Maldives and Colombo, Sri Lanka

The Maldives include 1200 islands and coral atolls, none of which is over 1.82 meters above sea level. They are currently working on a plan for that day, sometime in this century, when the rising sea levels make their islands inhabitable. The current question is whether the people move throughout the world or whether they carve out a piece of land somewhere to build the “new” Maldives (where would that be????). The islands are spread over 37,500 square miles of ocean, but the land mass is only 115 square miles.

There is one international airport, which occupies its own island. Landing there you either take a commuter airplane to one of the 7 islands, which has its own airport, a seaplane to one of the other distant islands, or a boat to one of the closer islands. Picture 1 shows the port for taxis at the international airport.

So what do you do there? Dive! We were told it is a world-class dive site. Not being scuba divers, however, we chose to go down in a submarine (Picture 2) at the edge of one of the reefs. We’ve never done this before for two reasons: it seems one of those touristy things that real travelers don’t do and Betsy really doesn’t like to go under water! On the other hand, Rick’s eyesight is not good enough to enjoy snorkeling in a regular mask, so he’s never gotten the most out of their snorkeling experiences. Was it worth the expensive, which approached the cost of a custom snorkeling mask for Rick? Not really…. The reef was not in great shape and the fish can easily be seen snorkeling—no eels, no rays, no turtles, no big creatures. But we can now check off “ridden in a submarine under water” from our bucket list! Pictures 3 and 4 show some fish and coral.

Then we were off to Colombo, Sri Lanka. We were there last year and made a major excursion to visit one of the elephant camps, which are 2-3 hours from Colombo. This year we stayed in Colombo and saw some of the local sites.

We visited the Independence Plaza, which was constructed following Sri Lanka’s independence from Great Britain in 1965. It was a lovely carved stone structure, but the real interest there was a wedding that was about to start.  Pictures 5, 6, and 7 show the groom in traditional dress, the bride in white and one of the bridesmaids.

Second stop was the National Museum. The following 2 pictures are just 2 of the many fascinating things we learned. Picture 8 shows a 12^th century urinal from a Buddhist monastery—no simple sanitation system for these guys. Picture 9 shows the Caturmana  proportions for a seated Buddha statue. Not aware that such proportions were dictated, it was interesting to learn that the hairline to the floor, the right shoulder to the left foot, the left shoulder to the right foot and the foot to foot measurements must be the same.

Picture 10 shows a very large seated Buddha from the Gangaram Buddhist Temple (Picture 11). The proportions seem pretty obvious.

Also at the temple, there was the stupa shown in Picture 12. This one houses a relic from the Buddha. His body and possessions were divided into over 33,000 parts and each is stored in a structure like this. Small stupas are used to store the ashes of regular people.

While the national religion of Sri Lanka is Buddhism, there is religious freedom. We saw a few Christian churches and Picture 13 shows the Grand Mosque.

Finally, as with most large cities, the traffic is horrendous, as shown in Picture 14!

Mozambique and Mauritius

The last week has been interesting. We intended to do one blog for Mozambique and Madagascar and one for Reunion and Mauritius Islands. Caught between the cyclones as we were, we skipped Madagascar and Reunion Island and now are pairing Mozambique and Mauritius, which really don’t have much in common—weather has made strange bedfellows! BTW, the cyclone in front of us crossed the north end of Mauritius with 150 km/hr winds and was considered a “superstorm”, while the one behind us was much smaller, crossed Mozambique and headed southeast. It is still rainy and gloomy in the Indian Ocean, but we now have 4 sea days and, hopefully, the weather will be behind us.

In the south, Mozambique borders South Africa and Zimbabwe. This area is rich in wildlife and, in fact, the 3 counties have joined together to form the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, which includes national parks in all 3 countries. Most notable of these national parks is Kruger in South Africa, which is a much-visited area of that country. We did not get into the “wilds”, instead visiting Maputo at the southern tip of the country.

To set the stage, the people in Mozambique are poor—the country often ranking in the 10 poorest countries in the world based on per capita income. (Note: Madagascar often ranks at the very bottom of the list with 1/5 the per capita income of Mozambique.) Since gaining independence from the Portuguese in 1975, the same party has been in charge of the country, which has led to much corruption and a large “have/have not” disparity. The current president, Armando Guebuza, has been elected to a second term and was being inaugurated the day after we were there.

There is a central market (Picture 1) that is in a lovely old building, but is not as bustling as we have seen in other countries.

One of the architectural oddities is the iron house shown in Picture 2. It was designed by Eiffel and then shipped in pieces to Maputo. The same sheets of iron on the exterior walls cover the interior walls too. Interestingly, we’ve only seen 2 of these iron houses by Eiffel. The other was in Luanda Angola.

Picture 3 shows the main square. That’s the Catholic Cathedral on the right and a statue of the current president on the left. The inauguration took place behind the statue on the steps of the government building.

So everything looks pretty good in Maputo, right? No—I’ve shown you the sites on the “tourist route”. Picture 4 shows what the rest looks like. Infrastructure is poor, sidewalks dangerous for walking and everything quite dirty.  Glad we visited, don’t need to go back to Maputo, although the wildlife area is tempting…..

