Islands in the Indian Ocean

Posted by Joe Benning

Port Louis, Mauritius

We paid a visit to Port Louis, Mauritius and spent 8 hours or so exploring this small (pop 1.3 million) island country on a guided tour. Unfortunately though, we did not get a chance to see much of Reunion when we docked there. That’s because the cyclone that passed over the island washed out the roads on our scheduled tour. Fortunately, we missed the cyclone.

We did manage to spend some time in one of the towns by the beach in Reunion, which reminded us of St. Martin. No surprise there, it is a region of France and has a population of 850,000. It is the most prosperous area in the region, measured by per capita GDP. The shops and architecture reveal French influence on the island.

Mauritius and Reunion share some of the same physical characteristics, which is not too surprising since they are only about 100 miles apart. The countryside of Mauritius is covered with lush foliage, undoubtedly due all the rainfall they get. In this respect both Mauritius and Reunion bear a resemblance to Maui, Hawaii. On Mauritius there is a long dormant volcano, reported to be 500 years old, and there are a number of waterfalls. One, Chamarel Falls, is 272 feet long. There is also place called the Seven Colored Earths, so named because the layers of sand that make up the grounds are colored differently.

We were fortunate enough to attend a Crystal hosted dinner party with other world cruise passengers. After a tour of a museum at Domain La Bourdonnais Estate, we had cocktails, then dinner at Table du Chateau restaurant, followed by a fireworks display. Then back to the ship. Some footage of the event, as well as photos from Mauritius and Reunion are included in this post.

On the 23rd we set sail for Broome, Australia—a journey that will take 8 days at sea. That will be a good test of our sea legs. So far so good.

To see the photos below in larger sizes and in a Lightbox, please just click on any of the photos.

Thanks for visiting.

JFB

Maputo, Mozambique

Posted by Joe Benning

Bob Dylan immortalized the place in his song “Mozambique” in 1976.

 

 

Well, times change. We spent a short time in the Mozambique city of Maputo, but there is not much to see. Mozambique does have beautiful beaches, but they are about 3 hours away from Maputo.  A colony of Portugal, Mozambique gained its independence and established a Marxist government in the mid 1970s. Needless to say, Mozambique is now one of the poorest countries in the world, and it is struggling to get on its feet.

 

In the short time we were there we visited an outdoor market (Feima) where crafts, flowers and food are for sale, but other than there, we didn’t really get a chance to look around very much.

 

Now we are at sea, sailing toward Reunion and Mauritius where we are scheduled to visit on January 20th and 21st. That is, if the Captain manages to outrun the Typhoon in the area and there is not too much damage when the Typhoon hits land. Never a dull moment.

 


 

 

JFB

Another Safari Day

Posted by Joe Benning

Out in the Bush

 

When you head out to the bush country you just don’t know what you are going to find. For the second (of three) Safari days out in the bush, the plan was to find some elephants in the morning, and maybe more lions in the afternoon. That meant getting a wake-up call at 4:30 AM and piling into the jeep and into the woods by 5:00 AM.

 

As it turned out, we didn’t find any elephants until later in the afternoon. But we did find a male lion. We also found a cheetah hanging out by a watering hole. Watering holes are a popular spot to hang out in the bush, except for the fact that some of the animals regard the others as dinner. So, the animals likely to be targets tend to go as a group—safety in numbers—while the lions hang out around the periphery waiting for one of the targets to stray from the group. Then the lions pick them off.

 

Another thing. Looking at the stars from the pitch black African bush takes your breath away. Without any distracting ambient light, you can probably see the stars the way the sailors saw them hundreds of years ago.

 

Anyway, here (below) are some more photos of animals and the countryside out in the bush. Next, we head for a short stop in Maputo, Mozambique. There are more photos available at Evocative Photos.

JFB

On Safari–Part 1

Posted by Joe Benning

Here we are at Thanda Game Reserve to go on a Safari. Thanda is our “base camp” in the same way the Ritz-Carlton is a base camp. The place is just spectacular. (See the photo below of our villa).

Our Villa in Thanda Game Reserve

After we arrived we got settled in and went for our first game drive, lasting from 4:30 until 7:30 PM. The drive consists of boarding an open jeep that holds 9 plus a driver and tracker, and then heading out to the African bush in search of lions, elephants, hyenas, cheetahs, buffalo, rhinos, hippos and whatever else materializes.

 

We were not disappointed. It wasn’t too long before we saw some buffaloes, gazelles, a giraffe and a wildebeest or two. Most important, we discovered sundowners. As the sun begins to set, around 6:00 PM or so, it’s time to stop the jeep, pile out, look out over the African plains and have a glass of wine or a gin and tonic before venturing out into the bush again. If you are going to be devoured by a hungry lion, you might as well be fortified by a G&T, I suppose.

Anyway, this is just a very brief hint of how spectacular a Safari can be. More in the coming days.

Some photos of a small sample of the animals and scenery we saw on the first of many game drives below.

JFB

Lioness opens her mouth and shows her teeth. Taken from about 15 yards away.
Zebras and Gazelles by a watering hole.
An African Buffalo
Sundown

Mossel Bay & Port Elizabeth

Posted by Joe Benning

We have left Mossel Bay and Port Elizabeth and are now sailing in the Indian Ocean, headed for Durban. From Durban we will head inland to the Thanda Game Reserve in the heart of the Zulu homelands where we will go on Safari, tracking (and hopefully photographing) the “Big 5”–Elephants, Lions, Cape buffalo, Black rhinos and African Leopard.

The parts of Mossel Bay and Port Elizabeth we saw were largely resort areas. We didn’t get to see much more than that, so it’s hard to put into context what we saw. We were told by one of the destination lecturerers that South Africa is by far the most Anglicized / Westernized part of Africa, and that most of the native population lives inland. In some sense a lot of what we have seen is like looking at Hong Kong and thinking you’ve seen China.

Anyway, here are some photos from this most recent foray.

 

Cape Town, South Africa

Posted by Joe Benning

We spent a few days tooling around Cape Town, South Africa after beating the East coast storm by a day.  17 hours in the air is a lot of flight time, but it was well worth it. Cape Town is hopping in our neighborhood but once you get outside the upmarket areas, it’s a bit of a different story. Anyway, we got a chance to visit and have lunch at an excellent vineyard in the Stellenbosch region. We also went to the top of the Table Mountain—with the help of a cab—and went to see a colony of penguins on Boulders beach. We got a great view of the coastline, including the coast along the Cape of Good Hope.

 

We embark on the ship tomorrow and set sail Monday morning at 5:00 AM. Soon we will be on a photo Safari at the Thanda Game Preserve, where we hope to get photos of the Big 5 (Lions, Hippos, Rhinos and Giraffes). The Safari will be 2 nights in camp and 3 days tracking the animals.

 

Here below are a couple of shots from around Cape Town and its environs.

 

JFB