St Vincent, Cape Verde Islands

This was our 3rd to last port and we are now starting to panic as soon we will have to start to think for ourselves which is a very scary thought indeed. This was another maiden port for the ship and they had only allocated half a day for this island, they put it in a nice way by saying they thought that should be sufficient for this stop. What they really meant was it might be such a dump you propably wouldn't want to stay for more than that. Thankfully tho they did conceed a bit and came into port one & a half hours earlier so we had a bit more time. I think it was just for the fact that we had spent the last 8 days at sea and people were going cabin crazy.

So in we sailed at 7.30am (6.30 local time) to a most interesting harbour. It has been formed from a volcanic crater and the sea has broken through one side, making it the deepest water for a habour within the group of islands. Cape Verde islands takes its name from Cape Verde in Senegal West Africa, 570 kms east of the islands. It comprises of 9 main islands of which we visited the one called Sao Vicente or St Vincent. The harbour city where most of the 40,000 residents live is called Mindelo and described in our port guide as "a lively place with picturesque and colourful Portuguese colonial buildings".

When we were first dropped off by one of the shuttle buses from the ship I thought, what a dump, where else can we go. Bearing in mind it was early morning, no one was around so it was a little unfair assessment on my behalf. We hooked up with a couple of American sisters, who turned out to have lead very interesting lives and happen to also speak Spanish fluently. Ok, so they spoke Portuguese here but its not far different, so they negotiated a 2 hr taxi ride for 40 euros for a drive around the island.

I will just fill you in with a bit of history so you get the idea of these islands. St Vincent was discovered by the Portuguese on St Vincent day 22nd Jan 1462, it was uninhabited at the time. They founded Ribeira Grande, the oldest European city in the tropics, the same year on Sao Tiago another island of which we didn't visit. There was not and still is not much economy on the island but back then, due to its position being between west Africa and the New Word, it was based on the slave trade. This accounts for the mix of the current population being 1% European (mainly Portuguese ) 25% African and nearly three quarters Creoles - a mix springing from the union of European - maybe passing sailors, with the black slaves. Interestingly three-quarters of todays population is under 30 and up until 15 years ago were mostly illiterate, 90% over 25yrs have had no formal education. Leading on from that, almost half the number of births are illegitimate. On the other side of the coin there is a mere 2% over 75yrs, they don't live to long over here.

Back to history, it was raided by pirates in 1541 then later that century twice by the British, the first one lead by the famous privateer Sir Francis Drake. It fell into decline after the slave trade was abolished in 1876 and drought and famine hit the islands. It did pick up a bit after a coaling station was established by the British in Mindelo, the town we landed in but again drought and famine hit in 1947-48 when more than 20,000 died.

Only 10% of the land is fit for agriculture and 7% more for grazing cattle and goats. Its mostly rocks, everywhere we looked was just rocks. Hopefully this gives a bit of a background and picture of the island.

So off we go in this very beaten up looking taxi car up the narrow and all cobbled mountain road to a 2000 ft high ridge that ran parallel with the coast giving the most amazing views back down to the town and where the ship was docked. As I mentioned, all we could see was rocks but as one of the sisters pointed out, they built a damn fine rock wall all along the road. As we got higher the road looked like it had been cut straight out of the mountain cliffs. We asked how old was the road and the driver said it had been built by the slaves so it was all hand done, incredible.

There didn't seem to be any greenery at all except maybe a few hardy plants clinging on in the wind. The sea mist was descending down the mountain and drifting passed us giving even more the sense of desolation and eerieness but at the same time it had a kind of stark, ruggered beauty all of its own. The guide describes it as "high up in the highlands of hell, in the midst of a petrified thunderstorm ". Its not quite that bad, not sure who writes these notes.  We then crossed over the island and passed by what looked like an oasis and obviously the 10% of land fit for agriculture.  There were rows of corn, potatoes, papayas and other crops (with the language difficuilties a lot was lost in translation ) and lots of palm trees all amongst this desolate rock wasteland all around. It seems there must have been a well in this building and black pipes were coming out of it and snaking around the green plots as the irrigation.  There were also other rough buildings of which held cattle as i could just see their heads but what gave it away was the smell, a real country smell if you know what I mean.
Over the other side of the island was a brand new tarsealed road so the ride was much smoother. Still desolate on one side but piles of golden sand on the beach side. Apparently this sand is blown over all the way from the Sahara desert and when the winds blow from the east the sand cloud can partially obsure the sun, a bit like our Australian sand storms.

