From Lugenda back to Pemba

Our flight was scheduled for 9.30am but at 7.30am it didn’t look like we were going anywhere. It had rained through the night and it wasn’t letting up. We were all resigned to the fact that we would be spending another night in the bush. The pilots’ however thought differently. Both of them turned up in full uniform and were eager to set off. They weren’t about to let a little rain put them off. So off they went in their wellies to check out the airstrip and check with the manual to see if it could be done (really reassuring). We were still not convinced and were quite happily snuggled up in the lounge and Carrie was busy making pancakes for us all. But then the pilots radioed in that they thought they could do it. Determined little buggers these pilots. So off we hurry gathering all our kit together whilst stuffing a few of Carrie’s pancakes in as we flew out the door. We then started our march to the airstrip. We were a sight. It was still raining and the puddles were deep, my one wellie went under so I had one wet sock but apart from that I managed to stay pretty dry. I had my backpack on and I was carrying Dave’s laptop but we all stayed pretty dry under my poncho.
We made it to the runway and I was starting to doubt the pilots’ sanity, for it was muddy. Still determined we loaded up and got on board. When I wasn’t mentally questioning the intelligence of the pilots I did take a chance to look round the plane and it was much nicer than the one we flew in on. It was the Air Caravan and it was about a 12 seater with leather seats, which were fairly comfortable. Strapped up and safety demo over we were ready to go. Engines were roaring and I was thinking this is just mad and then……nothing. We were stuck!!

We all climbed out and the boys pushed the plane out of the rut. Once back in the plane we started taxiing down the runway. We got all the way down and just as the pilot tried to turn the plane round we got stuck again. So we all climbed out again but this time it didn’t look so good. We waited for Andy and the camp staff to walk up from the other end of the runway as they could see we were stuck again and were going to need their assistance,

Well they tried in vain. This plane just didn’t want to budge. First they tried digging the wheel out with the little pick axe kept in the cockpit, but still nothing. Someone was sent into the bushes with the axe to chop down some wood to create something to lever the wheel out. This also didn’t work. Finally Andy sent someone back to the camp for a spade and a jack. When he got back they got to work again. They had to be careful not to damage the wheel as that really would have been disastrous. I sat back and watched.

But thankfully after two hours they managed to roll the plane out.

It had stopped raining by now but the clouds had got pretty thick. I was hoping the pilots had memorized where those mountains had been because they were gone now. Undeterred the pilots straightened up and were ready for action. It was at this point where I thought we all must be mad for trusting these clearly deranged people at the helm of the plane.

Oh well we were up in the air now so there wasn’t a lot I could have done about it. We took off straight into the clouds and it showed how skillful these pilots actually are because they couldn’t see a thing outside their windscreen. The rain was coming down hard and we were surrounded by white clouds. It was very bumpy but thankfully I didn’t feel as ill as I did on the way out.

The clouds finally cleared and we landed safely back in Pemba. We were dropped off at Dave’s beach cottage and with a quick turn around we were soon our way to Club Naval at the Pemba Beach Hotel for a chicken burger and a fanta, complete with ice cream. It is much more humid in Pemba but a rain cloud moved in making the temperature drop. We went to the Black Foot backpackers that night to watch some Super 14 rugby and have some pizza. There’s nothing more enjoyable than doing normal things when you haven’t done them for a while.