Madagascar - blog 3

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So, dinner last night was rather yummy. I had a Zebu dish cooked with cassava leaves and of course some rice. Gee was with us to make sure we didn’t get up to any mischief and he’d brought Isan with him as a side kick. Isan is one of the drivers, and has been ferrying me, Jessica and Jason around. He’s a lovely young man, and a very patient and competent driver. My goodness he’s been working hard this week. I did feel a bit sorry for him though; his English isn’t good at all so I’ve had to do my best with my very bad French inthe car, and he ended up out with a group of people he doesn't know and couldn’t chat with! We did of course pay for his and Gee’s meal. A few bevvies were had with food then the restaurant gave us a complementary espresso cup of rum, lovely, but I probably didn’t need it! Anyway, a few of us got a tuk tuk back the hotel a few walked, and one stayed out in a bar with Gee; I hear beer, music and pool was involved.

The next day we visited Amber Mountain National Park, an evergreen forest with a tropical humid microclimate. The last couple of kms of the journey saw most of us on the roofs of the 4x4s. A different view and quite exciting, certainly, but really uncomfortable however carefully Isan drove along the track.

We were guided over about 4 hours by local Malagasy guides Gary and Joel, as well as Gee. They were hugely knowledgeable about the forest and found various chameleons for us to view including the worlds smallest chameleon, about the size of a fingernail!

We saw and heard the Cuckoo Roller. Joel told us that if villagers heard it and it kept flying around the village it was a portent of someone dying within the next few days, so would go outside to shout and throw stones at it. We were OK in the forest though as it only relates to villages!

We also saw a Madagascan Kingfisher, some Sun Birds, a Madagascan White Eye, a Cuckoo Shrike, and just before we stopped for lunch, a couple of Lemurs high in the trees😁

We saw the most incredible and breathtaking view from almost at the top of the mountain across Diego Bay where we had been yesterday. It is amazing, and I think National Geographic are correct! No photograph would be able to do it justice.

We visited two waterfalls, important to the animist beliefs and where people go to pray. They were quite lovely ones! In fact the whole walk was fantastic!

Lunch was a picnic in a clearing near the edge of the forest. We sat on benches alongside two tables, and ate rice, chicken and Zebu, all very tasty! The Mongoose that jumped up on our table and knicked a leg of chicken from my plate thought so too. He did make me jump! We spent the next little while tempting him to stay around by giving him more chicken to eat. We did try Zebu and bread, but he wasn’t keen on those. One of his friends turned up too, but wasn’t nearly as brave and wouldn’t come anywhere near us. They have very cute faces, and very sharp teeth.

Gee showed us how to find the smallest Chameleons in the world. They live in the leaf litter around the base of tree trunks. I found 2 and it was fascinating to watch them change colour from the brown of the dry leaves to the paleness of my hand as they sat on it for a few minutes. I feel so privileged!

As we were watching the Mongoose again, having returned the chameleons to their leaf litter, we heard a yell from the other table. The bench that Sean was sitting on had broken, and he fell backwards onto the ground. You may remember the Chairgate issue from a few days ago. Well, this was equally as funny, and it took a couple of minutes for us to stop laughing enough to check he was OK. We’re wondering what the third seating accident is going to be; peeps are getting a bit nervous to sit next to him now.

He was OK, by the way!

One our way home we visited Galileo, a giant tortoise housed in a small enclosure in a hotel garden; he’s apparently 300 years old, but as the life expectancy is less than 200 years I find that unlikely. He was certainly big though! It was heartbreaking to see him alone in such a small space. His mate, Io, died about 22 years ago, and all the company he gets now is tourists feeding him bananas.

We then visited a Monastery housing 12 nuns, a small shop, and a medicinal garden. Medicines in Madagascar are very expensive, so they use plants as much as possible. There were a lot of brown plants that didn’t appear too healthy themselves, to be honest. There was a little shop, and I was happy to buy a couple of souvenirs to support the local community.

Almost all people who live in rural settings are Animists. In the towns and cities there are a few Christian and Muslim people, and we have seen a couple of churches and mosques.

We headed back to the hotel for our final evening in Diego-Suarez.

Day 7 was a travelling day. We left the hotel just after 05:30, arriving in Ankify Port just after midday. We travelled around 250km / 150 miles in around 6.5 hours, double what it would have taken in the UK. I will ever complain about potholes in the UK again – really, they are insignificant!

There was lots of dust. Grey dust and red dust. My hair, T shirt and shorts were all covered in dust by the end of the journey, as were the cars and everyone else. Most of the trees and buildings along the roadside were covered as well. I’m sure there must be a lot of lung disease for those who live near roads.

At Ankify we had to say thank you and goodbye to our drivers. We tipped them very well, and goodness me they deserved every ariary! We then negotiated the luggage porters with Gee’s help. It’s impossible to get them not to help, there are no prices posted anywhere or agreed before hand, yet they’re very vocal if the tip is not considered sufficient.

After a short boat trip Gee did the same with the luggage porters at Hellville Harbour, Nosy Bee. We then decanted into 2 minibuses for the short trip to Nosy Be Hotel & Spa where I’m now sitting writing this. It’s a really beautiful hotel on the beach with lovely staff. I’m sure I’ll tell you more about it over the next couple of blogs.

I felt quite emotional when Gee said goodbye once he’d delivered us to the hotel. It’s been an amazing week, and he really worked hard to make sure we had everything we needed, were safe, and had fun. He was very well tipped!

A bit later, we met the Manta Dive staff who briefed us on the diving. They seem lovely, and I feel they will look after us very well. We gave them our kit to get sorted for tomorrow morning, and then I went for a swim in the sea.

We had a really early start this morning, and we need to be up ready for diving tomorrow morning, so I’m signing off now and heading to bed.

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Photos

Fabulous camouflage!
There are 2 leaf tailed chameleons here. They're easier to see in the photo than in the flesh. There best camouflage I've ever seen.