Sunday, June 17, 2007

Vacation in St. Lucia

hello world
we have decided to take a few days off from the trauma centre, and we are currently in St. Luica, South Africa. A beautiful, safe town on the east coast of South Africa. The water is ~23 degrees, and the entire town is populated by vervit monkies. We have done a snorkeling day at Cape Vital ( about 40 min north of St. Lucia ), which is located inside the Cape Vital Game Reserve.
The St. Lucia wetlands is a UNESCO world herratige site, because it encompases 5 distinct ecosystems located within 230,000 hectares. The town is situated next to the largest estuary system in Africa, where the inidian ocean feeds miles of wetlands. The wetlands are populated by aligators and hippos, which one can view simply whilst sitting at a water-side pub drinking cheap beer and writing post-cards. We have done a Hippo tour ( on a boat up the estuary ), and i now understand why the hippo is the most dangerous animal in Africa ( more people are killed by hippos than any other animal in africa) - the tour guide was telling us of hippos protecting their young against crocodiles, and actually killing the crocs. They then passed around a hippo-tooth, which was about 2 feet long and weighed no less than 15lbs.... 1 Tooth !! the largest tooth size for a hippo was measured to be just over 1 metre long. And apparently, they're fast ... real fast.
Alas... no elephants bathing in the estuary.
We are resting and recharging at the worlds most beautiful B&B, and the food here is outstanding. It is literally a mansion, and we have the entire place to ourselves. A very startk contrast to the single hard boiled egg and single slice of bread allote us at RFM Hospital.

This morning we all awoke at ~5:30am and went down to the beach to enjoy a sun rise over the Indian Ocean. It was yet another one of those sureal expereinces. The orb of the sun was a fuschia / fire-engine red with a halo of bright oranage. Our picutres will do it no justice.

There are many, many different types of birds here, sending Andrea into a bird-watching frenzy. If you have never seen someone is an ornithology-induced-craze, it is a sight to behold. She wanted me to mention that we saw a Turaco ( ? Livingston's Turaco? ), and you must all now wikipedia this bird. I am writing this blog whilst sitting at the breakfast table (they have semi-high speed interent here) and we are watching monkies and horn-bill birds in the palm trees.

i have made efforts to upload images here, but it appears Africa is not That advanced yet...

we return to the Swaziand tomorrow.
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to all Dads everywhere.

i'm going for more REAL coffee now.... ( not the powdered rubbish that i have become accustomed to )

cheers
Jenn, Andrea, Ryan, Marianne, Linda and Chris

8 comments:

fafa said...

Cheers to all
Enjoy the tales and am impressed with the work being done
Very proud to claim family relation to people who are so very conscious of the plight of the children of God
Love and Prayers Always
fafa

Anonymous said...

THANKS FOR SHARING YOUR WONDERFUL EXPERIENCES - YOUR DESCRIPTIONS ARE SO VIVID - IT'S ALMOST AS IF WE ARE THERE - TAKE CARE AND CONTINUE TO DO GOOD WORK. ENJOY THE REST OF YOUR TIME THERE. WITH BEST WISHES TO YOU ALL

Anonymous said...

Looking forward to seeing the bird photos, Andrea, and hearing more about this incredible adventure! Be safe, and stay healthy!

Love, cousins Don and Marcia

Anonymous said...

what an unbelievable experience you are all having !! thanks for sharing this with us all, it makes me want to get on a plane and join you....you have truely captured the beauty and heart wrenching realities of Africa

Anonymous said...

oops, forgot to sign off on previous commnets
love cousins
Jul, Aub, E and J

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