Following yesterday’s mountain skirmish, it seemed appropriate to go on a jeep safari ! Somewhere along the line, Heather had obtained a Gift Voucher/ticket courtesy of one of her friends who won it in a raffle. All I had to do was make a contribution to the charity involved, not an issue.
Run by a couple of ex-pats called James and Alice, who had got hold of a couple of old Land Rover Defenders and started up the Jeep Safari business. Been running for 7 years now apparently.
Essentially, it went up into the Kyrenia mountain range west of Kyrenia behind Lapta, right up on dirt tracks to a good viewpoint, then off to an abandoned mountain village, past the famous abandoned Turkish tank (left over from the peace mission/invasion – your choice), onto a toilet/refreshment stop, more mountains, then down to the coast for lunch, a swim and then back to civilisation.
So bright and early, there I was outside the Supreme supermarket ready for pickup. It was slap bang on time. Then we collected all the rest from various hotels and off into the mountains.
The first stop was well above Lapta, with great views (as always) of the coast and mountains. After a bit of an amusing safety brief by James, we continued up the mountain to an abandoned village.
James again gave a really informative and well researched talk (probably well practiced !) about why the village had become abandoned, but also pointed out why many of the trees were planted to provide various things to the local population. There was even a partially restored house, repaired with locally sourced materials, like the fat from a melted down goat used as part of the roof weatherproofing.
Then up again, until we came to a view point on the inland side of the mountains, out onto the plain towards Nicosia. Now very hot – 30 degrees + – which wasn’t too good for the now swelling ankle – hohum.
Next stop was at the Turkish tank memorial. This is an abandoned tank that was used during the 1974 action, but got blown up and abandoned where it landed. Now acts as a memorial to those lost during the invasion/peace operation.
Back on the narrow (very narrow !) single track tarmac roads, we ended up at the Kozan Experience, which is a mixture of a restaurant, a shop, picnic area in the middle of nowhere. Essentially for us a loo and lemonade stop. Apparently, you can do a BBQ there, camp, go horse riding – all sorts of activities. Yet again, fantastic views of the mountains and sea.
Following that, it was a somewhat sinuous road down to the coast, with (yet agin – very boring !) great views of the mountains and coast, including the big reservoir at Getikoy – which I planned to walk around later in the week.
We ended up at the Vasilia Beach Restaurant for lunch followed by a swim for the more able bodied of us. Me ? I just sat in on the beach, like an English gentleman at rest, sipping cold beer after my lunch. What more do you want ? Please note the umbrella provided by a young waiter, clearly being respectful to the elderly(haha)…….
Finally, it was back in the Land Rovers for the run back to the various hotels, etc.
I thought it was an excellent day out and my sort of “local knowledge” was useful as well, since Alice was concentrating on the driving. One couple were flying back the next day, but said that they had not been out from their hotel at all during their stay – except for this last minute Jeep Safari. Shame on them, they missed a lot……..
At the end of the day, rewarded by a beautiful sunset, sat on the back patio of H & H’s house, no doubt with drink in hand………
