Tuesday May 14th
Today's port was Gibraltar. I did not
have particularly high expectations and was therefore extremely
pleasantly surprised. We didn't dock until midday and were prepared
to be in the first wave of disembarkation. I had even packed my
anorak as the captain had warned us that there might be a shower
later in the afternoon – this might be my opportunity.
Matt had visited Gibraltar several
times before but had never been “up the rock”. This was surely a
prime example of Something High To Go Up, and he was determined not
to miss out this time. Unimpeded by age, girth or impractical
footwear (or a combination of these impediments) Matt frog marched us
through the town centre towards the cable car station – he was
committed to beating the queue that he predicted would form.
There was no queue at all and we even
secured prime position at the front of the cable car. Most cable cars
appear to be built in Switzerland (at least European ones – I can't
speak for other continents). The origin of this one wasn't obvious
which made me slightly nervous.
I was amazed to spot apes (the fabled
Barbary Macaques) on the way up. I thought that this would be a
disappointing fauna based touristical trap; often when you are told
that a certain species lives somewhere and you go to spot it there is
no trace (e.g. marmosets on an Island just off of Dubrovnik).
Nature
report 4
- The Barbary Macaques were truly amazing – the only “wild apes” in Europe. They are clearly not totally wild as they seemed to be quite used to the tourists and someone seemed to provide food for them. Raw potato appeared to be a particular favourite and I can't imagine that tourists take this up the cable car to feed them. I assume that the £500 fine for feeding the apes does not apply to whoever dishes out the raw potato and vegetable peelings.
- I have been fascinated by monkeys (although these are referred to as “apes” they are in fact taxonomically monkeys) since I was little. I love to watch their behaviour and expressions. Today we saw some who were quite vain and seemed to enjoy posing for photos. One little one was a right bully and was terrorising a slightly older one for food. I would have liked to have thought that they were just playing but the bigger one really did look annoyed and looking at others who clearly were playing this little one really was a menace. (Sorry about the anthropomorphism but I think it can be excused with primates.) I saw one who was scratching his head in just the same way that Matt does in the morning. The old men of the tribe just laze around watching what's going on.
- The Rock of Gibraltar is effectively a double-sided cliff. Having not been troubled by seagulls at any of our previous stops it was inevitable that as soon as we were back on British Territory they would become an issue. I used to tolerate seagulls but ever since a particularly unpleasant experience in St. Ives on our first wedding anniversary when one stole my yeast extract sandwich I have positively disliked them. I am now wiser than to eat in their presence (which can limit the locations for ice-cream enjoyment). But today's challenge would mainly involve avoiding being dive-bombed. I suppose this was understandable really because our walk around the double-sided cliff took use very close to their nests, but their swooping was quite scary and I was convinced that the best I could come away with would be seagull poo on my lovely new hat. Fortunately we both avoided the dive bombing, or a more vicious seagull attack, and the closest I came to seagull related injury was when I took a little stumble whilst trying to avoid one that was coming right for me.
- We took an exceptionally scenic route around the “Mediterranean
Steps”. The wild flowers were stunning. Apparently there are over
600 species of plant in the nature
reserve. Some were familiar –
thistles, cow parsley, those things with dandelion-like flowers but
that aren't dandelions (smaller flowers and longer stems) – but
lots were unfamiliar. The smell was gorgeous and the whole scene
spectacular. Sorry about the density of use of complimentary
adjectives but it really was beautiful.
- The flowers were obviously a great attraction for insects. Having been troubled the whole of the previous day by a midgie bite on the back of my leg (which I managed to just about keep under control with more frequent than recommended applications of steroid cream) I was a bit worried that I would acquire another insect bite / sting today. I needn't have been concerned as the insects were much more interested in the real flowers than the ones on my dress, and I think that the yellow and black buzzers were bees rather than the more malicious wasp. There were loads of pretty butterflies – mostly ones that I had not seen before but there was occasionally one of the ubiquitous cabbage whites (I think they might be the grey squirrel of the butterfly world).
- We might even have seen a humming bird. Even if it was just a big insect that looked like a humming bird it was very impressive. Unfortunately it was very camera shy but I'm planning on going to the library to try to identify it.
- There were lots more lizard sightings too.
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