Roof Turkeys

Africa » Madagascar
June 24th 2006

Published: July 24th 2006

Madagascar Week 2

Sunday July 18, 2005- This monring we got up and out of Fiana. Walked back to the taxi-brusse station down a long street that was full of people and trash - I even saw a little girl whip down her pants and start peeing in the gutter, which was just a depression in the road. Really made a lasting impression. On that note, I have to say that men in Madagascar have no bladder control "because they don't have to", as one of the Peace Corps volunteers put it. They just pee anytime, anywhere. All the streets smell like urine. It's wonderful.

At the taxi station we were accosted by several men trying to get us to pay more than we should for the ride we were about to take. I was also introduced to what would become a very common site - several turkeys in a reed basket put on the roof as "luggage". Why everyone in Madagascar needs to travel with their turkeys I'll never know. we met Diamondra, a guide in Ramanofana, the National Park we were heading to. He chatted with us a bit on the drive there, and his English was good and he seemed really nice, so we decided to use him as our guide, which are compulsary in all the national parks. We got there and dropped our things at the dorm run by the park and walked over to the office to get our permits, and who do we see camped out in front? That's right, Kuba. He had had a crazy adventure the day before - got a taxi-brusse before us but arrived in Fiana after us, and then got another taxi-brusse to Ramanofama the same night that didn't end up leaving until 9pm, so he didn't arrive until midnight! Our plan worked out a bit better I'd say. And here we were jealous that he got there first... So we all had some lunch - I had spaghetti, the first of many in Madagascar. We had agreed to meet the guide at 1pm and do a 4-hour day walk combined with a 2-hour night walk to try to see day and night lemurs and chameleons. We ended up having a really good day. The weather was on and off - it is a rain forest and rightfully so. But it didn't rain too much, just enough to remind you where you were. We saw several chameleons, including one that was colored really brightly - greens, reds, purples - and then changed to very dull when he picked it up and put it on his hand. Very impressive to see. We also saw five species of lemur - woolly lemurs, which are nocturnal and we saw it sleeping, red fronted brown lemurs, greater bamboo lemurs, golden bamboo lemurs, and the mouse lemur again after it got dark. The golden bamboo lemurs were a treat as they were only discovered in 1986 and are only found in this region. At dusk we also saw a fosa, a catlike animal that resembles an ocelot. He pointed out several more white chameleons, that hang updise down at night, and also a few leaf-tailed geckos, which are masters at camouflage. Their tails really do look like dead leaves and they blend in fantastically. Overall, it was a wonderful day and I would strongly recommend Diamandra as a guide if you make it to Ramanofana NP. We ended the day with a plan that Kuba would arrange a taxi-brusse for us the following morning, since he was sleeping in town and the taxi would be coming past us anyway, and we would plan to wait for him at 6:30am, as early morning is the best time for these rides as they are sure to fill up and go.

Monday - Well, we were ready and waiting by 6:15am or so, and still waiting at 7am, and at 8am. We knew it could take a while, but we did start to have some concerns as 8:30am rolled around. But I told Marina that Kuba wouldn't have left without us, especially since he had borrowed her head lamp to walk back to town the night before. And as 9am rolled around, the taxi appeared with Kuba waving gleefully from inside. It was a beautiful site. We got it and started back to Fiana, where we would change to another taxi-brusse going south. The ride took a bit longer, as we stopped several times including a market where everyone got out to do some shopping apparently. On the one side were fruits and veggies and random meat products, on the other was the pig market, where all the live pigs were standing around, or being chased, or being carried while squealing. This was not an uncommon site in Madagascar; even moreso were people walking around with upside down live chickens or turkeys in their hands, or sitting on the side of the road with their selection of live poultry that were bound at their feet and couldn't go anywhere. Fun, that. Marina yelled at some guy for smacking his pig or donkey or zebu too hard - it happened so frequently I get confused - and they pretended to appease her. Eventually made it to Fiana where we said good-bye to Kuba again, as he would be going on with a different and slightly more adventurous itinerary.

From there we caught another taxi-brusse to Ambavalao, a town that is famous for its hand made paper. The taxi ride was interesting as I'm sure one of the kids on there had TB and kept hacking into a plastic bag, and another one vomited most of the way there on the curvy roads. Really special. I got the impression the town would be super cute, but that just wasn't to be. We stayed in the hotel run by the paper factory, which was a little pricey for us at about $7 each, but we did have our own bathroom with hot water, which was a huge treat. We walked around the paper shop, where I was anxious to buy a new handmade paper journal, as my second of the trip was nearly full, but they were all so small (not many pages) that I wasn't sure I would buy one. We walked around town and had a nice dinner at the hotel, where we chatted with a really nice couple from England who gave us some advice about places we would be heading next. We were able to supply them with some info as well, which was great. We decided we would stay another night in order to see the zebu market the following day and go to a small village reserve afterwards. Had a good night and some good sleep.

