Friday started overcast with rain scheduled for the afternoon, so we decided to tackle the one activity where we would be glad of a few clouds: a 10k hike through the desert.
La Savane des Pétrifications is a protected area on the southernmost tip of the island, with salt flats, cacti, cliffs, and long white beaches. The entrance crosses over what B identified as a "negative estuary", where multitudinous crabs of different species were crawling around in the mud -- we even saw two blue crabs swimming downstream through the brackish water as the tide ran out. After that were the salt flats, which were actually used for salt production during WWII, a fact we learned from the overheard conversation of a passing group of chatty women.
The path runs by some shoreline with more crabs and other creatures cavorting in the tidepools. Then it was up past tall cacti onto rocky cliffs overlooking the ocean, with strong winds blowing off the water and so many signs warning us to stay back from the edge that we started to feel nervous just looking in that direction. Miraculously, we survived long enough to find lava "onions" (round rock formations caused by lava bubbling up) (a long time ago, thankfully) and other cool geological features and strange coloured landscapes that reminded us of Utah. We didn't find the petrified wood advertised on an info sign at the entrance; we may have found petrified coral, but it turns out to be pretty hard to distinguish from regular coral, being already fairly rock-like. A flock of shorebirds was flying from a rock in the water -- either Sooty or possibly Bridled Terns, sailing around and diving into the waves for fish.
We stopped for a swim on the way back before visiting the nearby Étang des Salines, where a boardwalk takes you out into a protected wetland. This place was teeming with more crabs and plenty of shorebirds -- lots of little plovers and pipers but also Snowy Egrets and Whimbrels striding through the shallows.
The nearby beach is a popular one; there are a line of restaurants just behind the treeline, with rickety tables and chairs under corrugated steel shelters, kitchens in temporary-looking sheds, and various barbeque equipment nearby. We found one that L had picked out based on google reviews and a photo of the menu and it seemed to be a good choice -- they served us a free plate of accras (deep-fried bready fish dumplings) as soon as we sat down. These were noticeably different from the other ones we'd had: less doughy and fishy, more like scallion pancakes or even Yorkshire pudding. It started raining as we were finishing up, which brought out a trio of bright red land crabs around the base of a tree near the awning we sheltered under.
Cool!!,
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