World Circumnavigation 2024 - Sector Four

Itinerary: Port Louis - Durban - Cape Town - Walvis Bay - Mindelo - Santa Cruz - Southampton

Just click on the thumbnail to get the photo full size. Close window when finished, Home Page is still open.

None of this sector was on the original itinerary! Thanks to the Houthi's attacking Red Sea shipping, the cruise line had to devise a new route round the Cape of Good Hope.

March 23. Port Louis, Mauritius. Our first revised port. I was here in 2010 but it was the first visit for the others. We negotiated a tour of the south with a taxi driver. On the way to our first stop, it rained and from then on we had intermittent showers. First port of call was Troux aux Cerfs, an extinct volcano, rubbish pictures because of heavy rain. Then we visited Ishwarnath Shiv Jyotirlingum Temple, to see the two giant statues and the rest of the complex. Then we visited the Black River Gorges National Park to see the Alexandra Falls and park. Finally we went to the Valley of the Colours, to see the coloured sands and the rest of the park. We paid extra for a one hour 4x4 drive around. Whilst there we saw some waterfalls, the sands and three giant tortoises.

March 27. Durban, South Africa. Another frustrating start to the day as the port was closed due to high seas. We finally arrived 3 hours late, but managed to get off in the first batch. Luckily our tour guide was still waiting. Our first visit was to PheZulu in the Valley of a Thousand Hills, a tourist place with reptiles and a Zulu show. After a substantial lunch, we then travelled to the Tala Valley Reserve, an old sugar cane plantation that has been allowed to revert and filled with various animals. We saw a crash of rhinos up close, many dazzles of zebras and two towers of giraffes, which pleased Linda no end. We also saw nyala, wildebeest, blesbok and impala. We failed to see any kudu. A frustrating start to what became an excellent trip.

March 30. Cape Town, South Africa. As we were docked in a commercial port for the first day, our tour driver had problems finding us. After he did, though, we had a very good trip. We drove past the World Cup stadium at Green Point, then on to Hout Bay, where we saw Cape Fur Seals in the harbour. Next was a drive along Chapmans Peak Drive (something we couldn't do on my last visit) and then on to Cape Point. On the way we saw baboons and an ostrich farm (in the distance). At Cape Point we took the funicular up and Rob and I walked up to the lighthouse. Great views of the Cape of Good Hope and the bay. On our way back to the ship, passing eland and ostrich, we went to Boulders Beach to see the African penguins. Some were incubating their eggs, others had babies. Both Cape Point and Boulders Beach were free on my last visit. Not so this time! In the evening we ate in a restaurant, Barbara had warthog, Rob and I had ostrich. Linda had fillet steak!

March 31. Cape Town, South Africa. Before we knew that we had to pass Immigration by two o'clock, we had booked a trip to Robben Island. It was a few minutes walk from the ships new position. We caught the nine o'clock ferry. It was very interesting tour. We saw a couple of churches, graveyard, village where the warders lived and now houses island staff and the quarry. Then we visited the maximum security prison. The cells were small one person rooms, with rush mats to sleep on. Totally inhumane. The communal cells reminded me a bit of Auschwitz. Our tour guide, Tom, an ex prisoner, is still scarred by the experience. A humbling visit. The ferry was late leaving, but we did manage to pass through Immigration on time.

April 02. Walvis Bay, Namibia. We were the first people through immigration and off the ship. After a rip-off taxi ride to the harbour front, we met our guide for the 4x4 to Sandwich Bay in the Namib Desert on the Skeleton Coast. On the way we passed many flamboyances of flamingoes. Then we went off road, past the salt flats, where they were creating gritting and table salts. We endured a bumpy ride through the dunes to Sandwich Bay. We saw oryx, springbok and a couple of brown jackals. We also saw Cape teals, ruby turnstones, jackal buzzards and Cape swallows. We failed to spot a dune lark. On the way to Sandwich Bay we had a long run along the beach, before dune bashing our way to another dune where we had lunch, which included fizzy wine and oysters! These dunes are among the largest in the world than meet the sea. More dune bashing on our way back to the ship. Another excellent tour.

April 10. Mindelo, Cape Verde. My third visit and this time, instead of going into the town, we walked to the beach, where we hit a couple of bars for beers and G&T's!

April 13. Santa Cruz, Tenerife. A very short day, so all we did was to have a stroll around for a while, with stops for coffee and beer.

Prom deck	Decorations	Crater	Durga	Shiva	Statue	Statue

Offerings	Waterfall	Valley	Us	Waterfall	Waterfall	Sands

Tortoise	Pilot's boat	Crocodile	Tortoise	Valley	Dancers	Village

Rhinos	Wildebeest	Giraffe	Display	Display	View	Castle

Seal	Cape	Lighthouse	View	Sign	Penguins	Penguins

Penguins	Clocktower	Entrance	Cape Town	Exercise yard	Cell	Door

Cell	Prison	Kitchen	Cell	Gala	Flamingos	Flamingos

Salt pan	Dunes	Dunes	Springbok	Desert	Dunes and sea	Dunes and sea

Desert	Mist	Lunch	Desert	St Vincent	Beach	Turtle

Chefs	Making rolls	Lamppost	Statue

Page created 13^th April 2024