Tuesday - Got up and ready to see the zebu market, only to discover that we had our information wrong and the market was the next day. So we went instead directly to the village reserve of Anja in a taxi-brusse. It was only 12 km away, and we thought we would walk back to town afterwards. Once we got there we paid the driver and got out, only to find him yelling after us. He didn't speak French but luckily there was a Peace Corp volunteer who spoke Malagasy and talked to him for us. He said we had hired the car for ourselves and that we agreed on a price ahead of time for him to wait for us to return. The whole thing was insane considering he waited to go until he had filled up the car, dropped and picked up people all along the 12 km road on the way to the reserve, and we had agreed on a price beforehand and never mentioned anything about him waiting for us. He must have thought we were easy to take in. We just left him there eventually and went with a guide into the reserve. It was very small and different from others in that it was mostly in a rocky area with not many trees. But here we saw a huge family of ring-tailed lemurs, probably the most commonly known lemurs. They were great to see. Also saw some chameleons, including one of the biggest. Oddly enough, we picked the one day to go there that the rangers from the national parks chose to drop off six confiscated pet lemurs that they were returning to the wild. However, the species was normally found in the rainforest and this was a dry and warmer climate, and the one we saw looked super sad, all huddled up on a rock. Probably used to Tv and spaghetti more than the barren lands it found itself in. Really sad actually. Would be interested to know if any of them survived.

After we were done in the reserve we were fortunate to meet Chris, an English travel agent on a whirlwind tour of Madagascar. He had hired a 4 wheel drive vehicle for his tour and offered to give us a ride back to Ambavalao, as he was going in the same direction. That saved us a long hot walk back, which was wonderful. It was still cold at nights but it was hot in this place during the day. We had lunch with him and then he had to go for his tour. Spent the rest of the day relaxing and then buying some of the paper products after seeing how they were made. I did get the new journal but fear I will fill it quickly. We also decided to try out the post office's version of a taxi-brusse - you can get a ride with the post office and they don't squish you in, you pay the same, and only make a few stops along the way. So we booked our seats and prayed.

Wednesday - We got to the post office bright and early and were rewarded with a decent ride. We didn't get the seats we reseved, up front near the driver, but it wasn't bad in the back. Actually, there was so much room it felt weird. I found myself sliding around the seats when we would take a turn instead of being wedged safely between so many other bodies. This taxi we took to the town of Ranohira, which is the starting point for treks or day trips into I'salo National Park. This park is more of a Grand Canyon than a rainforest, and we came for the dramatic scenery. Turns out figuring out the prices and guides and ways of doing things was also dramatic. But in the end, we agreed to a particular guide and to do a 2 day, one night trek that normally takes 3 days, 2 nights. We gave the guide money to buy some food for the three of us, and to rent a tent and agreed to meet in the morning at 7am. We also had met a French couple who were going to come with us in the morning and then head back to town to leave the same day after the first highlight.

Thursday - In the night I had a dream that we were making a mistake - that three days in two was going to be a disaster and that maybe we should do take day treks. But Marina thought we should stick with the plan, so we did. We met the guide who ended up not being able to go, but who found us another English speaking guide, Tousant, that we used instead. We started the trek with the guide sending the tent and our big pack on ahead, which was great. We had packed one day pack and one backpack between us and planned to share the load. But in the beginning I just had water to carry, and my camera, as Marina liked having the daypack on. We saw a family of ring-tailed lemurs that we watched bouncing on the rocks for a while, and then we came to Piscine Natural, a beautiful natural spring pool that forms the base of a small oasis in this dry place. It really did look like the Grand Canyon in places, and here was a beautiful freezing cold pool with palm trees. We stayed here about an hour and it took me about 30 minutes to submerge myself in this pool. This is not unusual for me - I am a big cold water baby - but just the fact that I got in at all impressed me. Once in, it was so numbing it didn't hurt anymore. While there I met and chatted with a French Canadian named Catherine who teaches at an American School in Singapore. She was great to talk to and was taking a nice 6 week trip through Madagascar, with a 4x4. Not bad.

