OMLG, What a difference a day makes

13 December, Monday; Fundu Lagoon, Pemba Island, Tanzania. We had twelve hours of travel today and it was worth every second to get here. Picture this – a private boat ride to our resort that currently has ten current guests, three bars, pool, spa, dive shop, open-air restaurant and a seemingly endless stretch of beach looking out onto an azure sea. More importantly – our own private suite to celebrate our honeymoon in style. We’ve upgraded from a small, smelly tent to a luxury tented beachfront hideout complete with two minibars, four-poster bed, private 12-foot pool and, wait for it, en suite shower and flush toilet. I know the pool should be the most exciting thing, but I’m still adjusting to having a clean bathroom all to ourselves. I can barely believe I don’t have to exit the room to use the toilet! To be honest, a clean Motel 6 would feel like luxury right now and this place feels like paradise after 2-and-a-half weeks of camping. After our way-too-early 5.30 am taxi pickup, we boarded a very new Precision Air plane from Nairobi to Zanzibar, getting a great view of Kilimanjaro along the way.

Our layover in Zanzibar was about four hours, so our local contact politely drove us into Stone Town (in an air-conditioned van --- a luxury to us) to the hotel where we’ll be staying in six days on our way back to the Tanzanian mainland. Ben wandered off into the meandering streets to find a pharmacy and I hijacked the internet for a while to escape the brief rain shower. Before long, we were back to the airport and the anticipation for Fundu was growing exponentially. Ben watched for our plane out the window of the departures area, expecting a somewhat small plane. Our plane finally arrived and it indeed was small. It’s cramped cabin held only 14 people, including the pilot. Ben was excited notice that one of the previous passengers exited from the front of our plane and was determined to get that view. He politely asked and was obliged. Funny enough, the pilot didn’t give him a safety briefing, despite the fact he was in reach of all of the buttons, levers and ominously-looking red abort switch.

After the 20-minute ride in the cockpit, Ben was so excited to get to Fundu that he completely bypassed the luggage pickup area upon our arrival at the Chake Chake airport on Pemba Island. Being honeymooners and all, we were glad to be the only Fundu guests being picked up and enjoyed the solitary 30 minute ride through the lush hills to the port. It felt a bit like a drive on Tortola, BVI. At the dock, we boarded a private boat and skimmed across the shallow channel for about 10 minutes towards our base for the next 6 nights. We’d been anticipating this moment for nearly sixth months.

It did not disappoint. This place is freaking awesome. It’s such a stark change after doing a participatory camping trip to have someone to help you with your bags. However, Ben still won’t relinquish his backpack, as it contains his two precious babies, his 5D and 7D. We were greeted at the end of the jetty and escorted to the Jetty Bar, where we were handed a cold towel and yummy fruity drink and then given a short tour. We pass through reception where we hand over our passports and wallets – no money here. We walk through the main bar and restaurant before the wooden walkway abruptly ends and the sand walkway begins. We are informed that it’s casual here and most guests walk around barefoot. “No shoes, no shirt, no service” doesn’t exist here. Walking through the sand-covered walkway is getting us in the beach mood and we nearly fell to our knees when we saw our room. Keep in mind that we’ve been sleeping in a 6x6 foot tent for most of the last few weeks and now our bed is bigger than our old tent! Our suite consists of a large permanent tent with king size bed and en suite bathroom (that is luxury to us), a small couch, and most importantly, a complimentary mini-bar. This would be enough for us after our past few weeks, but it gets better. We have a roofed relaxation area with a table and chairs, 2 papasan chairs, sunken couches and a fan and then a large deck with, get this, a private pool! And to top it off, we’re set right on the beach.

Today, this feels like heaven. One of the funniest things is that they’ve provided us with 3 giants towels, and 4 hand towels EACH. I just don’t know what to do with all of these big, fluffy, clean towels that I don’t have to use over and over for more than a week and then wash myself in a bucket of cold water. I feel that we’ve partially abused their free laundry policy and given them a huge basket of our nasty, smelly camping laundry. I feel bad about this, but then I remember how much we’re paying per night and keep piling on the smelly socks. By the way, if you were curious about the title, OMLG means Oh My Lady Gaga. I didn’t think that OMG was appropriate for our shock when realizing the luxuries that we have for the next week. The comparative luxury of this place feels as shocking to us as Lady Gaga’s raw meat dress.