Try Waving like Miss World at Sun city! South Africa.Elsie Gabriel

 Waving like Miss World at Sun city! South Africa.

If you ever want to dive into a lush and tropical fantasyland deep in the African bushveld, try the Sun city! Two words- pure luxury. Pamper yourself and soak in the sun.

Located in South Africa's North West Province, only  two hours drive from Johannesburg, Sun City is a vibrant mix of entertainment, spas, swimming pools, wave pools, water sports, golf, gambling and family fun.  Besides all the shopping and games, the hotel group has not forgotten to maintain its natural spots.

The kids loved the twenty five hectare botanical gardens, with an aviary and pet corner too. We got to take a ride in the chuga chuga train ride which takes you all around the expanse of the hotels. The birding experience was awesome and fish in the lakes were plenty. The green jungle is threaded with meandering paths, boat rides, cascades, lakes, pools and a variety of water adventure rides.

  

I found the whole experience exhilarating.  Sun City is internationally renowned as Africa’s premier holiday resort. You are spoilt for choice. You simply don't know where to begin.The Sun city offers four  hotels to choose from, The Cascades, Sun City Cabanas,  The Palace of the Lost City and the Cabana’s.

 Sun City is often called the South African Las Vegas. Try your luck with any of the 852 slot machines and 38 gaming tables on Sun City's casino.  You can see a concert at the Sun City Superbowl  City Hotel where ‘The Beach Boys’, "Frank Sinatra', 'Paul Anka' 'Elton John' and 'Rod Stewart' are some of the big names who have performed there.

Sun city is famous for Miss World pageants and Miss South Africa Teen Pageants, which attract thousands of visitors to the site.

I of course was attracted to the Pilanesburg Safari treks which were close by and ventured to simply get lost in the jungles. But kept coming back to  pose and wave the famous Miss World ‘wave’ each time I took a dip in the pool to cool down!!

I knew I had missed the Miss World bus a long time ago!

You don’t have to be famous to save the world.The Sea Turtle Project in Bentota is worth your help to save marine turtles. Sri Lanka Tourism involves marine conservation. Elsie Gabriel.

You don’t have to be famous to save the world.

The Sea Turtle Project in Bentota is worth your help to save marine turtles. Sri Lanka Tourism involves marine conservation. Elsie Gabriel.

The Sea Turtle Project in Bentota is only one of the initiatives on the Island of Sri Lanka to help save the marine turtles from extinction. The island has many benefactors, specially after the Tsunami disaster, several crusaders have taken it upon themselves to save the sea creatures.

So, as the saying goes, you don’t have to be famous to save the world , surely applies here!!

Visitors and research students alike come in to study or observe the baby turtles and depending on the season and time of day can watch them being released in to the ocean. There are five different species of Sea Turtle to be found along the coast of Sri Lanka – Loggerhead, Olive Ridley, Leatherback, Green Turtle and Hawksbill.

 These turtle hatcheries were constructed to rescue and protect turtle eggs because of the rapidly declining numbers of marine turtle in Sri Lankan shores. Marine turtle eggs are purchased from the  local fisherman and re-buried along the beach and left there for two days allowing the eggs time to hatch. Thereafter the baby turtles are collected from the beach and kept in tanks for another week, and released into the ocean to fend off for themselves. And believe it or not,the few female turtles that survive may return to their natal shores after a decade to lay their own eggs.

My favourite was the three legged albino turtle, with not a care in the world. But the image of this turtle tells a million stories, nylon fishing lines destroying limbs, plastic bags in the ocean suffocating the ocean creatures, and harsh climatic conditions throwing them ashore. The harsh stories are endless. When will all this stop.

We can not change the old mind set who refuse to believe that our children and their children may never get to see marine turtles in the near future, they are among the endangered lot. But what we can do is educate the young adults and children, adopt, sponsor or campaign for creatures who can not fight for themselves.

Marine turtles were roaming the oceans for about 190 million years, much before we were born, so the ocean is their habitat not ours. Do not forget to visit and promote the conservation of marine turtles, wherever or whenever you take a vacation to a seaside destination.

Lost on an Island of Sea weed farmers…Elsie Gabriel.

Lost on an Island of Sea weed farmers….

Elsie Gabriel.

I have always been asked that question…If you were ever stranded on an island what would you do….. well watch women work on their sea weed farms, hear the thrill of kids betting on grasshopper fights in a tiny box full of holes, watch fishermen bring in loads of shiny silver fish, dive deep under the sea and live like a mermaid with all the colorful fish in the ocean and only surface to get drunk on fermented coconut water and fresh air!!!!

Hehe..yeah you have to see this Island to actually believe me…

Only 8 square kilometers and there are about 7,000 people living on the island year round. Nusa Lembongan is a beautiful island off the main coast of Bali.Indonesia.What can I say I had a hard time wanting to really come to civilization…..

I got off on an island called Jungut Batu during a Bali Hai cruise and didn’t want to come back…..

Jungut Batu villagers work as seaweed farmers for which they get hefty sums of money from the cosmetic industry. Seaweed is used for medicines, food stabilizer, cosmetic and gelatin for ice cream. The chunk of the  income for the population is derived from seaweed farming. The locals farm ‘Euchema Cottomi’ a specie of ocean algae, by tying the sprouting algae shoots to farming plots with rope and flat wood stakes embedded in the seabed. It takes one month to grow to a size able to be harvested and then three days to sundry. Normally during the harvest the new sprouts are returned to the bed to begin the new crop, and then new sprouts get collected from the seabed. The dried seaweed is kept in large storehouses until it is taken to the mainland and sold for export to America, Denmark, Japan and Holland. 

White stretches of sand as far as the eyes can see, very remote and filled with jungles. Community life comes alive when fishermen come home from the sea. But once on the beach again you can snorkel and dive all day long. I forgot my suntan lotion on that trip I remember and surfaced looking like the Queen of Spades!! So don’t forget your sunscreen and hat……everrrr………… when doing an island trip….

pics copyright@elsiegabriel

pics copyright@elsiegabriel....My travelfootprints......

I  had to be carried on all fours to get back on the cruise again to the main Bali shoreline!! Jus kidddin, I had my pockets full of sea weed and  feet full of sand……what more could I ask for than a mind full of memories of a lovely island filled with such innocent  children where I guess the digital world would take another couple of years to make them lost techno addicts…..

Really…..I can still hear those crickets chirping inside those bamboo boxes with tiny holes fighting their way to survival…and the eye balls of those little boys hanging out keeping a close watch as to who would win? I wonder what they bet on…more sea weed???

Pics copyright@elsiegabriel