Liquid shit

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As I'm typing this up, I'm just hearing news of the bomb blasts in London. As you may know, I'm a Brit. It looks as if a lot of people could have been killed. My sympathies are obviously with all those who have suffered. There's not a lot you can say in the face of horror.



At the end of the last blog I rather played down how ill I was feeling. In fact, I was shitting liquid and felt like death warmed up. As I result, I lost a few days feeling unwell, which means that I haven't visited as many places in Madagascar as I intended. Eventually, I decided to do something about my illness. I went to a chemist and bought Ciprofloxacine, which is a powerful and expensive anti-biotic over the counter. All the guide books say not to self diagnose. They're right. So, what did I do? Self-diagnose! So, don't do what I did. Do as I say, not as I do! Anyway, it seems to have worked.



I've spent most of the past week in the central highlands. It's been cold. It's often cold in the central highlands. Madagascar, has a number of different climate zones. I've been on the East Coast and the Central Highlands. The East coast is humid and wet, and prone to cyclones. The central highlands are wet and cold for much of the year. There are parts of the country that are mostly hot and dry. I just didn't go there. So, if you want to go to Madagascar to spit roast yourself in the sun, it can be done. There are even areas of considerable mass tourism development, for those of you that aren't happy unless you're surrounded by people like yourself from back home!



At the end of the last blog on the 29th of June I was in Tamatave, which is the countries second city and its largest port. I had bought a plane ticket, and would need to get up early. The flight was not direct, I would have to change planes in Tana, the capital. Before going to bed I took some Immodium, in order to block up my bottom, for the journey.

THURSDAY 30th

I got up at 5am, to catch my taxi to the airport at 5.15am. I was there in plenty of time as the plane didn't leave till 6.40am. The booking in process for the flight was strange - I've never been asked to weigh myself before when checking in for a flight! The airplane to Tana was a small 50 seater turbo prop. It was two thirds full.



The flight to Tana was very short, we arrived at 7.25am. I then had a lot of time to kill, as the connecting flight to Fianaratsoa wasn't due to leave till 11.25am. So, I had breakfast, read a book and walked around. Whilst walking around I met the taxi driver who had originally driven me into town when I had first arrived in Madagascar. We chatted for some time, whilst he was waiting for a flight to arrive.



Finally, we boarded the plane. This plane was even smaller than the previous one. It was a tiny turbo prop aircraft. It could only take a maximum of 16 passengers. When we boarded in Tana there were 8 of us. The plane was so small it seemed rather vulnerable to me. It was also freezing cold. There appeared to be no heating! Even now the flight wasn't direct. We touched down on the runway in Mankara. There we loaded some extra passengers. So, from Mankara to Fianaratsoa we had 14 passengers on board. It didn't get any better, it was still freezing!



At 2pm, we arrived at Fianaratsoa. Fianarantsoa is an academic town in the heart of wine and tea producing country. It's also the nearest large town to the Parc National de Ranomafana. The park is 400,000 hectares of rain forest full of wildlife, including 12 species of Lemur such as the golden bamboo lemur, which was only discovered in 1986.



From the airport I jumped into a Citroen 2CV taxi, which looked like it had seen better days. I booked into the Hotel Raza, which only cost 14,000 Ar (US$7). It was a very well decorated place, although the toilet and bathroom was shared. I felt very cold, cold through to my bones. And tired. And ill. I put the extra blankets on the bed which were in the room, and went to bed till 4.30pm, in an attempt to warm up. I got up to eat and go to the toilet. The effects of the Immodium from the previous night had worn off. After eating out and visiting the internet I returned to the hotel for an early night.



Walking back up the hill to the hotel, there were a couple of prostitutes trying to drum up trade. Prostitution is very visible in Madagascar, it's possibly the countries most nagging social problem, because of desperate poverty and high unemployment. The hotel I was in, even had anti-prostitution posters in the rooms.

FRIDAY 1st JULY

The sun came out. I didn't feel cold! I spent much of the day sorting out the last blog and the afternoon in bed or on the toilet! After I took an early night I also had a very disturbed nights sleep, because I had to keep getting up to use the toilet.

SATURDAY 2nd

Despite being ill I had decided to visit the Parc National de Ranomafana. So, I got up and had breakfast at 7am. Before breakfast, during the night I took some Immodium to try and control my bowel movements. After breakfast I booked out of the hotel and made a brief visit to the internet. I knew I had made a mistake in the blog the previous day. So, I thought I better correct it before someone sent me a comment about it!


After a brief visit to the internet I realized I needed to use the toilet again. So, I decided to change my mind. It didn't seem worth trying to get to the park in the state I was in. So, I walked back up a hill carrying my backpack. It felt very heavy to me this morning. Much heavier than it usually feels. Probably, I was a bit weak because I was ill. At the top of the hill was a chemist. In the chemist shop I bought some Ciprofloxacine, which is a powerful and expensive anti-biotic. Back in Britain, you would need a doctors prescription to buy it. But, in Madagascar you can buy it over the counter. The guy I bought the drugs from turned out to speak very good English. He's also one on those people you meet when you travel that like to collect foreigners! He invited me to meet his family at his home after he finished work. So, I agreed to meet him at 2pm outside the shop.



