

Brenda with her noodles

Snorkel selfie

Our guide, Issa

Our boat from the water

Some scenes from our time on the boat.

The Captain let Brenda man the tiller.

Parts of our lodge from the water.

One afternoon, we took a trip to a sandbar for a sunset picnic. When we arrived, the guides set up our sun protection while we walked along the bar.

The white sand was beautiful.

And it was home to lots of crabs.

The guides hung out on the boat so we had the sandbar to ourselves.

The lodge packed some drinks and snacks for us which we enjoyed while watching the sunset.

Once we were ready to go, the guides packed everything up for us.

On another day, we took an excursion to a neighboring island to see the turtles hatching. We were lucky that the timing worked out during our trip. We took a boat over then hiked to the other side of the island in the hot sun for a good 30-45 minutes. It was an interesting walk through villages. We weren't expecting this little hike and were once again, woefully unprepared in our flip flops. Apparently this was a common problem because I can't even count how many discarded flip flops we saw on our trek.

We finally made it to the other side.

The group that helps to protect these turtles had already set up a path to the ocean to help the hatchlings arrive there safely.

Soon the hatching began and baby turtles started making their way towards the sea.

Sometimes the little guys would get hung up and one of the guides would set him straight.

The hiking in wet shoes for so long gave me a pretty good blister on my toe. We didn't have any bandages or band aids but we did have our disposable cotton panties. We brought these because there isn't a good way to get underwear laundered on a two-week safari trip. These we could wear once and throw away. Brenda fashioned a panty bandage for my toe from a pair of mine.

Dinnertime was truly beautiful on Chole (which made up for the mediocre food). Lanterns were set up along the pathways to light your way.

Each night, they chose a different area of the island to have a candlelight dinner. The first couple of nights, we dined with the other guests and the owner. I guess they didn't like us much because after that, we were set up for private dinners.

Dinners were not even close to quiet though because of the fruit bats. These guys lived in the surrounding trees.

They would leave the island during the day and then you could see them returning at sunset.

They would get settled in the trees and squabble with each other the rest of the night. That was the noise we would fall asleep to each night.