Travelog for: Lucky Duck

We went to a craft village today. Here they make elaborate model ships, hats from palm leaves and much more.

Then we drove to Anse à la mouche


and Anse Boileau.

If you look closely you can see the Maia resort on the hill.

Great light. In reality it was much warmer, though.

We wanted to visit the tea plantation up in the mountains today.
This is the view going up the road above Victoria.

Here we are at the ruins of a boys' school run by monks. When there are no clouds one has a beautiful view but the mountains were hanging in the clouds once again giving the ruins a haunted atmosphere.







Next we drove to the tea factory.


We wanted to have some tea. It was 3:30 and they were supposed to be open until 4, but...time is relative here and the ladies were closing up the tea room already and the truck with the workers from the tea factory left when we arrived.
We just had a quick look around and then drove on.




We found a great point for a view of the next bay and the small islands before it. It was sunny but the light was filtered by the trees and then by the camera.





We drove up to Port Claud. Here's a church. They'd just had a funeral and we saw the procession. People weren't dressed darkly but in their sunday best with hats and flower prints.



Cows seem to be held with a halfter and a long chain here, so they can move a bit without needing a fence. This a the calf that is walking free.

This was our last day on Mahé. We spent it at the beach. The water was at about the lowest point, so we could walk out a long way without getting wet.



A lot of sand is moved by the water everyday, revealing field of seagrass, small corals and stones that are all covered when the water is high.


After our shower we walked along the little road by the house some way.





Then we had to pack teh rest of our things and lay in the sun for a bit.

We went to Cousin island by boat. It's an island that's owned by a society for the protection of native birds and turtles. Of some very rare species of bird that have less than 100 individuals in the whole world 2/3 live here and the numbers are rising again.

There were so many noddies:




Aldabra Giant tortoises are living freely on the island.

A young tropic bird:

Adult tropic birds on their nests:


White terns are believed to mate for life.

We left again. Cousin to the right, Cousine in the distance.

Today we went hiking to a beach. We had to go over the Mont Plaisir to get there.



There's some rainforest, though not as dense as in the Vallée de Mai and springs that are also used for tap and bottled water, but for the people living near here there are little basins.

From the other side of the mountain we had a nice view of Aride island in the distance.

This is where we want to go: Anse Lazio and behin the bay one can see Curieuse Is.

We have to go down there and then climb down the rocks.


Finally there, isn't it beautiful?

Some last pictures of our house and garden here:

The entrance:


The garden:






Tonight we are going to fly back to Germany.

With a nice stamp in form of a coco de mer in the passport we are flying back to Dubai and on to Düsseldorf. This time it was my turn to go in the luggage.

We went to a part of Essen called Rüttenscheid today. It's one of the nice neighborhoods. The market every Saturday has many stands with delicacies not normally found in German supermarkets, like wild peaches or nectarines, fruit and vegetables from exotic countries, unusual cheeses and so on. There are several organic bakeries and other pricy stores. 
Here's the typical architecture: for the older houses, then the popst-war ones. Essen was one of the most bombed places in WWII, because of the weapon industry here. Old parts of the town that used to be independent villages and were left standing then fell victim to 'modern' city development in the 1970s. The old houses were pulled down and flat-roofed buildings were erected, leaving space for broader streets and pedestrians zones.

We had to go to the university clinic today. That involved some running around and going to many different offices. In the picture you can see the buildings where people can donate blood and people with blood deseases are treated. In the background is the building where some of the student offices are located (uni sports, student organizations...) and most importantly teh dining hall and cafe for the students. We went to get some breakfast while we waited for the office hours to start.

I was really dirty after the trip and before I go to my next host I want to be all sparkling clean. Now I'm sitting out to dry and then I'll directly get into my envelope.

Lucky Duck is travelling to his next host.

Greetings from Helsinki, Finland! I started my trip in United Magazines 'cause  my host is a journalist.

Editor-in-chief's Bear had waited me hard every day. Then one day he found a small package in a postbox...

Then we met first time!

My host drove me safely to her home.

At home I enjoyed the autumn colours...