On Tuesday we had a quiet day looking around Ajaccio, buying nice charcuterie in the daily market and enjoying the sunshine. We didn't do any of the historical sites in the town: after Rome, plus all the museum visiting of last summer, we're enjoying the hikes and natural sights of the islands this year!
We did, though, want to see the turtle sanctuary some 17km inland from Ajaccio, known as A Cupulatta. We enquired at all the relevant places to be told that you can't get there by public transport. But the Rough Guide says take the train and walk, we said. Well, yes, people said, but it's quite a walk. 20 minutes, says the Rough Guide. We can do that. So we got the train (actually the replacement bus) to Carbuccia. The bus actually drops you on the main N193, so it's only about 5 minutes further to the sanctuary; from the station, it would be another 15 minutes. Let's be clear though: you can get to the sanctuary pretty easily by public transport. Getting back is quite another matter. The timetable may improve once the train is running again, but there are no stopping buses along this busy road (except on Tuesdays), so we had to wait four hours for the bus coming back from Corte to pick us up.
But we enjoyed the visit nonetheless. A Cupulatta has definite elements of the zoo, but is heavily committed to protecting and breeding endangered species. It is the biggest enterprise of its kind in Europe, and has a huge number of animals. We have made a photo albumof some of our many pictures, including one of the super-cute kittens, which are part of the campaign to keep mice under control.
Part of the time, we just wandered around going hey dude. If you don't know the reason, enjoy Finding Nemoall over again. But of course that's not the only story here.
There is something very sad about the giant turtles, their heads, some 1.5m above the ground, watching patiently from their small enclosures. It is not only the pathos of big animals denied their natural roaming space. These are an order of reptiles a quarter of a billion years old, pre-dating the dinosaurs, of enormous complexity and variety. Did you ever hear of the (extremely ugly) alligator tortoise, which uses a special pink tool in its mouth to lure fish to their death?
But the humanoid upstarts, just a few thousand years old, and most dangerous in the last 500, has brought whole species to extinction. With the smaller tortoises and terrapins (many of which are in fact endangered), there are many to be seen, and they take little notice of the spectators, even the spectacular leopard tortoises or the starry-shelled turtles with their startling displays. The giants from Aldebra (in the Seychelles) and the Galapagos look back into your eyes, know that they are watched, and exude an imposing, elephantine air of wisdom.