The Last Post

After almost six years living on this continent, the time has finally come for the Chubbs to leave Africa. In less than two weeks, we will pack our bags and fly out of Tanzania for the last time, heading for a new life in Indonesia.

Much as I’ve enjoyed writing this blog, all good things come to an end. I’m writing this last post because I think that Chubbs Around Africa deserves a more fitting end than an unexplained hiatus in posting- this is a short but sweet final bullet.

I’m glad that from the closing months of our time in Cairo and through our three years in Tanzania, I’ve been able to record some of our experiences for posterity. Like an old photo album, I’ve enjoyed looking back over some of those early posts and remembering some of the experiences we've racked up over the last few years. Hopefully I’ve given at least one perspective on life in two remarkable countries. Some comments I’m sure others will disagree with, some may just ring true.

Tanzania is a country I’ll always look back upon with affection. There is a lot wrong with the place to be sure- well run countries don’t generally spend decades in the “poorest in the world” listings as Tanzania has done. However, this remains a beautiful place with kind, friendly people and none of the admitedly fair comments about misrule and corruption at the top should ever detract from that.

Life here has been a mixture of joy, disappointment, comedy and sadness- a very intense concoction indeed. The angry crowd amassing outside the house after a car crash in 2008 was definitely a low point, as was the experience we went through when we caught our maid stealing.

However, trying to talk our fundi out of attempting dangerous electrical works with a fork or dealing with a traffic policeman who pulled me over to ask me for one of the beers I had in the car “because it is very hot sir” has added the kind of comedy value to life you’d not normally encounter back home.

It is so easy to moan at the bad sides of this country. Yes the politicians are unworthy of power, yes the chances of a fundi turning up on time are tiny, yes the traffic police are corrupt- so what?

Having the chance to see the sheer scale of the world’s largest unbroken crater at Ngorongoro, taking off in a ten seater plane over the enormous Rift Valley and seeing the lions of the Serengeti are all memories I count myself privileged to have tucked away in my head.

However it is the day to day beauty that I am most happy to have enjoyed. for three years, I've started and ended every working day driving along a coastal road, looking out over the Indian Ocean. That has been a treat that I will miss. Enjoying the crystal clear waters at the Yacht Club beach, watching the sun set over Bongoyo Island, eating the freshest fruit in the world and simply sitting on the porch with a can of Kilimanjaro, watching the world go by are all things I could never take for granted.

If work permits, I might start up another blog describing life in Jakarta- who knows? For now though, I am signing off, happy in the knowledge that the prediction made in my first ever post was pretty spectacularly wrong! To those Tanzanians who have been part of our lives for the last three years, whether for good or for bad, I say "kwaheri na asanteni sana".