A bit further on was the beach of Baia das Gatas, think that means beach of cats because i guess, there are lots of cats? We did see one moggy who was very friendly and came out to say hello. All over this island, well on the beaches and in the sea are these delightfully coloured fishing boats all painted up in bright colours,  much like the buildings, very Portuguesy.

Back into town we wandered around the narrow streets, through the craft markets and fish markets (where lots of kittens and cats were hanging out) and colourful shops. By now it was really vibrant and what i would call an electric atmosphere. There were women on street corners with baskets of fruit & veges on their heads calling out to sell, music drifting out of the cafe's and bars and at one stage a woman walked straight passed me after coming out of a shop with a pet monkey on a lead walking behind her. A little unexpected,  especially since there are no animals apart from the domestic ones on the island. There were indeed picturesque & colourful Portuguese colonial buildings around, right beside the broken down and derelict ones, in some places it looked like a bomb had hit it. The town was so full of contrast and contradiction, besides the difference character of buildings there were brightly-colored women next to drab beggers, modern cafes & craft shops next to time worn mechanic parts or food store shops, down to  a sunken boat in the middle of a very busy, industrious harbour.  I have to admit tho, everywhere was very clean and tidy, there was no rubbish in the streets which looked like they had been swept clean.

We paid a euro each and went up in their version of the Torre de Belem, built in the 20th century but modeled on the 16th century original in Lisbon.  Inside was a very good museum on the history of whaling and it gave very fine views of the harbour and town out of it's extremely pretty picture windows.

We would have liked a few more hours in this interesting town but not wanting to risk being left behind here we reluctantly headed back for the ship to enjoy a bbq deck party for the sailaway. Here again was a very tricky manouvre to get out of port, with not a tug boat in sight we backed up just enough to get the bow clear of the wharf but before hitting a ship moored behind, did a 90 deg pivot on the spot and steamed out to the sound of the Caribbean band playing Kingston town.

St Helena

Since our departure from Walvis bay we were faced with 8 sea days in a row. We have never had so many sea days and wondered how we would cope but it turns out to have been great.  Its very relaxing as there is no stress about port days, what we should do and how we should do it and then spending hours writing about it. It can be as busy or not depending how involved you want to be.

During this time we have attended some really good lectures from some well known speakers such as Jane Corbin, a reporter whom maybe better known in the UK for her documentaries on the middle east and chasing down Bin Laden and more recently reporting on isis. We have also had Peter Hawthorne, another reporter who has lived most of his life in South Africa, reported on apartheid and met Nelson Mandala several times.

As well as that that ship put on a country fayre, something they do once a year and all proceeds are donated to charity. It wasa lot of fun, very much like a country fayre would be. Passengers had donated clothes, books,shoes etc, there were raffles, guess the  weight of an enormous cake that had been decorated with a map of the world and all the stops the ship had made, auctions for the nautical chart of the  trip, have your picture taken with the dancers (Jon's personal favourite), artwork donanted by resident painters and  much more. My personal favourite was splat the rat where they would throw a carrot down a long pipe from the floor above and you had to hit it with a hammer as it shot out.

The two other highlights of long sea days was a sail by of two very remote islands St Helena and Ascension Island which are 1,125 kms and a days sailing apart. Both islands were incredible if just for the very fact that they are so remote, possibly the most remotest in the world. I will start with the first one visited which was St Helena.

