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Published: January 2nd 2017
Happy New Year!! Wishing everyone all the best in 2017!
Decided to post another, just because we are fascinated with this country! After 3 days on the East coast we moved into the Highlands to Andasibe, where we visited two National Parks Mantadia and Andasibe. It was a beautiful rain forest, but much harder to track the lemurs. But loads of fun when we did spot them. At a local restaurant, we met several Peace Corp volunteers. It was great to talk with them and all of them were loving their experience in Madagascar. “We won the lottery” was how one volunteer stated his PC experience.
Continuing down Rt 7 which runs basically down the center of the country from East to West, we stayed one night in Antasrabe which we easily could have stayed longer. It was a larger town and still had much of the French architecture. Then 2 nights in Fianarantosa where we stayed at a culinary school that was teaching 18-24 year olds the hospitality sector. All of the kids were delightful, although the three of us thought they should consider firing the culinary professor. But we enjoyed our time there.
One day included a walk among the rice fields to a local home of the Betsileo people, one of 18 tribes. It was a fascinating experience as we were able to share thoughts and ideas of our lives. New Year’s was spent in Ranomafana, a quiet evening for us as we retired early after a hot walk in another beautiful rain forest. And that night, we enjoyed our first rain in Madagascar, quite a downpour.
We are now in Isalo, having lost all the beautiful rice fields and are amazed at the change in the landscape. Wide open grass lands where the cebu graze. We could be in the mid west with all the open range land. It is spring here and the land is a beautiful green. Jan – March should be their cyclone season and hopefully the rains will continue. This national park has only a few lemurs but is know for their beautiful rock formations. Tomorrow we will continue our exploration of the park. Then on Wed we move south to the coast of Ifaty where we will stay 3 days. I have an amazing amount of photos, so
wanted to get some posted.
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Linda Mascuch
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Wonderful Peek into a Fascinating Part of the World
I have been following your posts. Madagascar seems to be a fascinating and seductive place! Keep your posts and pictures coming. It hasn't been above freezing here for weeks.