Blogs from Madagascar, Africa
How Ones Gets Around Toliara
I. Hot Returning to Toliara after a blissful New Year’s getaway in Ambola was a slight shock to the system. Gone were the gentle sea breezes and dry air; here was the sticky heat and humidity of the tropics (well, the Tropic of Capricorn does run just south of the city!). How could the climate be so different in spots so close together, relatively speaking? But I’d been wondering that since arriving in Madagascar in mid-December. We ended up having almost two full days in Toliara, doing little besides resting, as Abby was recovering from a bout of illness. But it is somnolent sort of town anyway. It’s the kind of place were people retreat into the shade and take a siesta during the heat of the afternoon. And when you are out and about, rather ... read more
Taxi Brouse Sculpture
Bruno, the tatted up Marseillais instructor, guided me to the edge, and then with a gentle push we began a slow descent along the Technicolor wall of corals, vibrant fish darting in and out of the crevices and waving sea fans.<span><span> My nose skimmed inches above the bright textures.<span>And all I could think: “Why have I never done this before?!” Twenty minutes later, as we gradually ascended, the strange underwater world I had been nose-to-nose with began to slip away and the shimmer of the sun on the ocean surface began to come into view.<span> I lost all sense of up and down for a moment.<span> I also had no sense of how deep we had plunged. When we broke the surface, the instructor pointed at me and said: “Seize m<span>ètres!” “Seize m<span>ètres?”<span> Really?<span> 16 meters?<span> ... read more
Here we go again!
We must be gluttons for punishment. After wrapping up a blissful few days of lazing about in Morondava - taking a gander at some baobabs and lemurs, walking along the quiet beach, eating fantastic seafood, etc. – we were preparing to take ANOTHER taxi-brousse back into interior Madagascar. I think we rationalized it by saying “at least we aren’t going all the way back to Tana – we are just going to Antsirabe…” In theory, the journey should have taken ten hours. However, almost from the moment we started, we knew that this was going to take a bit longer – and was going to be even more uncomfortable than our first epic taxi-brousse journey. We had hardly left the station when we began stopping what seemed to be every 100 meters or so to either ... read more
Back into the Highlands
I knew that Madagascar was a big island – usually classified as the fourth largest in the world.* However, I have been constantly amazed on this trip at just what an amazing variety of landscapes and ecosystems are found on this natural Noah’s Ark. While the length of some our taxi-brousse “adventures” have been equivalent to flying from North America to, say, India (shout out to Werner for pointing this out), the time it takes to travel often belies the short geographic distances covered. And the change that can be observed in these short distances is sometimes nothing short of startling. After a couple days in the cool humidity of Ranomafana National Park, surrounded by dripping, lush rainforest full of lemurs and leeches, we continued on, heading southwards. At first this took us back into the ... read more
Our Home in Morondava
The reason I came to Madagascar, like so many others, was to see lemurs and baobabs (and so forth), so it was a no brainer that Abby and I would make the long journey from Antananarivo to Morondava. Although an easy hop by plane, we were on a bit of a budget and the domestic flights, while convenient, were pricy.* So taxi-brousse (bush taxi) it was – 15 hours, overnight (see previous entry - I may need therapy soon). However, once we stumbled out of the cramped confines of the mini-bus and met Riga, the taxi-driver who would become our go-to guy for driving around the area, I knew the pain of the trip was going to be worth it. I sensed immediately that I was going to like this sleepy little seaside town called Morondava. ... read more
Destination: Morondava
The baby’s head pressed firmly into my ribcage; the mother kept cracking her own head sharply on my bony shoulder, though this didn’t seem to disturb her sleep.<span><span><span><span><span> Abby dozed fitfully against the window on the opposite side. Our bags were crammed in around our feet. <span>There was no way I could move. And all I could see in front of me, out the tax-brousse’s windshield was blackness and the occasional rushing of oncoming headlights. <span> The CD of Malagasy covers of Christmas carols – including several of “Angels We Have Heard on High” (where did they find a Malagsy-Latin dictionary to translate “Gloria in excelsis Deo”?) -<span> went into its 100th rotation…. I thought I was going to start hallucinating. All this to see some trees? *** Distances are deceptive almost ... read more
Abby is SO excited to go to Madagascar!
Let me just say it from the outset, because I know so many of you are going to ask: no, there are no singing and dancing lions, giraffes, or other such animated fauna populating Madagascar.<span><span><span>Alas, there aren’t even any lemurs belting out “I like to move it, move it.” It’s sort of a sad fact that Madagascar really only came to be a household name after the Disney film was released.<span> My interest in the country, however, long predates that bit of musical cinematic magic.<span> The childhood biologist in me has longed to see this utterly unique island from the moment I encountered images of its strange and wonderful wildlife and plants in a National Geographic article.<span> It looked like another planet, so I just had to go.<span> It turned out Abby, my fellow history teacher ... read more
marlies 007
Having a great time!!! Love this country. Beautiful animals and friendly people. Sometimes things are a bit crazy and chaotic, but in the end that's where the funny stories come from. Some pictures for you to enjoy...... read more
The sunning ritual by the ring-tailed lemurs
I arrived in Madagascar for an 11-day trip in July (2011) with Zina from Za Tours waiting for me. After taking some money from an ATM we were off. With the conversion rate of 2000 Malagasy Ariary to one U.S. dollar you feel rich getting 400,000 Ariary from the ATM but it’s also hard to find somewhere to put your newfound “brick” of money. Zina and I headed south for about 5½ hours to the Artisan Hotel in Ambositra. The ride through Antananarivo (Tana) was definitely eye opening including all the people on the streets and the huge soccer games going on (a Sunday ritual as I learned). The poverty and poor living conditions of the people is also evident immediately when going through the city. Driving was a bit harrowing as not everyone seems to ... read more
anything can go ontop of a taxi-brousse!
After the crocodile farm we headed to the restaurant for lunch, it was pricey but oh so worth it! It was so delicious! Chicken in mustard sauce and an amazing veal casserole, topped off by having chocolate soup at the end, basically a very thick and amazing chocolate mousse. We wandered back down to the lemur islands and watched for a while waiting for the car to return at 2 to pick us up. When it came off we went back to our hotel, the other aussie had had a great few hours in the national park and said she found it amazing since it was primary forest and most other parks here at secondary forest, so the trees were massive! When we got back to the hotel we tried to figure out a timetable that ... read more
