Hike to the Port Glaud Waterfall
Looking for something to do on a sunny day in Seychelles? Why not get some friends together and enjoy the beautiful outdoors. A great day’s fun can be had visiting the Port Glaud Waterfall, which offers visitors magnificent scenery and a great place to swim. It is not really a hike either, as it is only a short and comfortable walk to the base of the main waterfall, and therefore does not require an athlete’s level of fitness to enjoy its cool waters.
However if you are in the mood to explore, and don’t mind getting a bit sweaty, then a hike to the top of the waterfall is a very rewarding experience. It is not an easy trip as there is no well defined path, but with a little determination and a healthy dose of bush-wacking you can get to the clearing at the top within 10 minutes. Once at the top of the falls, you will be rewarded with a stunning view down, as well as the opportunity to continue your hike and follow the river as it winds through palm groves and granite boulders, with many smaller waterfalls along its path. If a hike is what you are after, you can follow the river as far as you like, towards its source. On your return you will have the opportunity to cool off in the pool of the main falls as your reward.Directions for getting there:
If using the bus, travel as far as the Port Glaud church and get off at the open lot across the street. From there - driving or walking - you take a right at the church, and follow the road up along the mangroves on your left. You will arrive at a cluster of houses and continue go through the neighbourhood, keeping left when the road forks. You will eventually get as far a car can travel (dirt parking lot on the left, dont take the VERY steep right turn), and you will see the path leading off towards the waterfall on the left. From there it is a short five minute walk. If you would like to continue on to the top of the falls, then the path can be found on the left hand side of the water fall (It has been said if you take that very steep right turn you can get to the top of the waterfall by road, I can't verify this, so try so at your own risk)...{ This article, by Niki Gower, was originally published (in part) in the TODAY in Seychelles Newspaper on the 11.07.2013 (www.today.sc), and also appears on the travel blog www.newworldnomad.blogspot.com. All photos copyright www.nikigowerphoto.com email: niki@silverspoonmedia.biz }
Leaving home for my first taste of paradise
O.R. Tambo International Airport (Johannesburg) is a strange place to be on a Sunday night. Usually buzzing with travelers and co; chaotically checking in, declaring something, saying goodbyes and welcoming loved ones bought in from the skies. Breathing people in from distant lands, and exhaling others in a steady cycle. Not on a Sunday. This huge space is empty. Its Eerie. The scattered employees man their posts, de-animated and robotic Vacant, distant, bored and sometimes lonely eyes stare back at me for a moment, and then flinch away. The odd traveler moves in seemingly slow motion as their paths intersect mine. I turn back and there is no trace of the full British Airways flight I came in on from Port Elizabeth, the passengers, the friendly couple sitting next to me, everyone seems to have been absorbed into the ether of this hollow space. I'm Lost. I zigzag through rows of cordoned off queuing corridors. Theres no-one else besides me and the teller within sight, he can here me coming, he can see me getting closer, then further, then closer again. After a half marathon of pushing my trolley through that maze I reach the front. . .
At this point I need to admit that I have had my oversized headphones on my ears since I checked-in in Port Elizabeth, my carefully selected playlist blasting out of my X10, keeping me securely inside my head, my eyes like a camera lens peering out of my hoodie. He lifts his head to greet me and I pull back my hoodie and slide my headphones around my neck...wow, its a whole other world out here.
Politely I am told I have walked in a full circle and pretty much right where I'd started. I look around but don't believe him. I am directed to the exact opposite side of the airport . . .
Woah! As I turn a corner I'm greeted by an airplanes count of people standing in the Air Seychelles check-in queue. There are only two flights to the Seychelles from South Africa, one on a Friday night, and the one that I am on: 23:55 on a Sunday night. I check-in and move through metal detectors, luggage scans and passport police and step into the International departures section of the airport.
Woah! Its like stepping through a portal into another world; All of a sudden there are open shops and and people everywhere. Its a shopping mall, Its almost midnight and I NEED a smoke . . .
I'm Sitting in the smoker's lounge of Ekaya: Destination Flavour. The Heineken I quaffed on on my connecting flight has led me here. Marzen Gold Draft in Hand. The air is heavy, saturated with the constant smoke of the travelers stranded here. In Limbo we wait, for journeys to begin, or mid-way between the places we just were, and the destinations where we will soon be. Spirits are high, Spirits are low. People are chatting, some sleeping, others just staring.
The Seychelles, I dont think its quite set in yet . . . *
* Words in Italics denote extracts from my hand written journal.
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