Blogs from Madagascar, Africa - page 2
June 15th 2011
La primera entrada de Africa. Estuvimos mas de un mes en Sydney haciendo nada. En la mañana del 2º de Junio fuimos en un avión para Africa via Singapore. El aeropuerto de Singapore era muy bueno. Tuvimos 8 horas alla y jugamos playstation 3, vimos futbol en un tv grande y caminamos mucho en el aeropuerto. Comimos comida de India porque estaba abierto a la 1 de la mañana. Finalmente fuimos a Johannesburgo. Llegamos a las 7 de la mañana (en la hora de Johannesburgo) y llamamos la hostal Mufasa para el auto. Llegamos en Mufasa y tuvimos una ducha, caminamos a una tienda para comprar comida para el almuerzo y la cena. A las 2 de la tarde John veno para llevarnon en un tur a el Parque de Leones a una hora de Mufasa. ... read more
lemurs, chameleons and more!!
Published: June 14th 2011Africa » Madagascar » Antananarivo » Ankorondrano
June 14th 2011
Well the dinner was great! Zebu steak for me (type of big horned cow with a big hump on its back) and a traditional Malagasy (Madagascan) dish for Dario, both delicious. Of course we tried a local beer, Ambree, very nice! Then we went to bed exhausted. Next morning we had brekky at 6.30am then grabbed our things and took a taxi to the taxi-brousse station (basically mini van which are public transport) to take one to Fianarantsoa, 10 hours south. We managed to just miss the morning one, we didn’t want to wait until 2pm for the next one so instead we got on one that was heading to Ambositra, 5 hours south. We had to wait in our seats (we had the best ones since we were one of the first people in the ... read more
June 14th 2011
Next morning we got up at 7 and packed everything then bought a cheap breakfast, 2 bagguettes and some happy cow cheese then met up with the other couple at the taxi-brousse station. They had already organized our t-b so we paid the man and got in, we had to wait of course till there were enough people for the driver to go. Surprisingly we left when there were still seats free. We made a few stops on the way to Ranomafana, including a town that must have been having some celebration or market day, the street was packed! We had to go really slowly so people could move around the car. Finally though we arrived at the national park entrance where there is a hotel called Rianala and we all got off there (its about ... read more
June 4th 2011
First blog of the second leg of our trip. So for over a month we stayed in Sydney, just bumming around and planning more things for the Africa trip, it went really fast! This morning (2nd June) we finally got on a plane headed for Johannesburg (via Singapore). We arrived at 9, booked our bags through (we did an online checkin earlier) and had brekky with the families. There was no queue at customs so managed to make it through rather quickly and got to the gate very early. The flight was pretty average, bad plane food and a weird choice of movies. But we managed to nap a bit, and 8 hours later we arrived in Singapore! Changi airport is awesome! We took the skytrain from T3 to T2 (where our onward flight goes from) ... read more
April 7th 2011
Dear Friends, April, 07 - 2011 This morning we arrived early in Madagascar - Port Diego Suarez. This port is situated on the most northern part of Madagascar and is one of the most beautiful and third largest bay of the world. The city of Diego Suarez is the chief city of this provence of Madegascar. Its name was bestowed by the Portuguese explorer Diego Diaz, who arrived in this bay in 1500. The city, built around the bay, has a mixture of modern and colonial aspects and gives the impression of being sparsely populated. It is widely known for the fishing industry and for its handicrafts. To learn more about Madagascar you can read the Wikipedea article below about the history of Madagascar. Today we are going to the Unesco World Heritage The Ankarana National ... read more
February 28th 2011
Today was a day I really needed. Last night, we had a sort of going away party for the project coordinator, Alana, who was going home after ten months of being here. An amazing night of delicious zebu, chicken, fish, tomato, and pepper brochettes and drinks… yummmmm. We had a very good weekend in Tulear this weekend, full of delicious food and drinks and fun company and an even more wonderful dive on the exterior at a site called Tortuga, but I was starting to get my first big bouts of home-sickness and needed some cheering up. After the party, Kajsa, Ted, Sam, Jon, and I all stayed up late talking about anything and everything and I really started to feel better. Morning came really fast this morning when I had to get up at 6am ... read more
February 22nd 2011
It has finally stopped raining!!!!! :D A bit of a scare this past weekend the other volunteers and I were supposed to take a cat-cat to Tulear for the weekend for some good steak and good drinks and good cheese but due to a tad bit of scheduled political instability we rescheduled our weekend adventure for next weekend… Good thing we did because we got hit with the dying end of a cyclone and the wind and rain were C.R.A.Z.Y. Kajsa(another volunteer) and I were both quite happy for the break in the heat but after three days of constant rain and the volunteer hut being so oversaturated with water that the normally waterproof straw hut was raining from the inside and absolutely everything was wet, we were getting anxious to be dry and hot again. ... read more
February 19th 2011
Allo allo! Un petit salut d’ici pour vous laisser savoir que tout va bien et que je suis belle et bien en forme. On a eu un peut peur a cause des renseignements qu’il allait avoir un cyclone mais on est chanceux et ca a l’aire comme quand ca arrive ici ca ne va pas être plus que des vents un petit peu plus vite que normale et un petit peu de pluie. Autre que ca j’adore beaucoup ca… je plonge deux fois par jour (sauf cette semaine a cause de tout le vent on ne plonge pas) et dans l’après midi on fait des études ou on apprend le malagasy ou on lit. C’est vraiment mais vraiment merveilleux ici. Je m’habitue encore à la nourriture… beaucoup de ris et encore plus de bines. Je commence ... read more
December 30th 2010
Christmas is a bit of a turn around one for us, unpacking from our last trip and organising for the next. It's very quiet on the streets of Diego with all the shops closed, the locals in their Sunday best and lots off to church. We celebrate with a restaurant lunch of chicken, mashed potatoes and green beans and even splash out on some dessert. It's great to chat on the phone with family back home and hear about their Christmas day thousands of miles away. Luckily by the time evening rolls around the market is bustling again and we stock up on supplies and pack for a few days camping in Ankarana National Park. Next morning our trusty guide, Laudea, arrives, we fill a couple of large water containers and locate a taxi-brousse heading in ... read more
December 24th 2010
We are all very keen to spend some time snorkelling and Keith wants to take a good look at some of Madagascar's marine critters. Off the far northwest coast, Nosy Hara (island of large rocks) is at the centre of one of the country's most remote marine reserves. We are heading there for a Robinson Crusoe style visit with our trusty side kick from Montagne d'Ambre, Laudea. We bump, slip and slide our way in the taxi-brousse for hours on a track filled with deep, muddy holes which we'd normally only attempt in a four wheel drive. Surprisingly we only have to get out to push once. When we arrive in the tiny fishing village of Ampasindava it's in the heat of the day, siesta time, and we eventually locate a captain who is willing to ... read more
