I have been to... South Africa

After visiting Reunion and Madagascar, our cruise wended its way west until we made landfall in South Africa. We called in at a number of ports with the longest stay being in Cape Town. As before, I'll mainly do historical stuff.  I'll also just say up front, that it is a real tragedy that towns and cities in South Africa is essentially a no go area for tourists on foot due to the high level of street crime, and as we generally like to walk around places instead getting a taxi from one 'safe' area to another, that rather coloured our experience. Anyway... 

Mossel Bay (mussel bay), a few hundred miles east of Capetown on the southern coast, and site of the first Portuguese settlement. There is a fabulous museum with a number of different buildings scattered around the site. There are also a lot of very good vineyards nearby. Ahem.

Centrepiece of the museum is a reproduction Caravel, based on the one which landed here in 1485. I find it astonishing that people could travel such vast distances in such tiny ships, and with no decent maps.

The ship museum was stuffed with things including these nice reproduction outfits, navigation instruments etc

And lots of old maps, showing the evolution of western knowledge of the globe. This one is from the sixteenth century and apart from missing out Australia, it is pretty accurate.

Part of the complex were the 'Munroe Cottages', built in the early nineteenth century by British/Scottish settlers. They have thatched roofs and wouldn't look out of place in the northwest corner of Scotland.

I really enjoyed visiting Mossel Bay, and unusually, it was one of the few places you could walk around and not have to get a taxi from one 'safe' place to another. 

I'm not going to bother with anything about Durban, Port Elisabeth or Richards Bay. We mainly went for the safaris. so didn't see much historical stuff although we did do a city tour of Durban and went to the Botanical Gardens which were very pleasant.

Last stop was Cape Town, which also has a huge crime problem, but some parts of the city centre and waterfront are relatively safe.

This made me laugh, a 'pirate ship' for harbour cruises. It is just like the one in Bridlington. I suspect there is one in every port.

There was a French frigate moored in the harbour. The crew were rolling up the awning over the helicopter deck.

A very interesting ship was moored behind our ship. This is a nautical diamond mining ship. They mainly operate off the coast of Namibia and essentially strip mine the ocean floor looking for diamonds. I never even knew such a thing existed.

We did manage to get out and about to see some sights, being ferried from one safe place to another.

First up was Signal Hill, just above the harbour and with great views of Table Mountain. Originally this had a ships mast and cross trees to hang signal flags off it. There is also (still) a 12pm signal gun which goes off every day.

Right in the centre of Capetown near the main railway station is the Castle of Good Hope. A fabulous star fort, originally built by the Dutch but later taken over by the British. It has a moat, separate bastions and is set up as a large museum.

Originally it fronted onto the sea, but since then land along the coastline has been reclaimed.

It is huge, this is just one of the courtyards. The buildings are a very pleasing honey/ochre colour.

Unlike my Irregular fort, the embrasures are properly sighted to fire along the bastion walls.

The other courtyard, the Dutch style is fairly obvious. Most of the buildings had three levels, horses on the ground floor, stores on the 1st floor and accommodation on the top floor with gantries to haul supplies up to the first floor. All very Amsterdam. The large archways are rooms for storing carriages. 

As it was so close to sea level, the fort had a flooding problem and the powder magazine had to be moved from its original location. It has two fresh water wells though, fed from Table Mountain.

There is a very nice representation of the original view from the front of the fort. Now there is a large road and multiple railway lines!

A model of the original layout of the fort.

And later when it was rebuilt and extended. You an see the original shoreline in the top left.

There are various uniforms in the military museum.

Seventeenth Century Dutch infantryman.

A Pandour.

And some very smart British! I love the coat colour on this mannequin.

Mortar man with a smart leopard print hat.

And some sort of Dragoon I believe.

There were quite a few models of Dutch warships.

And various types of musket.

And some more.

The old Governors rooms are very well preserved. Despite the stifling heat, they were actually (relatively) cool and airy.

A box bed. I first saw one of these in Amsterdam. How on earth you are supposed to sleep in it, I don't know. I guess you get used to anything. 

There is a nice memorial to significant nineteenth century African figures.

King Cetshwayo.

There is an interesting reproduction of the an etching of the original Dutch colony, and you can see the limited extent of the land compared to the modern city. Unfortunately I think the image has been reversed at some point as the Signal Hill and the Lions Head are on the right side of the bay, not the left, and Table Mountain is also the wrong way round.

And as we were in South Africa, yes we did see some animals....

A lone male. He was pretty big.

White Rhino! Fabulous, we saw quite a few of these. They have been saved from being hunted to extinction by being corralled in game reserves.

Zebra

Giraffe

And everyones favourite, Pumba or Warthog. These were very unafraid in the more dense bush, but in more open savannah parks were very nervous as they are easy meat for Cheetahs in the open. We did see some Cheetah, Water Buffalo, Hippos etc too but no Lions I'm afraid. 