Having got my medicine I booked into the Zomatel. I didn't go back to the hotel I had used before because I wanted a room with an en suite toilet! For those, I've been caught short moments. The Zomatel still wasn't expensive. It was 20,000 Ar, that's about US$10 for a room with en suite bathroom and satellite TV. True it only had a single bed, which is actually really unusual in Madagascar. But what do I need a double bed for? I kept running to the toilet until about 10am, when either the Immodium finally started to take effect or perhaps there was nothing left to shit out! When my bowels had finally settled down, I went to bed. I slept till 1pm.



At 2pm I met my new friend from the Chemist shop. We went to his house where he introduced me to his parents, siblings, cousins etc. He spoke very good English, although I did occasionally resort to French. His English was much better than my French. He obviously had a fascination for all things foreign especially American. It is his ambition to leave Madagascar, probably for the States. He had a large collection of American DVD pop video's. Although I'd love to know what his parents think of his P.Diddy video's. His parents are devout catholics, and frankly a lot of P.Diddy's video's are porn. His family home was a small house with 2 rooms on the ground floor and 2 rooms upstairs, this was shared by 9 people, as his parents had 7 children. The toilet for the house was a hole in the ground in the back yard - I used it. The sitting room doubled as the parents bedroom - their bed was screened off with curtains in one corner of the room. The place was packed with stuff, including a very impressive set of speakers linked up to the DVD.



At 4.30pm I made my excuses and left. I had supper and went to bed early. My new friend wanted me to meet him tomorrow, but I made no promises. I returned to the hotel, got myself something to eat in the restaurant and went to bed early, although not before taking some Immodium.

SUNDAY 3rd

I got up early as I was determined to make it to the National Park. At 7am, after breakfast I made a trip to an ATM to get some money. It wasn't working. I didn't think it would be a problem, as I thought I still had enough money left to last a couple more days. Then I walked towards where the Lonely Planet said the garage was. The Lonely Planet was wrong, again! Near the spot where the guide book said the garage was I asked a bush taxi about the garage. They said to hop in as they were going past the garage. The bus I had got in took some while to get to the garage as it went a long way around through the town. After about 10 minutes it dropped me off near the station, which is actually very close to the Hotel Sofia. As I got off the bus I was met by the usual gang of hustlers who recruited me onto a bush taxi for Ramafona, which left town at 8.15am. They put me in the front seat, which is the most comfortable place. It's also the death seat - you don't see many old bush taxi drivers! The first few miles out of town were on a good paved road, but after a police checkpoint we turned off onto a minor road. This road was a dirt tract that really was only suitable for 4 wheel drive vehicles. So, it was very slow and bumpy ride for 35km's. At 10.30am the taxi brousse arrived at the Park gates where I got out. At that point I aquired a guide, who arranged to meet me at 1pm. He said that the Lemurs would be resting, but after 1pm they would be moving around again.



At the park gates there is a camping ground and restaurant which also has some dormitories - it's called Le Rianala. So, I booked into one of the dormitories. I appeared to be the only person staying in that dormitory. The place had 3 dormitories, each with 4 bunk beds in. It didn't cost much, just 7,000 Ar (about US$3.50). But some other things were much more expensive than I expected. The park fee, and the cost of the guides was much more than the Lonely Planet had claimed, by a factor of 5! So, I was suddenly having to count my money so that I didn't run out. This wouldn't have been a problem if the ATM had been working first thing in the morning. So, I had to make a choice. I could afford the guide for the 4 hour afternoon walk and the night time walk if I did without food. As it was I didn't want to go without food. So, I decided something would have to give. I only went on the 4 hour afternoon trip. That meant that I missed the opportunity of seeing some Lemurs that are nocturnal.



At midday I ordered some chicken and rice for lunch. It was disgusting. It must have been the worse meal I had in Madagascar. Generally the food in the country is very good.



Just past 1pm I started the tour through the rain forest with the guide. Within 15 minutes of starting the walk through the rain forest we spotted a group of Lemurs. I got a very good photo, which is featured as the first photo in this blog. We were lucky with the weather as the sun shone all day. It often rains, after all its not called a rain forest for nothing!



About an hour later we had a bit of a wild goose chase. We could hear some Lemurs but we couldn't see them. The type of vegetation was ideal for the Golden Bamboo Lemur, a species that was only discovered in 1986. We went off the footpath and followed the sounds through the bush. The vegetation was thick, the ground was wet and slippery, and we were climbing up and down some steep hills. After a while we gave up, but not until after I had slipped. I slipped when a piece of bamboo broke that I was holding onto as I was going downhill. I got a bit wet. After that fall I found a leach on my finger and another on my face.



