TheRamblingWombat St Helena

Ladder Hill Fort – Soon to be Hotel

075
Ladder Hill Fort

This is one of seven former fortifications on the Island and is located above Jamestown on Ladder Hill and accessed by a winding road up the valley side or, more interestingly, via Jacob’s Ladder. The picture below, which I love, is a rather stylised picture of the road to the Fort, painted in 1821 by James Walten – a rather famous British traveller and artist of the time. The cliffs are not quite that sheer – as you can see from photos in my Jacob’s Ladder review. Continue reading “Ladder Hill Fort – Soon to be Hotel” →

TheRamblingWombat St Helena

Jamestown Market

60
Jamestown Market Building

Being a major fan of local markets I made my way to Jamestown Market with great anticipation. In truth I didn’t have far to go – about 200m from my hotel.

The market is housed in a smallish building, on the ground floor and on a mezzanine level which runs around the internal walls, leaving an atrium in the centre of building. In terms of shopping I found it was rather abysmal – Continue reading “Jamestown Market” →

TheRamblingWombat St Helena

Go Find a Wirebird

048
Rare Wirebird

Alas, unlike on my next stop on Ascension Island, time did not permit me to explore in any detail either the flora or fauna on St Helena other than admire from a distance which, of course, I did. I would love to have had the time to get out and take advantage of some of the great walks which are possible on the Island.

While not an avid birdwatcher, I did however determine that I wanted to see the only endemic bird on the island – the St Helena Plover, commonly referred to as the Wirebird due to its longish spindly legs. I figured (rather I was told!) that my best chance of a sighting was on Deadwood Plain or the St Helena Golf Club both close to Longwood. Continue reading “Go Find a Wirebird” →