We were very lucky that we were in St Lucia for turtle breeding season. For just a few weeks each year, the turtles come ashore at night to lay their eggs on the beach. There are miles and miles of beach and it is rare to see one but we were determined to try. We booked a trip through a local photographer (who had quit her job in England and moved to St Lucia to run photography tours of the area…..sure i was a little jealous) who hooked us up with a company who ran these turtle tours. We were picked up at the “hotel” at 6 p.m. and headed into the park. The first hour of the trip as we drove up to the beach was a sunset safari. We saw lots of rhinos among other things. We then drove 13 miles up the beach in the sand under the stars searching for turtles. We stopped for dinner at a rock on the beach and did some star gazing finding the Southern Cross and Orions Belt. We were already having a great night but as it started to get late, we were getting a bit discouraged we were not going to see a turtle. But then we did. And she was so amazing. We were all so mesmerized with her as we followed her as she walked back to the water that we all wound up getting soaked from the waist down as we accidentally backed into the ocean waves in the dark. We left the beach on a complete high. And then were treated to even more fun night safari sightings including a pack of hippos on land looking for food (apparently it’s not too early for hippos to be out KERRY) and a rhino just 15 feet from the truck.
It was an amazing night and when we got back to our room we sat up in the common room reflecting on the night. Nothing could ruin the high we were on. Nothing except maybe a bat in our room. An African bat. IN OUR ROOM. Logically, Kerry put on my safari hat and I climbed into my mosquito net. Now what? I wasn’t about to attempt to capture an African bat. So we called a number we had for the hotel. A sleepy woman answered and informed us a bat in our room sounded like an internal problem. We weren’t exactly sure what that meant but we disagreed and told her we were going to make it an external problem by calling back every ten minutes until someone came to fix said problem. Moments later a maid showed up and captured the bat very Mr. Miagi style. It was impressive. And to make it even more impressive, she was clearly sleepwalking while doing this because when we tried to thank her the next day she appeared to have no recollection of three shrieking American girls waking her up in the middle of the night to kill a bat. Either way problem solved.
The next day as most of the group decided to hang out around the murky South African “hotel” pool, we decided we wanted to take a walk to the beach. So armed with a map we asked around about a good route for a hike. A woman pointed out a loop and said it would take about 45 minutes. So we put on our suits, grabbed a bottle of water and headed off…..45 MINUTES??? Maybe by space shuttle. Five and a half hours later, three delirious American girls melted back into the “hotel.” It was a gorgeous walk where five ecosystems came together but it was equivalent of hiking the Sahara mid summer. For a few moments I wasn’t sure we were going to complete the loop. We did, luckily, and also survived the sketchy truck of locals that circled us for the last two miles of the walk. Thankfully Kerry was armed with her pocket knife to protect us all. Which is ridiculous but oddly did provide a sense of comfort.
We finished St Lucia with another turtle tour (not as lucky the second time around) and then a boat cruise where we saw TONS of hippos. And fun fact……despite spending most of their time in the water, hippos can’t swim. They just walk and float along the bottom. However, on land those big guy can run REALLY fast and can kill you instantly. And despite what Kerry will tell you they walk on land even during the day.
All apologies for the blurry pic but it was pitch black, i was shooting with no flash and chasing a turtle down the beach. Blurry happens.
Late night bat hunting…..
Ranger Bob at your service
The beach sand contains titanium. Makes the sand SUPER HOT! It’s a world heritage site so no one can mine the titanium
Hiking the Sahara