On to Mauritius….  This island is relatively small (770 sq. mi.), with a population of 1.3 million people—one of the most densely populated countries in the world. Dutch and Portuguese explorers stopped here, but did not settle. The French claimed it in the 18^th century and the British took over as part of the spoils of the Napoleonic Wars. The island became an independent member of the British Commonwealth in 1968 and independent in 1992. Interestingly, English is the official language and public school classes are taught in English, but place names are French and classes are taught in French in the private schools. Tourists, mainly from Europe, come to Mauritius for warm weather and beautiful beaches.

As part of the British traditions, there are lovely colonial plantation houses dating from the 19^th century, like the one shown in Picture 5. These are single-storied houses with high ceilings and lots of doors to keep the air moving. Two main plantation industries developed on Mauritius: tea and sugar cane. We visited one of each. Picture 6 shows a tea bush. You’ll notice 3 brighter green, small leaves in the center of the picture. These are the leaves that get picked for the production of tea. Unfortunately, as you can see on the right, this plant was picked by machine, which means some young leaves were missed and some older leaves got mixed in with the young leaves. The best teas result when the leaves are picked by hand.

Picture 7 shows sugar cane that has been recently picked. It goes through a press, which removes the liquid from the cane, which is then made into rum. The distillery we visited produced 4 flavors (Picture 8): white, coffee, coconut and vanilla. The coconut was especially tasty and would probably be quite nice with pineapple juice over ice (low-cal Piña Colada!).

Mauritius also provides Anthuriums for export. Picture 9 shows one unfamiliar variety. This one was a foot from top to bottom, with very vibrant colors. Many varieties we had never seen—could add a half dozen more pictures!

Mauritius is also a beautiful country. On our second day there we visited some of the more famous sites, many in the rain. Picture 10 shows Trou aux Cerfs, which means Deer’s Hole. It’s the crater of a dormant volcano that last erupted 35,000 years ago. It’s 300 meters wide and 100 meters deep, with a small pond in the bottom.

Picture 11 is the beautiful Chamarel waterfall. Within the same park is the Land of Seven Colors (Picture 12). This rainbow of colors in the earth occurred when volcanic ash eroded.

We also found interesting animals. You’ll have to look carefully at Picture 13 to see the frog with his chest pumped up. He was between 3 and 4 inches long and made a tremendous racket. Impressing the girls, I guess….

Picture 14 was a difficult picture to take. This mother and baby monkey suddenly appeared on the telephone line and then they were gone! We were visiting the Buddhist sacred lake and temple. People bring food offerings and the monkeys sneak in and take the offerings.

Finally, at the Land of Seven Colors we found amazing tortoises. They appear similar to those found on the Galapagos Islands, but not quite as large. Picture 15 shows one enjoying lunch. Picture 16 shows the face “only a mother could love”!

We leave Africa now and we’re on to Asia. Africa leaves mixed emotions. It’s beautiful, exotic, and depressing. Poverty and corruption abound, resources are being depleted and the Chinese are everywhere. Everyone has gone nuts about ebola and yet no one seems to worry about the 2 million Africans that die of malaria each year. There are coups, civil wars and unbelievable cruelty. We wish we had an answer….

The Southern Coast of South Africa

We re-boarded the ship on the 4^th of January to continue our jaunt across the Indian Ocean. Since then we’ve trundled up the coast of South Africa.

Our first stop was the Addo Elephant National Park. It’s South Africa’s 3^rd largest national park, after Kruger and one near the Kalahari. This park was created in the 1930s to preserve elephants that were being killed by farmers because they trampled their crops and were very disruptive to farming. The national park is large enough to support 600 elephants and today there are 500ish. Occasional bull elephants are brought in from Kruger to enrich the gene pool.

We stopped at several watering holes and saw about 100 elephants. Picture 1 shows one cooling off by spraying herself with water. Picture 2 shows a family group approaching the watering hole.  In Picture 3, the group has arrived at the watering hole and they are cooling off. Finally, Picture 4 shows another group wallowing in the mud.

While originally created for elephants, today the park supports a wide range of African wildlife, including the “Big Five”: elephant, lion, rhino, leopard and Cape buffalo. The lions, rhino and leopards were elusive, but we did see our first Cape buffalo of the trip (Picture 5).

We also finally got some close-ups of wart hogs (Picture 6).

We also saw a large herd of zebras and enjoyed this loving pair (Picture 7).

We also spent one day exploring beaches and dunes near East London (Picture 8). We may be beach snobs, but, hands down, the most beautiful beaches in the world are in the US. Australia gets 2^nd place (although I have a feeling my Aussie friends might disagree with the 1-2 order….). The southern coast of South Africa is probably 3^rd—beautiful sandy beaches, great waves and gorgeous dunes. Caribbean: pretty, but small. Thailand: who can see the beaches with the crowds? Mediterranean: don’t waste my time. US, Australia, South Africa….

We also stopped in Durban and Betsy got off the boat, but didn’t find much interesting. Rick was quarantined for 2 days with the flu. Not the best of times….

