Tulear and Ifaty

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Next morning we meet Rivo, our driver. He can speak a little English so my GCSE French gets well used. We also learn some Malagasy words. Salama = Hello, Veloma = Goodbye.

First stop Ifaty, a small beach town. So lucky we got a 4WD (as that was all that was available) as it's not really a road, more of a sand track. We can't find the places from the lonely planet so stop at the 4* swanky hotel for snorkelling. We take a wooden hand made boat out to the reef, with a quick stop at a village to find another mask. Unfortunately not another snorkel, so Andrew has to snorkel without one, he is face masking rather than snorkelling...
The water is not very clear but we see a few brightly coloured fish, we are short for time as we want to get to Isalo before sun down, so we have to hurry back, and to eat a huge 3 course feast of seafood. We have been told by many people that the country is still in unrest so it is not safe to travel anywhere at night, another coup could break out at any time! Just before sunset we get a great sight though, a huge locust migration. The sky is full of millions of the insects and as we pull over the road covers with ones having a rest. A boy rides by on a pushbike and disturbs them which means he can barely see. Amazing sight!

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