The novelty of living in a hot sunny country wears off quickly. While it is lovely to get up and stand on the balcony and see the Indian Ocean, beaches and trees, the first thing I need to do as soon as I get up is switch on the ceiling fans.
My body is not made for this climate. It’s starting to complain. Before I leave the house I have to make sure that I take;
- a hat to stop me getting heat stroke
- sunglasses to stop me squinting and going blind
- sunblock to stop me getting skin cancer
- insect repellent to stop me getting dengue and malaria (again)
- a mask to stop me getting COVID (yes I know there is none in Tanzania)
Forgetting any of those might result in long-term illness, short-term suffering and even death. So far from being a great place to live where you can walk out of the house with nothing but your keys and enough money for an ice-cream, health hazards make it impossible.
And when my body has succumbed to one of these ailments I need to apply ointments and medicines;
- malaria self-test kit and malaria tablet (if test is positive)
- antihistamine for when my skin gets itchy
- athletes foot powder for when the sweat starts to rot my skin
- Calmine lotion and talc for sweat rash
- Tiger Balm for those individual itchy bites
- Shampoo fungal infection on the scalp from sweaty head
They don’t tell you this in books. Of course you hear of street machete attacks on foreigners on this peninsular, you hear of bag snatchers on Yacht Club Road, you hear of people getting knocked off their bikes by buses and nobody walks alone on the street at night. There are many hazards to beware of, but for me trying to keep my body working properly is the biggest one.