Blogs from Madagascar, Africa - page 4

The Day in the Life of Malagasians Rural Malagasians are up before sunrise, no electricity and no running water but the daily chores begin. The women prepared rice and fruit for breakfast for her big family. Strong Malagasian coffee was always prepared using charcoal for the fires. The school children put their school uniforms on (dark blue for private schools light blue for public schools) and helped with the younger ones. They had to start walking early as there was no public transport and school started at 8.00am. The men were out amongst the rice, corn and other vegies, later to be joined by the ladies. The 13+ boys move the Zebu for fresh grass. They all took their long narrow sticks to control the cattle. Several 16-18 year old girls were tending to their babies ... read more

Saturday 10 March – Ankarana Park This day was a day for the grey tsingy. We were going to the Tsingy de Ankarana. After only 30 minutes of driving we came to the entrance to the Park. As it was low season, the local people weren’t as geared up for tourists. We organised our lunch for when we returned but we knew we were the only ones to be eating as the locals don’t seem to have lunch and we were the only tourists around. Tsingy de Ankarana is a small version of the Tsingy de Bemaraha. This park in the north is on the national road to Antisirana and is easily accessible. The park also is home to three types of lemurs, and chameleons. The Ankarana Massif consists of a limestone shelf which imposes ... read more

Wednesday 7 March – leaving Isola and driving back to Fianarantsoa Saying goodbye and thankyou to our fantastic hosts at the Isola Ranch, we drove back across the green plateau on a beautiful day with clear blue skies. It wasn’t too hot either. We stopped after an hour drive for Rivo to have the tyres checked in one of the villages (Ihosy I think). Just out of town we stopped to photograph a large chameleon slowly crossing the road. I guess it was like seeing frilled neck lizards crossing Australian roads, but they are quicker. There was yet another market we stopped at, the Angoelego Markets. This is always an interesting cultural experience with each market a little different to the next. There was dried tobacco being sold by locals, which is something we hadn’t ... read more

iMonday 5 March – from Ranomafana to Isola including Anja Park, Ambalavao After a large breakfast we headed for the fascinating massive markets of Andoha Nasana. As soon as we arrived, after about an hour’s drive south, we could hear the screeching of pig. Several men on the side of the road had a pig on its side looking at his tongue. Apparently, the tongue can show if the pig is health or not. The one that was being examined was not, so he went back into the truck. We walked into the markets, first watching the large fenced area where all the local men, with their long sticks (which was the custom of this region for men to carry white wooden long sticks) were displaying their pigs and wanting to sell or buy them. We ... read more

Thursday 1 March – Kirindy Forest and Avenue of the Baobab Today was going to be another highlight and one of the 2 main reasons for wanting to come to Madagascar, to see lemurs and other wildlife AND to see the Avenue of the Baobab. We left our hotel at 7.30am with Rivo. This was after a leisurely breakfast gazing out over the beach, watching all the little fishing boats gathering their daily catch. The fresh seafood is lovely in the west. Driving back through the town, turning left, we hit the dirt road. We had over 2 hours to drive over big road undulations, potholes and varying sizes of water in puddles and across the road. Some were quite deep but the AWD Hyundai and Rivo’s driving worked well together. You wouldn’t go on the ... read more