Ruth and the sunset at the island of Dhiffushi, Maldives.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Kuwait City, Kuwait on March 31st.

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Canoeing and pancakes at Bulungula

Our second full day, we decided to go canoeing. The activities at the lodge are run by locals, with part of the proceeds going to the community, and the rest going to the person running the activity. The excursion cost R80 ($8.40) each. This particular day, it was a young guy named Lindo who was running the trip. He was 24 years old, and this is his only job.

He arrived right on time at  10:00am. Not everything happens right on time at Bulungula Lodge, so we were quite surprised. There were two other couples going with us. He introduced himself and handed us each a kayak paddle. And off we went. It turned out that we had about a 40 minute hike to the river where the canoes were.

When we got there, Lindo took one of the other guys downriver a bit to pick up another canoe, and he showed us where to meet him at the river. While we were waiting for them, we watched the river crabs!

Interesting colored crabs! And they only have one claw. Strange!

When they arrived, we thought our guide Lindo was going to be coming with us. Nope. He pointed up river and told us where to paddle to, saying he expected us to be back in an hour or so. Okay. 

We paddled as far as we could. Here, it was too shallow because the tide was still out and it affects the level of the river.

As far as we went. Ruth and one of the other guys actually walked a bit further up to see what was around the bend, and they saw a sea turtle.

Paddling back. Nope, no life jackets. If you drown, there is nobody to sue. Everything you do is at your own risk, just as it should be!

On the walk returning to Bulungula, looking back at the river.

Part of the canoeing excursion includes a stop at the ILanga restaurant on the walk back to the lodge. It's located in a mud/brick rondoval, just like many of the other traditional buildings here. They make pancakes with different types of fillings. Could be nuts and dates, or could be chicken and spinach. They have several choices. Because of our gluten avoidance, we asked if we could just have the filling. And they said sure! So Ruth and I had a nice helping of chicken and spinach filling. There wasn't much chicken, and we couldn't find any spinach...but the peppers and onions and curry tasted great! Our canoeing companions also said their pancakes were great!

The restaurant! Best pancakes on the Wild Coast, apparently.

Happy people. Our guide Lindo is second from the left.

This guy was sitting outside the restaurant. When he saw me with my camera out, he was waving, and I finally figured out that he wanted to have his picture taken. I obliged, and then went outside and showed it to him. He and his buddy were all smiles!

Returning to the lodge, you get a beautiful view.

12 comments:

  1. Great day for sure!!! How old is Lindo??? (you said he's Years old... but no number?)
    I bet the pancakes would have been good. At least you got some stuffing!

    what's on for tomorrow??

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lindo is 24 years old, Kevin has now fixed that in the post. The pancakes looked and smelled delicious and the others said they tasted delicious.

      As for tomorrow, you will just have to tune in then to see. ;-)

      Delete
  2. WOW your header picture is fantastic! What a place to kayak. I guess for the price you can't expect to have the boats AND a guide. :-) But you are so right that everything should be "at your own risk" and no sueing allowed. Love that you get to mingle so much with the locals. I'm trying to imagine stuffed pancakes. I guess you pour the batter, let it cook, put in the stuffing and pour a lot more batter on top before you flip it? You can see I don't get out much. :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Sherry! Actually I think Lindo would normally go but there were only 3 canoes and six of us so there was no room for Lindo but it was a very straight forward paddle so other than him maybe telling us about a bit of stuff there really wasn't a need to have him along.

      The pancakes are actually what we call crepes so they are the very thin pancakes that you put the filling near the edge of the flat pancake and then roll them up.

      Delete
  3. You continue to have one adventure after another. Good thing you have all those beautiful photos - to help you remember all the good times.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We sure are glad that they are all digital photos, otherwise we would go totally broke trying to pay to have them all developed!

      Delete
  4. Responsibility. Amen brother! The crab is so cool, the colors unbelievable. Sure hope you guys come home soon. We need some Canada schooling!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We couldn't believe the colours on all those crabs either.

      Just look back at all our old posts to see how we traveled across Canada and the types of places that we boondocked at. You know that all you have to do is send us an email anytime you have a question, we are more than happy to give you any advice that we can.

      Delete
  5. Another super adventure. Love the pic of everyone sitting on the floor. Their smiles traveled half-way around the world and made me smile!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Love the colors of those crabs. Our dogs would go crazy.

    You certainly are having yet another different adventure.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The colours were really vivid! We love this type of adventure. :-)

      Delete

There are more comments on our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/TravelwithKevinAndRuth

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.