Bokmakierie

ird sightings included White Pelican and
Black-hooded Oriole, as well as the very
familiar House Crow, House Sparrow and
Common Myna.
HMS Defender
passengers on board. Over half were British,
with South Africans well represented at 190.
Over 300 passengers were participating in
the 120 day round the world voyage from
and back to Southampton, and this particular
day was the 81st day of the QM2’s
circumnavigation of the globe.
Each evening there was a show at the
theatre, with the ship’s resident band supporting
singers and dancers, while other
acts included comedians, magicians and
jugglers. A daily events programme was left
in one’s stateroom each evening advising
passengers of the following day’s events
as well as time changes, the ship’s position,
and the operating times of the many pubs
and restaurants. We watched “Passport to
the Universe” narrated by Tom Hanks at the
planetarium where the seats recline so that
one can watch the display projected onto
the hemisphere shaped screen directly
above the seats. Sue made regular use of
the gym while I was happy to jog a few laps
of the open 7th deck where each lap was
approx 600mtr. The ship’s well-stocked
library was at the bow of the ship on deck 8
and gave readers and browsers a panoramic
view of the clear blue ocean ahead. There
were also daily lectures in the auditorium
given by experts in their field.
Colombo in Sri Lanka was hot and humid as
expected and after a short bus tour of the
city we headed back to the ship. Interesting
After another day at sea, the QM2 arrived at
the port of Cochin in the state of Kerala in
southwestern India. On the quayside there
were a number of local tour operators and
we joined two other S.A. couples and an
Australian couple on a tour of the backwaters
of Kerala. Travelling by car in India is not
for the fainthearted and our driver overtook
tuk-tuks and other slow moving vehicles
in the face of oncoming traffic which we
missed by a hairsbreadth every time. After
an hour we reached the river where we
boarded a local punt that had obviously
seen much service and sat in cane chairs
with a wickerwork cover overhead, offering
some protection from the hot sun.
Two rather elderly local gentlemen poled
the craft slowly along the still waterways
that had dense tropical vegetation on either
side. People living on the banks of the waterways
looked desperately poor and their
livestock were not in the best condition. Bird
life was quite varied and we saw Blue-tailed
Bee-eater, Indian Cormorant, Indian Pond
Heron, White-throated Kingfisher, Racket-tailed
Drongo and Brahminy Kite among
others. We stopped at one of the villages
where coir making was the main activity and
also sampled some rather spicy homemade
vegetable crisps that were delicious and we
all bought a few packets each. What really
impressed us was that these people lived in
very modest houses and didn’t have many
possessions, but they always had a smile
and seemed content with their lives.
Back on board the next day, the captain
announced at his midday communiqué that
we were now sailing across the Arabian Sea,
which was a known pirate operating area.
Consequently, there was to be a drill later
36 | Bokmakierie December 2016 No 247