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June 29th 2005

Published: July 2nd 2005

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Stuart

Whale sign

Maybe, I'm being unfair. Cyclone season is late August till November. But it's rained. A lot!

Madagascar is like no place on earth. Separated by a few hundred km's from the African mainland, it's unique. Evolution has taken its own course on this giant island - a high percentage of the islands flora and fauna is only found here. Added to which, the people and culture are unique. The nearest language related to Malagasy is spoken on Borneo, which gives some clue to the origin of the first inhabitants of this island. But, Borneo is a hell of a long way away! How the hell did they get here? Most of the people that do live here, are dirt poor. The UN estimates that 75% of the population lives on less than US$1 a day.

So, despite the rain, and oh how it rains; the coastline is fabulous, the coral stunning and the rain forests are full of lemurs and waterfalls. For those of you that don't know, Lemurs belong to the pro-simian group of primates, from which humans are descended. There are over 50 varieties of lemurs which are found no where else on

Antananarivo

earth. However, many of Madagascar's unique mammals are endangered.

Returning to my diary format. My last blog left off with my arrival back in Jo'burg at the Backpackers Ritz.

20-22nd JUNE

I spent a few days mooching around the flash, upmarket shopping malls near the Backpackers Ritz. I needed a rest after my camping safari, to upload the previous 2 blogs and to organize myself. I organized my flight to Madagascar and another flight to Namibia. I will return to Jo'burg after visiting Madagascar and catch a flight to Namibia on the same day. The flight from Jo'burg to Namibia is cheap, it has only cost me 790 Rands, although the flight to Madagascar wasn't cheap.

On the first night in the backpackers I had a room of my own, but on the second night I was forced into a dormitory because the place was fully booked out by tour groups for one night. I couldn't be bothered moving to another place, so I put up with the dormitory. The compensation being that it only cost 80 rands to stay in the dorm. On the third night though I

Antananarivo

got a room back to myself, with a large double bed. A luxury after the dorm beds, which were not only narrow but also too short and I'm not that tall.

In all, I had some very nice meals in the malls over the 3 days and went to the cinema on the 21st to see Star Wars 3. It was a break from the rigors of African travel.

THURSDAY 23 JUNE

It was an early start to the day, I was up at 5am in order to catch the shuttle bus to J'burg airport at 5.30am. I was catching a flight to Madagascar at 8.20am on Air Madagascar (or Air Mad).

The plane landed in the capital city Antananarivo at 12.20pm. I took a taxi from the airport into the town. It was a 14km ride, the roads are narrow and full of traffic. So, it was a very slow journey, taking over an hour to cover a short distance. Although, the views from the hill side were spectacular. Finally I arrived in the centre of the city and booked into the Mellis Hotel, which cost me 41000 Ar

Air Mad

Landing at Ile Sainte Marie

a night (about US$20). It was an expensive hotel for Madagascar, with on-suite bathroom and satellite TV. The downside of the place was that they were redecorating parts of the hotel, which meant that there was a lot of noise in the place during the day. Also, the room they gave me still smelt of paint!

I sorted myself out and then went for a walk around the town. The city is very picturesque. Antananarivo seems to have become a rest home for old un-roadworthy French cars. The place is full of old Citroen 2CV's and Renault 4's, that have been re-incarnated as Taxis! One thing that is very confusing is the money. Prices are sometimes quoted in Ar or Malagasy Francs. The new notes are printed in Ar, with francs in small print underneath. So, often I had to ask which currency people were using, or else prices could seem either very high or low! 1 of the new Ar equals 5 of the old Francs, and most people seem to prefer the old currency, whatever the bank notes say.

I ate in a fancy restaurant at 7.30pm, which only cost me about

Lemurs

US$5 and then went to bed early as I was very tired.

FRIDAY 24th

After breakfast I booked a flight to Ile Sainte Marie. The reason for using an internal flight was because the distances in Madagascar between places is huge, and I have only given myself 2 weeks on the island. Also, the other problem is that I would be forced to back track on myself along the same roads. With the distances involved I would be spending most of the next 2 weeks in bush taxi's if I didn't fly some of the way.

Again I took it easy and walked around town. I still felt tired.

SATURDAY 25th

It was an early start again, 5.30am. I took a taxi to the airport, arriving at 7am for a 9am flight. The flight was only 1 hour long. It was a small turbo-prop plane, not much bigger than a bus. There was seating for about 50 people, but only 16 passengers travelling.

Being a small plane it felt a lot more fragile than the big jets that I'm used to. We had a fairly turbulent

Sainte Marie

Fete - 45 years since they kicked the French out!

landing as we had to descend through heavy rain clouds. When we landed it was pissing it down, so we ran to the airport terminal building, which frankly was little more than a glorified bus shelter.

I hung around for half an hour until the rain eased off. Then I caught a taxi, with a door that was hanging off. It stalled a number of times on the 14km journey to Ambodifotatra, which is the largest settlement on the island, and its main port. The road to the small town is terrible, untared and full of holes. The car struggled to make it, partly because it wasn't roadworthy, but mostly because the road needed a 4 wheel drive, not an old Citroen 2CV.

Finally I got to the town, where I booked into the Hotel La Zinia. They only charge 6000Ar (US$6). The room I got was huge, although it had a shared bathroom, which had hot water. Sharing the bathroom though wasn't a problem as I was the only customer in the place! So, I had the whole place to myself. Not only that there would be no staff in the place the

Sainte Marie

Fete

next day, as they had all taken the day off for the National Festival, celebrating 45 years since the Malagasy's kicked out the French. That meant that the restaurant downstairs would also be closed. I would have to find somewhere else to eat on Sunday. A big plus with the hotel was that I had a balcony which would give me a birds eye view of the ceremony the next day. After booking in, I walked around town and took it easy as I was still tired.