Possibly the biggest claim to fame this small island has is it is the very island that Napoleon Bonaparte was sent to in exile and where he died.  He was originally buried here but has since been dug up and sent to Paris. The nearest land is Ascension island with the Southwest coast of Africa 1950 kms in one direction and South America 2,900 kms in the other direction so it really is in the middle of nowhere, don't think Napoleon could have swum to freedom.

Like most of these islands we have visited it is volcanic so again very dramatic scenery with mountains raising straight out of the sea. It is only 10kms x 17kms with a population of around 4500 UK citizens known as Saints. The one and only town on the island is Jamestown where most of the people live but there are a few in a couple of our main areas. Looking at the island from  our point of view from the sea, most of it looked very inhospitable with sheer cliffs plunging into the sea and little greenery that we could see. Jamestown was perched high up on a cliff, nowadays reached from the port by car but in olden times by Jacob's ladder, a series of 699 steps, 600 ft high & built back in 1829 as a means to haul manure up and send goods down.

It was first discovered by those canny Portuguese in 1502 (how the hell they found it is nothing short of a miracle) the Dutch annexed the island in  1633 but it was the British East India Company who founded Jamestown, the first official settlement in 1659. It was eventually bought under the direct government of the British in 1834 and there it remains.

It has mild temperatures of around 20 to 30 deg in summer and 15 to 26 in winter but higher up the island can be a lot cooler with more rainfall. It has several endemic flora & fauna but interestingly enough it has plantations of NZ flax.

Napoleon wasnt the only hapless person banished to this island, over the times so were over 6,000 boers, Bahraini princes and other chiefs of states. One other interesting peice of information about the island is its oldest living resident. It is Jonathan the tortoise,  believed to have arrived in 1882 and they think he was around 50 years old then making him around 185 years.

At the moment there is no other way of getting there except by ship. They are currently building an airport which will really open the island up but for now it is up to one of the last remaining mail ships still to bear the title of Royal Mail Ship, RMS St Helena. It carries passengers, cargo and of course the mail and takes 17 days to make the round trip from Cape Town, St Helena, Ascension island and back. Once the airport is opened this ship will retire.

We were lucky enough to see the ship in port. As we sat off the bay, looking at Jamestown the QV sounded her very loud, deep throated horn, it seemed to go on for ages and was bounching off the cliff walls. The RMS St Helena replied with her somewhat less impressive horn. It must have looked quite a sight, this massive  cruise ship sitting out there in the harbour.

Walvis Bay

Where the hell is Walvis Bay, you may wonder, and why the hell would anyone go there? To answer the first question, it is on the coastline of South Western Africa in Namibia which is commonly known as the skeleton coastline due to the amount of ship wrecks and marine animal carcasses washed up here. The answer to the 2nd question is because, although very remote & can't be more desert if you tried, is extremely beautiful. I have many photos, in fact over 300 of this particular place and am finding it difficult to narrow down to just a few.

It was first visited by the Portuguese around 1486, founded in 1793 by the Cape Dutch and claimed by the Germans in 1884 who called it German South West Africa.  The closest town is a little further north on the coast called Swakopmund (trying saying that after a couple of South African wines, even before) and was founded by the Germans in 1892. It does have a further history with the British being involved, then being part of South Africa and after many years of struggle was finally given back to Namibia in 1994 by president F.W. De Klerk, 30 years after the UN voted to end South Africa's mandate but I won't bore the reader with such details.

Walvis Bay is right at the edge of the Namib desert, apparently the oldest desert in the world. It has an annual rainfall of just 10mls so water is a constant problem.  The ice cold Benguela current of the Atlantic Ocean flows along this coast and as it hits the warm winds of the desert creates pea soup fog of which we encountered and slowed our journey so we arrived in port 2 hours late, having not made up any time from our late departure of the last port.

Getting off the ship was a bit of a nightmare as customs came onboard and insisted on a face to face clearance which slowed the whole disembarkation down but nonetheless we got off and met our guide, Juan, for the day. We were joined by two other women from Canada, one who had a fear of heights and was insistent that we didn't go over any high sand dunes. A bit of a tall order considering that was what the whole tour was about.