After the pool, the French couple left and we pressed on to the campsite, which was downhill at the bottom of the canyon. We set up camp and had some lunch, where we met two English brothers, Ollie and Mark, who were also camping there for the night. They were doing the two night trip arranged as a tour and in the opposite direction as us. They paid a fortune compared to what we had paid (but had better food), and they had tons of leisure time, which we didn't want in the middle of a trek like this. So I felt better about our decision after all. After lunch we walked to the blue and black pools, both at the bottom of the canyon as well and relatively close to the campsite. I went swimming again, much to my own shock. Freezing but beautiful. Here we met Darren and Emily, a Canadian/American couple. She teaches and he works in Madagascar occassionally spreading the word on natural birth control, to put it simply. They were great to talk to as well, however brief. Went back to camp after an akward outfit change at the pools to get my wet suit off, and assisted Tousant with the cooking of our very simple dinner. He didn't really sign up to cook but did most of it after they both made fun of me for not being able to use a knife to peel veggies. While we ate he told us about life in Madagascar and how women are though of and treated. Basically they get a raw deal - they are expected to bear lots and lots of children, preferably some before marriage to prove she's fertile. If not her husband can leave her. Then she has to become a prostitue to feed herself. Birth control isn't very accessible or accepted because it could just be a way to hide sleeping with another man and not having his children. She also has to sign on to being a good wife even if he beats her, treats her bad, you get the idea. It was eye opening and made me proud to be an American. It was a freezing cold night so we didn't linger after dinner. Unfortunately our tent was shorter than we were, and it was cramped and uncomfortable to say the least. Even worse was that our guide had no tent and had to sleep in the cold since our tent was so small and useless.

Friday - Long day. Today we got an early start and ate our leftover rice for breakfast. Then we packed up and moved out. Marina had the big pack today and I started with the day pack. First hting we had a really long steep climb out of the canyon and I was glad to only have the daypack. After an hour or so we changed, and I carried the big pack. I got my chance to climb with it as well, which was better than I thought it would be. I had a hard time at first but then got into the groove and it felt easier. I carried it for about 90 min as Marina wasn't feeling well. We did get some of that dramatic canyon landscape to look at though. Had a lot of up and down all day with the walking. Eventually we made it to another canyon that we just had to walk into from below. Our guide found white sifakas, a beautiful lemur that lives in that canyon, and we went and watched them for a while. They were great. Then we ate lunch near there and after a while got on our way again. This was basically flat walking in the sun, which was considerably less fun the more we did it. We ended up getting back around 4:30pm or so, super tired after hiking about 16km that day. Or was it 23? Well, it was long either way. Said good bye to Tousant and took a cold shower - unfortunately it was the only option and it was getting cold out already. Repacked and had dinner with two French girls we met at the hostel.

Saturday - Today we got up at 5am in order to be outside and waiting for a taxi-brusse by 6am or so. No taxis leave from Ranohira so we just had to hope that one would come through and have room for us. We got in position by 6am when it was still dark, and magically only waited for a car for 10 minutes. Got in and way we went. It rained in the morning (and the night before) which is unusal at this time of year. We drove through the wild west town of Ilkaka, known for its sapphires and sketchy characters. We stopped there briefly and got a look around - from the taxi. Oh - another thing about taxi brusses that is so much fun is the music. Each time it was similar - cheesy 80s style love songs and the sappiest music you ever heard. Sometimes in English, sometimes in French, sometimes in Malagasy. It made each ride special. We took the ride to Toliara where we had to switch to another to get to the smaller beach town of Ifaty. In Toliara we had our first internet time in two weeks. We also scheduled our taxi-brusse rides back to Tana for the following week, one day apart as I needed one more day than Marina. I agreed to pay for mine the day of the ride because I was completely our of cash - I had had to borrow some from Marina and there had been nowhere to get any until we got into Toliara after this transaction. The ride to Ifaty was interesting in that it was an enormous open bus type vehicle that they really jam packed. It was a long slow ride and although it was funny at first - we got there at 12:30 and din't leave until 2pm and didn't arrive until 4:30 or so - I was tired and cranky by the end. We got to Ifaty and started looking at hotels. Everything was made for couples, so basically our only option was to share a bed, slightly less than appealing but in the end it's the choice we went with. We walked along the beach a but and walked into a restaurant for dinner, where we ran into Darren and Emily again, the American couple from I'salo. Had a nice dinner with them and chatted a bit before heading back to go to sleep. Once there we found out that our hotel doubled as a dance club, and even with my ear plugs I could hear the music until 4am. Splendid.

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