Jeep Safari - Zakynthos

See the real Greece, they say! Well, you see some odd things & the views are special.

Plus you get drivers who also have had their fill of UK plc & revel in the freedom on offer...

Driver 1, ex-pat, now based on the island permanently. Wise.

All aboard. Off we go up into the hills.

You stop several times for scenic views and for unusual photo-opportunities. It’s why you pay your drachmas.

The first stop allows you to look back to the south of the island towards Laganas and Marathonissi Island. This is said to appear like a turtle. It does from up there.

Is that a giant turtle swimming in the sea?

Then it’s out into the countryside as you climb up to the mountain villages.

The boys, with one taking a photograph as we move

Mountain Top & the Mast

When you get to the Mast above Katastari, you get magnificent views of the plains down below near Alykanas and you can clearly see the salt-pits near Alykes. Some view.

Alykanas from the mountain above Katastari

You get a good twenty minutes or so up there to wander to take some great photographs. You can see the coastline stretching north beyond Alykes to Aghios Nikalaos.

Coffee Stop

There’s a nice welcome drinks break in mid-morning where you stop in a traditional village cafeteria. Again you can wander if you wish to take photos or browse the neighbourhood. Neat.

Navagio Bay

The most dramatic part of the day is the clifftop visit to Shipwreck Bay (navagio = shipwreck). Most tourists only visit the bay by boat. The safari scores by allowing you onto the platform which extends out over the sea from the cliffs. This is no good if you suffer from vertigo. However, the views are stunning and you do get those photographs which all the tourist books and travel agents have.

Every year the hang-glider fraternity come to the cliffs and jump off. Boats are hired to collect them from the sea below. There is also the usual annual tragedy, when idiots attempt ‘selfies’ and stumble backwards, hurtling down to certain doom. Mad.

That’s the platform on the left, jutting out over the sea

Rather blurry, but it does show the second bay

There are several coves which you can’t see from the bay if you travel by boat. The wreck itself is very dangerous and I reckon it’s time to rid the place of the eyesore.

It’s a fairly lengthy stop at Navagio Bay, so it’s good to get going again. The next stop is the usual consumerism eco-shop. As you drop back down towards the coast you stop for local produce. You are not obliged to purchase, but most acquire honey, herbs and wine, amongst other things.

The shop is small but well-stocked. The villages up here are susceptible to wild sudden forest fires in the summertime. A fraught existence. I have often seen the planes dropping into the sea in Alykanas to pick up water to quench the flames in the mountains.

When the shopping’s done, your hard work for the day is almost complete. The drivers announce that there will be a lunch stop at a seaside taverna before the final swimming stop. That receives full support from all on the trip. The taverna does snacks or full meals. You don’t want too much if you’re going swimming. Baguettes and chips are fine.

Afterwards it’s down to Zakynthos’ version of Makri Yialos (Long Beach) for an hour on the pebble beach or a welcome swim. It’s a nice bay, very popular with the locals who had flocked there. But I’m not a big fan of stones.

Shallow waters are child-friendly, despite the shingle

A harbour near Makri Yialos, where there’s a lunch stop for whatever you fancy

At around 4 you get back in the jeeps to drive along some rough tracks by taking a short cut back to Alykanas through the woods. As Wallace may say to Gromit, “A Grand Day Out.”

Worth every euro or drachma or dollar. Go for it.

GreecepolyphemeofcymbriaAugust 18, 2011Zakynthos