I briefly meet four of the other members of my group before we leave (we'll pick up the other two at the end of the boat trip) and am somewhat discomfited to find that they're not my age, as I'd been told, but the youngest is about 20 and the oldest maybe 30. Three girls and one guy, they're all French and initially seem as uneasy about the fact that I don't speak their language as I am. The girls are all on holiday together and the guy is doing an internship in Antsirabe, where they have a mutual friend. I [View Full Entry]

---

---

Rice paddies. Rickshaws. Names full to bursting with syllables. Old European guys with young local girls. More to the point, facial features. Even if archaeological evidence didn't provide a scientific confirmation, one would know that the roots of the Malagasy people lie far to the east, in what is now Indonesia and Malaysia. In other words, Madagascar was first settled by people from thousands of kilometres away rather than the somewhat closer inhabitants of mainland Africa. This is just one aspect of what makes it such an intriguing country - even now, the highlanders are an Asian culture speaking French in [View Full Entry]

---

---

Nosy Be... What to say about that special place. Roman, Fanny and I decided to go there, for our last trip all together! No words could actually describe its amaizing ocean, its permanent blue sky, and its nature. It's very different from all the place I've been to. I won't say it's like Bali but the mood is a bit the same. It's less crowded and the beach is too clean! It's quite expensive there tho, and it is said that only rich people can afford the trip! But it's not true cause it is possible to find cheap places. We [View Full Entry]

---

---

Fort Dauphin [View Full Entry]

---

---

Here are some pictures from Me and Ari's adventure!!! [View Full Entry]

---

---

In recent years traveling in remote parts of Madagascar and Tanzania, I had, indepently and spontanaeously had the same conversation - once over a campfire in the Udzungwa Mountans (Tanzania), the other in a small village some 200 Km from the west coast town of Majunga in Madagascar. Some background, in Tanzania, I'd embarked in a multi-day walk through the upland rainforests of the Udzungwa mountans - a fantastic experience but tense. You come around sharp bend on the trail in the dense rainforest and come upon bowling ball sized dung, still steaming, from elephants. The Serengeti, not. You risk stumbling [View Full Entry]

---

---

after presenting our final projects we finished with a wonderful tour of the north [View Full Entry]

---

---

Over the course of our trip we have heard Madagascar's top ten pop music dance hits about 30 times each- usually the songs are threatening to blow another speaker as we are sitting in the cramped Taxi-brousse and trying to catch a few Z's. But, it has been our pleasure and amusement to watch the few music videos that have circulated throughout the island and are shown in the small roadside restaurants. I'll try my best to give them justice... As most islands seem to be, they are a couple of decades behind the times with their biggest influences seeming to [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hey all first mate Colin here! I was demoted from Commander after a wild and crazy night in Morondava on my bday. It turns out that all the ladies that were hanging from me at the club had a price tag, and thankfully for Ari s bulldog ways she shooed them away before too much damage was done. But for my poor behavior I was demoted, and Ari found some old French ex patriot that she says she loves and will be moving to the south of Madagascar to give back rubs to Jacque, while he paints the sunset while puffing [View Full Entry]

---

---

After Krindy we thought it may be a good idea to practice a bit of masochism- ya know, since we have been so good to ourselves. We got a ticket for a taxi-brousse ride from Morondova back to Tana * The ride could take anywhere from 16-21 hrs we were told. With our time dwindling and the ticket to hell not too expensive (44,000 AR per person - about $23 each) we grabbed the opportunity to cover a large distance even if it did mean cramming into a smelly van with enough leg room for the average 8 year old or [View Full Entry]

---

---