bumps in the road
The African stereotype may be easily confirmed when you’re jolting past it, viewing the passing scenes from the lofty heights of your personal metal elephant.
All sorts of ironies reside in Pemba, including but not limited to ponytailed Russian game hunters and metal elephants and African children in Lakers jerseys and a guard with a bow and arrow, and then, of course, the Kujilana team.
We don’t belong in a beach house that rents out to Russian elephant hunters. This place is a hideaway for the wealthy who needed an escape plan. For those Mozambicans who lack frequent flyer miles, however, it’s not an umbrella crowning a pina colada but the thatched roof of a mud hut that’s a dependable sight in Pemba.
But the view from the door of a hut is much better anyhow. This may be the clearest view of the universe from earth, with the Milky Way looking deliciously close, like it might leave some starry residue on the roofs overnight.
Anyhow, from our truck-turned-elephant, images of Africa are blurry. And the story is only ours from that vantage point. It takes something like a visit to the bush with an ex-civil war captain to give us back our clear vision.
