Blogs from Madagascar, Africa

Madagascar is the fourth largest island in the world located off the SE coast of Africa. We selected this unique place to be my 100th country because of its biodiversity and wonderful wildlife. Close to 90 percent of the plant and animal species here are endemic to the island. Madagascar has very distinct landscapes and we expect to see rainforests, mountains, semi-deserts and beaches all in one trip. Our two person private trip is arranged by Kensington Tours who plans personalized itinerary based on our interests. Of course, one of the highlights would have to be meeting 'Lemurs' - one of the oldest primates that can only be found on Madagascar. As Madagascar moved away from continent Africa 17-23 million years ago, lemurs was isolated from evolutionary changes of the world and they found their niches ... read more

*** Only one snake in this blog, the last photo after Exora hotel. **** I promised video clips but travelblog seems to have removed that option from its menu. Sorry about that, will have to think of another option. If anyone knows how I could do it, please let me know. After the evening at African House it was an early start but this time only as far as the 4x4 vehicles for the journey east along the RN2. It was an all day drive, stopping for lunch en route, so we sat back to enjoy the view. Tana is huge so it takes a long time to get clear of the city. We had driven for an hour or so when a message came through from one of the other drivers that his vehicle was ... read more

(I have now finished the group tour but had no time to write a blog & no signal to send it anyway so I am trying to bring them up to date in the next few days, so apologies if they come thick & fast! On the other hand, they may not go at all, so fingers crossed) Daniel, the wildlife expert ( mainly herpetology, the little things), and Harry, (Hery), the Malagasy tour guide/director met me at the airport. The group met up on the evening of the October 1, and set off early on the 2nd. We soon realised ‘early’ was our new normal! We rarely started later than 6am and sometimes earlier. It was a motley crew, sharing only one thing in common, we are all retired and of a certain age. There ... read more

Yes, OK, I missed posting a blog 2 days ago, and now need to tell you about 4 days. We’ve had a really busy time! The first thing to say is massive congratulations to Collette and Greg. They went for a walk on the beach, he asked and she said yes! They both arrived back from their walk with big smiles on their faces, and Collette wearing a beautiful diamond ring. Such a special place to get engaged 🤗 Anyway, back to our adventure. Saturday was two morning dives for the divers, and the non-divers did a walk on Nosy Sakatia. Unfortunately, Big Paulo gave my dive kit bag to Jessica for snorkeling instead of hers, so I had to use her boots and fins. She has bigger feet than me, and the boots were a ... read more

We’re now two days into the diving part of the trip. Well it’s been pretty special so far! Manta Dive Centre are looking after us very well. We’re collected by boat from the hotel beach in the morning and taken to the dive sitesbefore being dropped off again on the beach. A great service! Yesterday we did three dives from Nosy Tanikely, a national park which opened specially for us and another dive boat. We were based on the beautiful beach for drinks, snacks, and a picnic at lunchtime. The first dive was a site called Aquarium in crystal clear water just offshore. There were loads of different corals, small reef fish, a grouper, an octopus and a turtle. What a fabulous start! The other two dives at Smurfland and West Point were equally as special, ... read more