There are several excursions offered to places in the area. Besides the lions, we went to St Lucia, a seaside town on the Indian Ocean. It’s within an estuary, a body of water that mixes salt and fresh water. We were hoping to see lots of birds, which is what it’s known for, but it was a bust–too windy. We took a tourist boat out onto the water and cruised around for a couple of hours, with around 30 other people from many, many different countries.
The view from the boat moving out into the water. On both sides of the estuary, there are mangrove trees, and tall grasses. The dried grasses are are among the materials used to create the beautiful rounded roofs on many of the buildings here. I’ll have pix in a later post.
There were lots of hippos, lots.
This is a tusk from a male hippo. It’s heavy, about 18-20″ long. Amazing, they don’t look that long when in the hippo’s mouth. But seeing this, I can understand why the hippo is one of the most dangerous animals in the country.
A lazy crocodile on the shore. The boat driver moved the boat very close so everyone who wanted to could get up on the bow and get a picture. But he cautioned everyone not to get too close, because they can jump fast and cover one meter. One guy just ignored him and kept getting closer and closer to the edge of the bow. He finally listened and moved away, but it could have gotten pretty exciting.
Our wonderful ranger/guide suggested a local restaurant for lunch. It was yummy. I had an African dish, bobotie. It was really good, spiced beef in a bowl with a layer of egg baked on top. Quite tasty, and I want to try it at home. Though I am not sure I can replicate the seasoning.
I actually wouldn’t recommend this excursion, unless you really want to see crocs and hippos. I’m glad we only went for a half day.
The best part was wading in the Indian Ocean! Our guide drove us around a bit, after lunch, and we ended up on this beach. It was a bit chilly, and very windy, but still, pretty cool that we were able to walk out so far and wade a bit.
The sand has dark sand mixed in with it, rising to the top. It’s from the local titanium mines.
This is a marvelous sand sculpture. It was above tide level, so I don’t know how long it’s been there. The plane is the lost Malaysia Air flight–now we know where it ended up!
Stories from the Hat 