We traveled in a very nice 4x4 Land Rover, our guide was very experienced and a great driver so luckily Miss Nervous settled down for awhile. First stop was the town lagoon, the largest single area of shallow water on the west African coast. It is here that up to 60,000 birds come to enjoy the waters, feed and do whatever birds do. The majority of these birds are flamingoes and wow, what an amazing sight, thousands of flamingos stretching out like a river of pink. Of course we have seen flamingos before but never like this, it was just incredible. There is a wide promenade following the edge of the lagoon where people were walking their dogs or just standing watching this unbelievable sight.

We then headed into the desert, it was still very misty and the ocean was very rough. Our destination was Sandwich Harbour and to get to it there is a narrow piece of beach between the high dunes of the Namib desert and the crashing waves of the Atlantic Ocean. Our guide was sure he could get us there but very undecided if he could get us back as the waves were closing in on the gap and the fog wasn't clearing. It's always a worry when even your guide doesn't know.

Needless to say he braved it and we were rewarded by some incredible sights. The sand dunes were so beautiful, almost impossible to photograph and the pictures certainly don't do it justice. It is an experience that you have to do yourself to appreciate what I'm trying to describe. They have been shaped by the strong winds here, constantly changing with steep sides plunging into valleys and soaring up to thin peaks. By now the mist had cleared and the skies were so blue with the backdrop of the sand leading onto the deeper blue of the sea. Even though it was desert there was still some very hardy green plants whose thick roots went deep into the sand to access the water table below and helped to anchor the sand dunes into place. There was also a lot of animal tracks in the sand of which Juan identified hyena, jackal, ostrich and springbok to name just a few. We did see two jackal on the beach just near a very stinky whale carcass and also a couple of springbok, this time not in a hamburger, further up the dunes.  Our guide said it was too windy to see many of the animals as they tend to go into hiding in this type of weather.

Going over the blind tops of the dunes was particular exciting, especially for Miss Nervous who elicited a couple of screams but he was very good and went slow so there was no flying in the air like we had told her there would be, just for fun.

The last part of the desert trip was overlooking the salt works which stretched for 50kms looking very impressive with its white mounds of salt and pink lakes.

Juan took us into the town of Swakopmund even tho it wasn't really a part of our tour so it was good to see. This architecture is late 19th early 20th century German style throughout the town, not as nice as the Dutch colonial like Cape Town but interesting, as well as the more modern style buildings. Down by the beach were the very exclusive sub division houses belonging to the wealthy and also a brand new complex housing 5 different restaurants, all of which looked amazing. Juan was quite proud of the fact that in the summer time the sea temps reached a dizzyingly 20 deg, a great time to go swimming he thought. Not quite my idea of great swimming.  He also took us to the less salubrious side of town where thousands lived in whatever construction they could make out of materials available. There is no electricity so at night it's pitch dark and he wasn't sure how they even cooked their dinner as any kind of wood is used to make housing and gas and coal were too expensive. There were some water points in various places which were coin operated so you needed money and possibly a long walk to get water. In the words of Fred Dagg, you don't know how lucky you are mate.

Juan got us back to the boat about 5 minutes before the gangway was drawn up, we were literally the last on board so not a minute was wasted in this most remote and amazing port.

Lions and Tigers and Elephants- Oh My

I had the same problem with Port Elizabeth as I did with Mauritius, the blogger app will forever keep its secrets. I may one day find the energy to re write it all again but in the meantime, here are the photos. Needless to say it was an amazing safari where we got to see Eland, heartibeest, lions, Burchell zebras by the thousands, loads of elephants - it was after all called the Addo elephant park, Cape buffalo, warthogs, kudu, buzzard jackals, leopard tortoises, a family of meerkats (suricate in English) which was complete unexpected and a couple of rare and unique Addo flightless dung beetles. This is not an exhaustive list but I lost my notes on all the types of animals we saw, double bugger.