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PATE TOWN |
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From the dock at Mtangawanda (which has the only beach in the
vicinity - watch out for sharks), a narrow footpath leads to Pate
through thick bush; ask for the ndia ya Pate , the "path to Pate". Once
on the trail it's easy to follow. You cross a broad, tidal "desert",
pockmarked with fiddler crab holes, then climb a slight rise to drop
through thicker bush, and arrive after an hour on the edge of town.
Despite its small size, you would hardly describe PATE as a village. Yet,
reduced to the status of sub-location, its only link with government an
assistant chief, its sole provision a primary school, the town is today
a mere shadow of its former self. But at least its inhabitants are said
to remain the richest on the island, thanks to their cash crop, tobacco
, possibly introduced by the Portuguese and certainly grown here longer
than anywhere else on the coast.
There's no electricity, no alcohol and obviously no cars. After Lamu it
comes as a series of surprises. The town plan is pretty much the same -
a maze of narrow streets and high-walled houses - but here the streets
are made of earth, and the houses are built of coral and dried mud,
unplastered and somehow forbidding. The overall layout is confusing,
with little slope, as in Lamu, to help direction. Pateans do, in fact,
refer to the "upper" and "lower" parts of town - Kitokwe and Mitaaguu
respectively. The lower part is down near the town dock, which is only
briefly underwater at high tide. There's a house which sometimes lets
out rooms in this quarter: ask for the nyumba ya Abala Hassan or nyumba
ya Abdullah (Abala Hassan's house, or Abdullah's house). There are no
fixed prices (but it shouldn't be much over Ksh1000, including food),
and Abdullah himself is very friendly and welcoming. The house is clean,
has great views from the top rooms, and the food is filling. He can also
arrange a guide for looking round the island.
If you arrive from Mtangawanda in the "upper" part of town - reputedly
poorer and less friendly - you're likely to be struck immediately by the
Wapate - the people , and notably the women. Brilliant, determined
ladies, with short, bushy hair and rows of gold earrings, stare out
directly, unhidden by buibuis . Some wear nineteenth-century American
gold dollars or half-dollars, though these reminders of the great Yankee
trading expeditions have become so valuable that many have been sold.
Big earlobe plugs made of silver, gold or buffalo horn can also be seen,
as well as nose-rings. If you speak any Swahili, you're likely to find
the dialect here unrecognizable. Wazungu are rare and, after Lamu's
studied repose, Pate is arrestingly upfront in its dealings with
foreigners.
At night, the town resounds with the chimes of dozens of big old wall
clocks , further reminders of American trade here in the nineteenth
century, which, juxtaposed with the muezzins' calls to prayer, sound
thoroughly bizarre.
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