Month: March 2017

There were three stops in South Africa. The first was Durban. I had an important assignment and was in dire need of wifi to download a multitude of journals. The wifi on the ship made my dial up back in 1997 seem cutting edge. So we spent most of the day in a hotel, and did not see much of Durban. But I wrote a great piece on the rabies virus’ ability to evade the immune system, which I’m sure beats all of Durban’s sights. These are the ship’s lanterns in Durban harbour anyway.

A few days later we arrived in Mossel Bay. Its harbour could not accommodate our ship so we had to go ashore in the life boats, which was absolutely thrilling! We felt like big eyed kids watching them being winched down, and the grown ups in us found it a bit worrying how slow the process was. But what was more exciting was the notion of these waters being filled with white sharks! It has been a life long dream of mine to cage dive among them, but since it isn’t eco-system friendly, I can’t bloody do it. But I’m sure they were there, lurking beneath the life boat, biding their time.

We went on a more ethical kind of safari and saw the usual suspects. Waterbucks (seen above), rhinos (de-horned to prevent poaching), giraffes, lots of different antelope species…

…wildebeests and adorable zebras. Some odd decade ago, just outside Nairobi, I saw wild zebras for the first time, and I shrieked like a lunatic. I still (almost) shriek when I see all kind of animals, even though I handle them everyday at work. Their presence never ceases to amaze and amuse me.

These magnificent lions lived in the national park, but were kept semi-wild in order to protect them from poachers. Seeing all these animals was fantastic, but could not be compared to the safaris that we have been to in Serengeti.

A geological lion’s head (that’s what this mountain is called) greeted our ship the next day when we arrived in Cape Town early morning. There is something dramatic about approaching a foggy, cloudy coastline – almost as if there is a thought behind what parts it chooses to reveal.

We were welcomed rather suspiciously.

We wanted to go up table mountain, and see the rock hyrax (a furry little animal related to elephants), but queues were ridiculous so we walked around and marvelled at art deco buildings instead. I love these reliefs of regional animals – here elephants and baboons can be seen. Little local details like that makes me inexplicably happy. There is something about themes that appeal to me immensely.

We visited the South African National Gallery, and were introduced to Moses Tladi’s beautiful paintings. Tladi (pronounced with a click) was the first black artist to be exhibited in SA. They also had an impressive Flemish collection.

We managed to find a protea species, and I got thrilled again since it is SAs national flower – appealing to my theme spirit.

In the afternoon we had reservations at Belmont Mount Nelson Hotel, where we had the best afternoon tea we have ever had. As a life-long anglophile I have had my fair share. Champagne (SA version so not real) was very cheap…

…and things got slightly out of hand. We got increasingly greedy and gluttonous, and continued to a wine tasting bar in the harbour, where we stayed until we almost missed the ship at midnight. So many deadly sins in one day.

On the ninth day (this is starting to sound like the creation myth) we were back on terra firma. Our first stop was Mauritius. We were astounded to find out that we had sea legs! The ground kept swaying for hours, I almost thought this was a myth. Scurvy up next?

Mauritius is often associated with its paradise beaches and resorts, but the capital of Port Louis is a wonderfully cheerful, colourful and dilapidated place.

We spent hours people and building watching, and then hopped on a local bus to the northern part of the island, through the deliciously named Pamplemousse district.

We passed sugar cane plantations listening to the bus driver’s choice of blasting Indian music, with many people singing along sit-dancing. To top things up, it was the day after Holi (a Hindu spring festival), so a lot of people were still covered with colour powder. It felt like we had stepped right into a Bollywood movie. Hinduism is the main religion in Mauritius, followed by christianity.

Our destination was the stunning 18th century plantation estate, Domaine de Labourdonnois. It is an active estate with exotic fruit orchards, vanilla and sugar cane plantations, spices and its own rum distillery.

Mauritius do not have any native mammal species, or an ancient native population for that matter. The Dutch, who were the first settlers in 1638, introduced domestic animals and deer, which are represented on these beautiful wall paintings. Sadly, this contributed to the extinction of the Dodo bird. My mother once adopted some Dodo bones in our names to support the wonderful Grant Museum of Zoology in London.

Astor was patiently waiting for us on our return to Port Louis.

On the very next day we arrived at Réunion island, which is one of the outermost regions of the EU. This was the first time in several months that we were allowed to enter a country without any visa requirements, which made us feel unproportionally welcome. It belongs to France, and is obviously not a colony, but an overseas department.

It felt extremely French with its boulangeries, bistros and abundance of pharmacies. There were museums with French impressionist paintings and well-manicured gardens…

…although with slightly more exotic flora.

We spent all day in the capital Saint-Denis, and unfortunately did not have time to explore Réunion’s splendid and dramatic nature. That is the biggest downside with a cruise, you only get tiny teasers of the destinations.

A lot of the beautiful old buildings looked uninhabited and secretive. This is how I imagine the tropical version of Miss Havisham’s mansion.

After we had explored every nook, cranny and museum of this pretty little city, we sat back and sipped French wine, nibbled on chèvre chaud and observed the street life. Love this lady’s outfit.

It was a surreal feeling, being on French grounds, where everything is excessively French (isn’t it always?), but at the same time on a distant tropical island in the Indian Ocean. I assume we would be allowed to move, and work there, considering we are EU citizens? I don’t necessarily need to move there, unless there is an infectious disease outbreak of some sorts, but I definitely want to go back hiking in Réunion’s mountains.

Train travelling could not get us further west, so we embarked on a cruise ship! I can now relate fully to the antropomorphization of ships. Seeing this photo of Astor now (almost exactly a year later) brings such feelings of nostalgia, an aching to rekindle a lost friendship.

We dreamed of travelling back to Europe on a freighter, but they were fully booked since long. At first, I felt misplaced on Astor when we were greeted by overly cheerful and service-minded staff – a long shot from my romantic, far more adventurous image of the silent, suspicious, almost hostile (they would of course warm up step by step) tobacco chewing sea men.

But little did I know that we were about to meet Gordon and Gerald on the very first night <3 I will get back to these two lovelies in another post.

The pilot boat saw us off when we left the Australian continent, and I could not help but feel a bit anxious and lonely when they returned ashore…

…and we sailed off into the sunset. We were not to see land for nine full days, and I was not sure how comfortable I would feel being that isolated, way out on the Indian Ocean for that long.

It turned out it suited us better than we had ever expected. The ocean gives the same sense of monotonous zen like feeling, like train traveling on the steppe or in the desert, continuously rocking you into a sleepy state.

We were instantly minor celebrities on the ship. This was not attributed to any of our accomplishments, but to our very tender age, in comparison to the other passengers. We were a good 30 to 50 years younger than most, and everyone was incessantly curious about what we were doing on this floating retirement home (their words, not mine!). They were all worried we would be bored, but we could not have been happier spending time with them, and sharing their extensive life experience.

On the morning of the ninth day we were almost a little intimidated going ashore, leaving the cocooning safety of the ship behind.