Today we visited iSimangalio Wetland Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and took a boat through part of St. Lucia lake/estuary. It’s known for its hippos (biggest concentration in South Africa), crocodiles and bird life. Picture 9 shows a Weaver at his nest. The male weaver builds the nest and invites a female to take a look. If she likes it, they mate and she hatches her eggs in the nest. If she doesn’t like it, she rips it apart and he has to start again with her, or another, less-picky female! Don’t know if this is a happy female or a male looking for a female. 

Picture 10 is Goliath Heron, the largest heron in the world, with a wingspan of 2 meters. They often dine on baby crocodiles.

Finally, Picture 11 shows the stars of the wetlands: the hippos. They don’t mind the boats and we were able to cruise right up to this family group.

Tomorrow afternoon we’re off Mozambique and then on to the islands of the Indian Ocean—new territory!

Cape Town

We’ve been in a lot of beautiful places, but as far as cities go, Cape Town may be the most beautiful. I’d like to say it’s hard to take a bad picture, but we managed quite a few….  Here are some of our best plus a couple just for fun.

We spent 3 full days exploring Cape Town and Cape Point—one day on our own and 2 days with a guide who got us to all the right places. On New Years Day we didn’t want to venture far. It’s National Beach Day and roads become clogged with traffic. We headed to Kirstenbosch Gardens, which are amazing. We followed that with high tea at the Mount Nelson Hotel—the original grand hotel, which housed visiting Brits in the 19^th century. With champagne, 2 trays of savories, tea and a dessert table, with at least 30 desserts, we did not leave hungry.

The drive to Cape Point is breathtakingly beautiful—although it started with these fun guys. Picture 1 shows a group of African Penguins, whose home is on the Indian Ocean side of the peninsula, on the way to the Cape. These penguins used to be called Jackass Penguins because the braying call they make sounds like a donkey. But political correctness prevailed! It’s nesting time and picture 1 shows one of the partners sitting on the nest. Their mouths are open in order to keep cool. While we were watching, a gull flew in and robbed an unguarded nest, carrying the egg away in its mouth. The little fellow in Picture 2, was so cute he required his picture taken!

Pictures 3 and 4 were taken in Cape Point National Park, which stretches from Cape Town to Cape Point. The rugged coastline is beautiful. Picture 5 is a picture of the actual Cape Point. Contrary to popular belief, it is not the southernmost point in Africa; it’s the southwesternmost point in Africa. If you look in the distance, across False Bay you can see Point Alguhas, which is actually further south and IS the southernmost point in Africa.

After making the obligatory climb to the lighthouse, we visited the Cape of Good Hope, shown in Picture 6.  People form a queue to have their picture taken with the sign. We’re not very interesting, but the people in front of us were. They were a man and woman and their motorcycle. It took some struggling to get the motorcycle next to the sign, but he said they had to do it. They had ridden over 28,000 kilometers from Austria to get to the Cape and they wanted to record it. It had taken over a year. I asked our guide what the safest route might be. He guessed Egypt, Ethiopia and Uganda, but then you get into some countries that are none too safe—Nigeria? Congo? What an adventure.

While at the Cape, we found some wild ostriches. Picture 7 shows Dad and a couple good-sized babies.

On our way back to Cape Town, we made a brief photo stop in Hout Bay (Picture 8), with The Sentinel looming on the left.

The next day we toured Cape Town. Our first activity was supposed to be the cable car to the top of Table Mountain, but the top wasn’t visible, so that activity was postponed. Instead, we went up Signal Hill, which wasn’t quite in the clouds and watch parasailors taking off and landing on the beach below (Picture 9).

We spent time walking through downtown Cape Town and getting a history lesson. Picture 10 isn’t a great picture, but provides an important history lesson. Cape Town was founded by the Dutch East Indies Company. They were traveling to the Far East to bring back spices and other products. With a journey that long scurvy became a significant problem. They needed somewhere to get fresh fruit and vegetables. Cape Town became that stop. This garden is on the site of the original garden planted by the Dutch. It has been growing in some shape or form for 400+ years. Cape Town also provided fresh water and the fact that grapes grew well there made it even more attractive.

By noon, the skies had cleared—somewhat…. We decided to take the cable car up Table Mountain. Pictures 11 and 12 were taken on the ride up. Picture 11 shows Lions Head and Signal Hill in the foreground and Robben Island in the distance, barely visible through the clouds. Picture 12 looks east toward Devil’s Peak. At the top we were not so lucky. Picture 13 shows the clouds rolling in again.

Picture 14 is special. We have one of these on every trip we take. We call it an “End of the World” picture. We’re great fans of the movie “The Gods must Be Crazy”. At the end of the movie, the bushman drops the Coke bottle off “the end of the earth” because it has brought him nothing but bad luck. We vacationed here 17 years ago and, in our wanderings, happened upon the actual “end of the earth” location in the movie, which was a beautiful vista. Ready to snap a great photo, we got to the point and fog completely obliterated the view. So now we look for an “end of the world” photo on every trip. We’ve had fog on the Inca Trail and at a beautiful lighthouse in Portugal. We should keep a list. For this trip, the “end of the world” is the top of Table Mountain!