There were celebrations in the evening, in the square near the independence monument, a few metres from my hotel. There was a hell of a lot of noise till fairly late. Much of the noise was caused by teenage boys throwing fireworks around. What is about boys and fireworks? They were behaving just like the kids back in Harehills in Leeds. Having said that the kids in Leeds are worse, they tie the fireworks together and blow up phone boxes and letter boxes.

SUNDAY 26th

I woke up to find that preparations for the official ceremony were well under way, beneath my balcony window. As the

Sainte Marie

Causeway, south of Ambodifotara

hotel and its restaurant was closed for the day, I walked past the festival stand on my way to find some breakfast. Whilst at breakfast I asked about the boats to the mainland for the next day. The waiter said that they left at 5, I wasn't clear if he meant 5am or pm. Neither time would be good!

After breakfast I walked back to the festivities, which had just started. There was an official man on the stage giving a very long boring speech. Loads of kids were running around the place, ignoring the pompous officials speech. What is it about middle aged men with some small measure of official power? Why do they think they have to bore people with over long pompous speeches?

After a while in front of the stage, I returned to my room and did my overdue clothes washing. At 11am I emerged onto my rooms balcony and watched the official parade.

Later in the afternoon, I walked across the causeway south of the town to a very pretty spot. There was a hotel and restaurant there. So, I sat in the restaurant, had lunch

Sainte Marie

and enjoyed the view. After yesterdays rain, the sun had come out!

In the evening I had a very good meal in the hotel and restaurant La Bigorne. During the meal a French woman and Malagasy woman invited me to join them at their table. So, I tried to converse in my best French - which is not good!

MONDAY 27th

I woke about 6am. When I looked out the window I saw a boat leaving. I was hoping against hope that it didn't mean I had missed the boat. As I said earlier I wasn't clear if the vedette was due to leave at 5am or 5pm. When I emerged properly at 7am , the hotel staff who had returned after their holiday told me that the boat had already left. The next boat was tomorrow at 5.30am. I knew if I was going to spend more time on the island that I needed to get some more money. Fortunately when I went to the bank at 7.30, I found that I could get a cash advance on my Visa card. Having said that, I hadn't spent much money in the last

Sainte Marie

Hike to La Crique, where I saw whales

5 days, it was just that I should have got some more money in Tana (Antananarivo) before leaving for Sainte Marie.

Having ensured I had plenty of money, I then hired myself a push bike for the day, from the staff in the hotel, which was delivered during breakfast. It had rained cat and dogs all night, and it was still pissing it down when I got on the bike after breakfast. Then I rode north for 20km's through the pouring rain. The road was full of holes and mud. I rode all the way to La Crique. At La Crique there is an expensive hotel called La Crique, which charges 30 Euros a night for a room. I got to the hotel La Crique at about 10.30, went to their restaurant and ordered a snack. According to the Lonely Planet, La Crique is a good spot to see Whales. And for once the Lonely Planet was right! As I was waiting for my snack to be delivered a group of whales passed right in front of where I was sitting! At midday I got back on my bike and did the 20km's ride back to town.

Sainte Marie

The main road on the island!

Back in town I had a long lunch and rested. I went back out in the evening to visit the islands internet cafe.

TUESDAY 28th

I had to get up at 5am in order to catch the boat. During the night the electricity had cut out, I only know this because I got up at about 2am in order to go to the toilet. It's not easy trying to piss into a toilet bowl in the dark!

So, at 5.30am I was at the harbour side, waiting to leave. Fortunately the weather was a lot better than it had been the previous day. It wasn't raining! At 6am we left the harbour in the vedettes. About half an hour into the ferry journey we spotted some whales. They put on a display for us not far from the boat. So, there was no need to pay US$30 for a whale watching tour, when you can get one for US$5 by catching the boat from Sainte Marie to the mainland.

At 9am we arrived at the small mainland port of Soamuerana-Ivango. From there I caught a bush taxi

Parc Zoologique Ivoloina

to Toamasina, also known as Tomatave. The taxi was a small minibus, with a door that was hanging off. The seats were far too close together, so I had no leg room, and they put far too many people in it. But, the road although narrow was actually good - it was tarred most of the way and had very few pot holes. It took just over 4 hours to get to Tamatave. Once in Tamatave I had lunch and retired to bed for a siesta as I was tired.

I got up again at 4.30pm, had a walk around town, ate dinner and went to bed early. I noticed before going to bed that I had somewhat loose bowel movements.

WEDS 29th

I got up at 7.30am. After breakfast I bought a plane ticket for Fianarantsoa, which is on the other side of the island. It wouldn't be a direct flight, I would have to change planes at Tana and the second plane would touch down at Manakara for 15 minutes. I told the hotel my plans, paid them, and got them to book taxi's for me. They booked the taxi for

Parc Zoologique Ivoloina

the early morning flight and also for a trip to the Parc Zoologique in an hours time. The Parc Zoologique contains endangered species of lemur, radiated tortoises, tree boas and tomato frogs. The Parc runs a captive breeding program in order to re-introduce endangered species into the wild. It's funded by the Durrell Wildlife Trust. I left for the park by taxi at 10.30am, it was a 14km journey. During the journey the taxi driver was very talkative, but he spoke no English, so I had to use my not very good French. At the park I saw various animals including Lemurs and took a trip out on the parks lake in a piroque (dugout canoe). The guide on the piroque pointed out various flora and fauna. It was a relaxing trip.

At 1pm I returned to town, and then walked around town looking for a cheap restaurant. I found a cheap restaurant at the Hotel Jupiter, where I had fish and chips and had an interesting chat (in French again!) with Mathilde, who was serving.

After lunch I returned to my room for a rest. I again felt very tired, and was suffering