That was a nice way to round things off, but I don't think we'll be back. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office travel advice webpages has more stuff on crime in South Africa than a whole bunch of deeply dodgy other places put together. You do wonder how much of it is self reinforcing - no-one walks as it is dangerous, but it is dangerous as no-one walks etc. Judging by a despairing thread from Cape Town which popped up on Reddit about how to stop your garden taps being stolen, I think it probably is an actual concern. A real shame as the scenery, climate and wildlife were fabulous.

I have been to.... Mauritius

 We fancied a bit of winter sun, and were drawn to Mauritius after our younger daughter had her honeymoon there, so I've been away for a few weeks. As ever I'll try not to bore you with too many holiday snaps and instead focus on things of historical interest.

We stayed in Chamaral in the southwest corner of the island, which is still largely mountainous tropical jungle (the rest of the island is largely given over to sugar cane production) . This the view from the mountaintop near our hotel, which we slogged up in 30 degree heat and 80% humidity for the excellent view. That big rock in the distance is Le Morne Brabant, tucked in behind the coral reefs. 

Le Morne Brabant from sea level. It was a holdout for escaped slaves on the island prior to the abolition of slavery. Originally colonised by the French, Britain captured Mauritius in 1810 although French (and Creole) is still very much the lingua franca.

We stayed in Chamarel for a few days and then relocated to the capital, Port Louis (named after Louis XIII iirc)

Port Louis features a combined natural and military history museum!

It is pretty easy to spot thanks to the large mortars on the grass outside. 4.2" perhaps?

The military museum is on the upper floor, and features various uniforms like this WW1 one.

And this WW2 one. This was typical of the uniforms worn by the Mauritian defences forces. 35,000 Mauritians served in WW2. Who knew? The majority (27,000) were pioneers.

But many of then weren't. Being French speakers, some ended up employed by the SOE.

There was a nice array of 1/35 scale models.

And some sections on Napoleonic naval warfare.

The natural history museum wasn't huge, but inevitably featured a section on the Dodo.

Including this rather nice reproduction. The museum has some of the few remaining complete skeletons.

Up on a hill in Port Louis is Fort Adelaide, constructed by the British in the 1830s after the island was captured from the French. It is a fair old slog up the hill as it is quite steep.

But is is pretty spacious inside. This is the main courtyard. Even though it is cloudy weather the day was very hot and sultry. Not much fun for the garrison I imagine.

There are various random muzzle loading artillery pieces scattered around. I do like a metal gun carriage.

On top of the bastion is the site of a swivelling gun carriage. The post in excellent condition considering its age, location and weatehr conditions (the island is often hit by cyclones). The carriage wheels would have run around the raised lip below the parapet.

This lengthy battery faces the hills inland, probably its most vulnerable spot, although the fort is in a very commanding position over the city and port.

Courtyard from the ramparts. You can see the hills behind.

After a week in Mauritius, we took a cruise across to South Africa via Reunion and Madagascar.

Reunion was fairly remarkable as it is a French overseas territory, so it is in the EU and treated as metropolitan France. It was settled as an alternative to Madagascar, which proved to be very difficult to subdue, and was originally under the inhabited iirc. 

This battery is along the waterfront in the capital, St Denis, near the site of the original settlement in a natural harbour. 

This rather magnificent monument commemorates General de Gaulles visit in the 1960s.

But really, you could be in any town in the south of France. This is the Great War memorial outside the town  hall. The main difference between Reunion and mainland France are the enormous volcanos on the island. The ones in the centre are dormant, and the active site has moved to the eastern coast. It erupts fairly regularly. The sea is 4000m deep here, so you can imagine how huge the volcano is

After Reunion we had a brief stop in Madagascar, docking at Port Dauphin. Site of the first French colony, the Dauphin in question being the future Louis XIV. Due to a rebellion, Mauritius was a no travel zone until fairly recently, but a military coup has restored some order.

This is Fort Dauphin near the site of the original settlement. It is used as family accommodation for the nearby military base.

The old fort walls are still in evidence. 

It has dominating views across the bay (similar on the other side as it is on a peninsular).

There are still some surviving bastions with rusty cannon placed in them.

There is an interesting museum distributed across some of the buildings on the site. In this case a dugout canoe and fishing gear.

Weapons and other artefacts. The French initially  evacuated Madagascar after fierce local resistance.

Various types of woven goods.

Accommodation blocks in the old fort.

Fort Dauphin commemorative plaque. 

I know I said I wouldn't put up any general holiday snaps, but we were in Madagascar so Lemurs....

They were all very interesting places, although it was very much a whistle stop visit to Reunion and Madagascar (you can hardly do an island the size of a small continent justice in one day!). I'd recommend Mauritius to anyone, lovely place and direct flights from the UK. 

Reunion has no less than four direct flights a day from Paris which also makes it attractive. It has amazing hiking trails and there is a large off grid community living inside one of the old craters, who are supplied by helicopter. 

 Madagascar? Well, one of our friends lived out there for a year working on development projects, and as one of the poorest countries in the world (most of the population live on less than a dollar a day), it is much as you'd expect. We didn't feel unsafe, but the grinding poverty was everywhere, and pretty miserable.