Growing Up In the Boondocks!

I talked about my dad not being there when I was born, that's because right after my parents were engaged (June 7, 1964 - Wo! these guys were only 22!) he got a job to manage a bar at a remote beach hotel in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania.

My Dad, Mum and I living the life in the Boondooks!

Silversands in Kunduchi Beach was my parents new home after they were married (June 13, 1965). It was a little hotel with a few rooms and tents were pitched once they ran out of rooms. It was owned by two brothers Misha and Abrasha and they brought my dad in first to run the bar for them and then they sold it to him. It was only 20 kilometres from Dar-es-Salaam but it was terribly remote in 1965, it really was the Boondocks! (the reason my mum came back to Arusha to have me). Before I came along, Amin and Sully lived in one little room behind the hotel and after they had me they 'moved up' into a little house that they converted from a garage.

The Little House on the Inside!

The Little House on the Outside!

The Boondocks had many creatures that loved to escape the heat! My mum once shook out a scorpion that had found refuge in my baby shoe, she got bitten by another scorpion and my dad found a huge one climbing the wall. Centipedes were the other creature in abundance. My mum had to place tins of water under the legs of the bed so centipedes wouldn't crawl up and they always had to look in and under shoes to make sure they weren't hiding in there. Now wait for it... Snakes! Black mambas, green mambas, vipers, cobras, pythons and puff adders! It seemed like we had it all and not just for viewing pleasure, my parents had all sorts of experiences with these creatures! It's a surprise I'm here to tell you about it!

Despite being in the boondocks, my mum says living at Silversands was like living in heaven! How could it not be... it had the most beautiful beach, away from the city with no crowds. Sea, sand and sun all day long, that was how I grew up!  I learned to read and write in the sand! The food was delicious, seafood caught fresh everyday; sardines, lobster and kingfish to your heart's delight (she said turtles too, but I'll just pretend I didn't hear that!).

Sea!

Sand!

Sun!

The people from Silversands left a lifetime mark on my parents and they are the ones whose names I have heard for the last 50 years; Dr. Stocker, Misha, Abbey, Blima, Abrasha, Medina, Isaac, Yona, Simba, Shabani, Salum, Charles, Fabian, Pedro, Bhaturio, Roshi, Punch, Mali, Sadru, Kimi, George, Brian, Alice and Mocha the French Poodle!

It really didn't dawn on me till today, how very fortunate I was to grow up on a remote beach in Africa!

Thank you for sharing Day 3 of 50 with me!