This is it: the typical oxcart of La Digue! It is impossible to imagine La Digue’s few streets without it. At the harbor, you will almost always see one of the traditional ox carts at ferry arrival times – and on days when there is a wedding on La Digue, you will almost always see one, as most bridal couples opt for the “ox cab” to be taken to their wedding on the beach.
Couples who get married at Anse Source d’Argent almost all come to the venue by oxcart. A wedding at Grand Anse or Petite Anse is a different story, however, as even the strongest ox on the island would probably not be able to cope with the climb. Anyone who has ever cycled to Grand Anse knows what kind of climb I’m talking about… 😉
For this reason, at weddings at Grand Anse, the oxcarts usually drive up to about the height of the Zanboza Guesthouse. There, the wedding party changes into the motorized cab and covers the last kilometer to Grand Anse with considerably more oxen – er, I mean horsepower. The ox is allowed to graze in the shade for this long.
After the wedding at the Grand Anse, a glass of sparkling wine, the delicious wedding cake and beautiful souvenir photos, it’s back to the waiting oxen by motor cab – and from there the wedding party then travels back to the hotel by ox cart, where the feudal wedding menu is usually already waiting for the newlyweds… 😀
I’m already heading back to the Seychelles tomorrow, as I’ll be photographing the next wedding on La Digue next week. The couple will get married at Grand Anse and also travel half the way by oxcart. I’m curious to see if it will be the same ox cart and maybe even the same ox!
[Edit April 2019: In the meantime, the ox carts have all but disappeared. Animal welfare has prevailed; in the meantime, only a few wedding couples still opt for the oxcart]