Having given up on the Golden Bamboo Lemur we then moved on looking for other Lemurs. Finally we stopped for a rest in a spot with a very good view over the park.



From the viewpoint we made our way back out of the park. Returning to the area where we had chased after the Golden Bamboo Lemurs earlier, we saw them! Several of them. Although I got several pictures of them, none of them way good enough to publish. The light from the setting sun was in the wrong direction.



At 5.30pm I returned to my room. After the disgusting lunch I couldn't face cooked food from the restaurant. But their menu had fresh pineapple on it. So, I tried to order that. But, they had no fresh fruit. So, I did without food and just ordered a bottle of water. I had the dormitory to myself. It was a very basic wooden structure. The shared toilet and shower, which was a separate block had very dodgy plumbing, and the floor of the toilet was flooded.



Once the sun went down it was bitterly cold. So, I pinched extra blankets from the other beds in my dormitory, which I had to myself. Despite, the uncomfortable bitterly cold night, the good news is that I appeared to be better. My bowels hadn't given me any trouble all day!

MONDAY 4th

I got up at 6.30am and booked out of the place at 7am. I walked up the road and waited for a bush taxi...



Lots of bush taxi's went past, but they were all full. They wouldn't stop. All the taxi's were coming from Manakara. To add to my misery, it was overcast all day and bitterly cold.



Finally at 2.30pm, 7 and a half hours after starting to wait I left the park gate. In the mean time I had read several books. I was also very cold.



At 5pm I finally rolled into Fianarantsoa. I avoided the taxi touts. I wanted to walk. I was bitterly cold and hoped that a vigorous walk would warm me up. I hadn't felt warm since the previous evening.



I was intending to go back to the Zomatel. On my way back I called into another hotel. They wanted 36,000 Ar. I knew I could get a very good room at the Zomatel for 20,000. So, I decided to continue climbing a steep hill to the Zomatel. I was down to 30,000 Ar in cash. So, after booking into the hotel I tried the ATM. It wasn't working again. That meant that I would have to wait till the banks opened in the morning in order to get some money. I wouldn't be able to make a very early start.
I ate in the hotel. I went to bed at about 9pm.

TUESDAY 5th

I took breakfast at 7.30am, then I walked to the bank. The ATM was working! So, I got some money, returned to the hotel, booked out and walked to the bush taxi station.


The bush taxi left at about 9am It was a very long journey, on mountainous windy roads. I was again given the death seat in the front. The driver was very fond of his horn. We stopped in Ambositra for lunch, a place I would have stayed in, if I hadn't lost so much time because of illness. The scenery on the journey was spectacular.



I finally arrived at the bush taxi station in Tana the capital at 7pm. It had been a 10 hour journey. I took a 2CV taxi into the centre of town. I chose to spend the night in an upmarket hotel, the Hotel de Paris on the Avenue de l'independence. It cost me 60 Euros for the night. The TV in the room had English language stations! The only time I'd seen that in Madagascar. The reception staff also spoke English. Also, very rare for the country.

WEDS 6th

In the morning I confirmed my flight out of Madagascar. I was leaving on a flight at 5am on the 7th. I booked out of the hotel at midday, leaving my luggage in their store room. I spent the rest of the day walking around town and relaxing in cafe's until 4.30pm. At 4.30pm I collected my luggage from the Hotel de Paris and took a taxi to Ivato, the town where the airport is situated. I booked into a hotel right next to the airport, the Hotel Ivato. It cost 27,000 Ar (US$13.50). I arranged a wake up call and taxi for the middle of the night. It meant I could get some sleep before a very early start. I was flying to Jo'burg, which was a 3 hour journey. But I wasn't staying in Jo'burg. I had arranged a flight to Namibia from Jo'burg, with a South African budget airline. The flight from Jo'burg to Namibia only cost me 750 Rands, that's about 60 pounds sterling.



Once I'm in Namibia I've booked a 12 day camping safari. Namibia is a huge country. Most of the places that I want to visit are not accessible by public transport. The only way to get to them is either to hire a 4 wheel drive vehicle or to go with a budget camping safari company.



The only thing that isn't big in Namibia is the population. It's vast expanses could swallow you up. So, my next blog will be from Namibia, after my camping safari, in a couple of weeks time. I don't expect I'll get a chance to blog whilst I'm camping. Namibia should be something else. And, on a positive note, I can but hope that whilst I'm out of contact in remote parts of Namibia, the worlds politicians will make decisions that will make the lives of the worlds poorest better. Ah well, one can but hope!

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Photos

Grey gentle Lemur - Hi cousin!
Parc National de Ramomafana.

Fianarantsoa
View from Haute Ville

Hotel Raza
The US$7 room

Air Mad
An even smaller plane - the one from Tana to Fianarantsoa

Parc National de Ranomafana
Come into my parlour

Parc National de Ranomafana
Fresh water!