We had arranged an excursion for the day, so we awoke early for breakfast, and around 9 AM we set out for Ile aux Nattes on a tour arranged by the hotel.
Shown below is the breakfast building, separate from the main dining area.
Ile aux Nattes is a very small island (probably only about 2 or 3 km across) and located just off the bottom of Ile Sainte Marie. This island has no roads or motorized vehicles. I didn’t even see a zebu cart here, so everything here gets moved by walking.
Below is a Google Earth image of Ile aux Nattes. You can see the airport at the very bottom of Ile Sainte Marie. We would go to the point of land west of the airport and then cross over to Ile aux Nattes.
The hotel van took us past the airport, and dropped us at a beach at the very south of Ile Sainte Marie. Here we were transferred to Ile aux Nattes by pirogue. It wasn’t very far, and would only take about 5 minutes. I don’t think the water was ever more than a few feet deep all the way across.
Here we are crossing over…
Looking back at Ile Sainte Marie from Ile aux Nattes…
Once on Ile aux Nattes, our plan was to hike for a few miles, up to the lighthouse and back down again for lunch. Here are some photos from the trip.
Here’s a river that I suppose gets wet when it rains…
We had to cross this bridge…
Looking across at the airport… They are expanding the runway to take larger aircraft.
Typical houses on Ile aux Nattes…
Continuing along the path…
Continuing up the hill to the lighthouse, we would see many different types of plants, including ginger, cinnamon and cashew trees. The the picture below, the plants you see with the jagged leaves that look like ferns act like carnivorous plants that close up on contact as if to capture its prey.
I’ve posted a video below which shows these interesting plants in action!
Continuing up the hill we came across this cashew tree. The tree produces a red (sometimes yellow) fruit that you can eat, and attached to the fruit is the cashew nut.
We finally made it to the top of the hill to the lighthouse. The light is not currently functioning as there is a problem with the battery. Of course, they’re still employing a light keeper, so I’m not really sure what his job currently is, since there is no functioning light to maintain?
Walking the last few steps to the light at the top of the hill…
Another photo of the light…
Whatever they’re paying this light keeper, I think it’s too much. He’s got some work to do…
Views from the base of the light…
An old light keeper’s house…
Another view from the light…
Nadine climbing a coconut tree by the lighthouse.
After a bit of a rest a the top of the hill, we began the trek back down for lunch. We arrived at the Napoleon Hotel, which is affiliated with our hotel back on Ile Sainte Marie, where we had lunch by the beach.
After lunch, we rested by the beach while the kids did a bit of swimming. Instead of hiking back to where we were dropped of by the pirogue, we asked if the hotel could just shuttle us back to Ile Sainte Marie from here by boat, which they agreed to do.
Here we are piling into the boat…
Here’s the boat that took us back…
We were then shuttled back to the hotel in the van that was waiting for us on the beach.
Driving by the airport on the way back, it was easy to see that security and access to the airport grounds are not really a concern here. We could have driven from the main road, directly onto the airport runway!
We then relaxed a little in the air conditioned room before getting ready for dinner. In the evening, we walked down the beach to the main building for a nice dinner by the water.
