Blogs from Madagascar, Africa - page 3

It looked like this tour might not go ahead due to poor signal but the perseverance of Hery & Rindra enabled us to enjoy a fabulous experience at The Peyrieras Reserve in the small village of Marozevo. This Reserve was created by a French entomologist with the main purpose to educate people to protect endangered animals including reptiles like chameleons, geckos. True to form the chameleons were hard to see amongst the foliage, we saw a baby, a male and a beautiful turquoise female who all seemed quite oblivious to the people around them. We saw them eat insects using their very long tongues.On average, a chameleon's tongue is roughly twice the length of its body but you would need to be quick to snap a postcard, I think a few voyagers were but sadly not ... read more

After Baobab Avenue, we drove about an hour toward Morondava, a coastal town where we would stay the night. We made a stop at the local pharmacy in town - most of us had gotten sick at some point by the end of the trip. The town was bustling, and we turned on a beach front road where dozens of small hotels were located. We finally pulled into the Hotel Sun Beach and determined which rooms were which. I got the nice end room - and we had A/C!! For the first time all week! I almost did not want to leave my cool room, but I made my way to the hotel bar where I met up with Nolavy, ordered spaghetti Bolognese and a beer before heading off to bed. The next morning, I woke ... read more

After the river cruise, we were on our way to the place that brought me here: Tsingy National Park. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site and (most importantly) made up of uniquely eroded limestone formations, much of which is so sharp, you cannot walk on it except for on guided paths! Before we could get there however, we picked up a military escort in our two SUV's. Me and two other guys were teamed up with Dada, our driver, who was awesome for the next few days. The other three, our guide, their driver and the military escort were placed in the larger SUV. I did not know initially, but while we carried all the luggage in ours, we also had A/C while the other car did not. We had to get a military escort ... read more

So what the hell is a zebu, you might well ask. Well, simplistically it is a cow with a large hump near the neck. But in Madagascar it is far more than just that. The zebu is not only an emblem of Malagasy culture, it is a symbol of wealth and also punctuates rituals and the daily lives of the Malagasy people. Zebus appear in the fields, in the bush, on your dinner plate, and even on all their banknotes. It is too complicated to describe here, but the zebu plays a major role in Madagascar in each of circumcision ceremonies, major projects, weddings and even funerals, with slight differences in approach between tribes. And in a more practical sense, in agricultural activities, particularly rice growing (and this is the staple food for near all Malagasys), ... read more

Finally made it here! Happy after a long zeek of negociating to try to get yself a transport cheap enough to bring me to the south! my arrival as always was slightly dramatic, beginning with a strike at Nairobi airport, followed by sleeping on the hallaways of the airport and having to constantly question people about our chances of making it, at any point at any time that very day to Antananarivo? Well it took from 4am till departures 12 hours later to land in a never been land at Antananarivo airport by 8pm their time.... not y plan to start zith of course as I wanted to arrive during the day; but had to make do, surprisingly going through custo,ms was incredibly easy, and a lady at custos got me a ¨friend¨ of hers to ... read more