Mauritius was the start of our trip. We flew in overnight on New Year's Eve 2017/18 and stayed at the Westin Turtle Bay Hotel for two nights until it was time to join MS Serenissima for our trip to Madacascar and Mozambique.
Unfortunately,
tropical cyclone Ava arrived off the coast of Madagascar, so blocking our intended path. We delayed departure from Mauritius for 24 hours while we were entertained to a rain-soddened tour of Mauritius.
We left Mauritius 24 hours later than planned and sailed on a course to the east of the one intended so as to stay as clear as possible of tropical cyclone Ava. Even so, we encountered rough seas with a swell of 3 metres and more.
Our originally
planned landings on Reunion, and at Ile Sainte Marie, Nosy Mangabe and Masoala National Park on Madagascar were all cancelled as the weather at those locations was too bad and so we made for a first landing at Diego Suarez (Antsiranana) on
the north-east coast of Madagascar.
Having left MS Serenissima in Maputo, Mozambique, we flew up to Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania where we over-nighted to wait for our 40 minute light aircraft flight into Beho Beho Safari Camp, a beautiful safari camp southwest of Dar-es-Salaam.
We were one of only three couples resident at Beho Beho at the time and the highly skilled guides treated us to some amazing game drives and experiences with sightings of beautiful animals and birds along with a bush walk. We were present at the first sighting of three lion cubs and, by way of contrast, to the graphic kill of a wildebeeste by two hyenas.