11 February 2011
After a very tearful send-off from OR Thambo I began my adventure of what would possibly be the most memorable trip in my lifetime. I met some of my fellow travellers on the bus to the aeroplane – Sally and Georgie, 2 girls from the quiet town of Devon, England and Lauren – from California. Upon arrival in Antananarivo “Tana” we were welcomed with warm, humid weather and hordes of baggage handlers. After we successfully combated this rather insistent attack, we were met by Dave Raza, our guide and driver for the overland tour. He drove us all the way to our hotel (5 minutes from the airport) Auberge du Cheval Blanc. Here we had a toilet and actual running shower which we soon learnt would be a luxury on this trip. After opening all our bags and re-arranging we were welcomed by our Tasmanian – Nick, our other American traveller Kim and finally our final 2 from the UK – Steve and Hannah. A meeting began detailing our overland trip. We would leave Tana early the next day at 07:30 as we had a long and tiring journey ahead. We were told to pack an overnight bag for the next night because they didn’t want to remove the bags from the roof – so we went back to our humble abodes and repacked...again. Then it was off to dinner where we all filled up on some sort of red meat – Zebu steaks and medallions with pepper sauce. SUPERB!
12 February 2011
And so the drive to Fiananrantsoa began, after a breakfast of rather peculiar tasting fruit we all climbed into our vehicle proudly named ‘Mazdave’ and set off on what was to be a journey that closely resembled a rollercoaster ride, complete with screams. Dave, although a great driver, appeared to get a disturbingly large amount of joy from close-shaves. As you leave or enter a town in Madagascar, you are stopped by police- 3 different groups of them, all checking papers and looking for bribes – welcome to Africa! The roads are reasonably well-tarred except for the occasional run of potholes found in the low-lying wetter areas. A sight you will never forget – a taxi, much like our one comes screaming past with – and I kid you not – a coffin complete with a corpse and purple shroud. Naturally, this resulted in some untameable laughter and crude jokes – only to be told later that this was Dave’s uncle – that didn’t stop the jokes. It was after that that we stopped for lunch in a small town (the name I cannot remember) at a pizza place called...wait for it...Le Gastro Pizza. Needless to say we were hesitant to have a go but as it turned out the pizza was great and it didn’t end how we all suspected it would. This was to be our last proper stop before we got to the Mini-Croq hotel in Fiananrantsoa. The journey took 9 hours sc
attered with various toilet breaks in the bushes. The restaurant at the hotel was a Chinese restaurant so tested the Malagasy/Chinese cuisine. Schedule for the next morning was to be: wake-up at 06:30 (which we soon realised would be the norm), breakfast at 07:00 (normal) and depart by 07:30 (normal) – which we never achieved but came close. 13 February
We departed from the Mini-Croq hotel and went to a small bakery in town for some pastries for breakfast, which were divine. After that we took a 2.5 hour drive to a small National Park called Anja (pronounced Anza). Here we did a walk through the forests, spotting ring-tailed lemurs and a variety of chameleons. It was amazing to see them in their natural habitat. We walked up sheer rock faces and down into caves. As you walk between the massive rock structures you see holes cut into the rock closed up with smaller stones – this is a family burial tomb. They were built so high in the rock to protect the valuable silks that the bodies were wrapped in, from grave robbers. At the peak of our walk, we came into contact with a group of young locals who wanted some pictures and videos with the Vaza (white people), so they surrounded us, played some music on a phone and recorded these antics. We finished our walk with a lunch of beautifully steamed buttered (also a luxury) vegetables and more zebu then climbed on Mazdave for our 3 hour drive to Momotrek which borders Isalo National Park. There are few photo’s from these journey’s as most of our days were cloudy supplemented by a light rain – I couldn’t bring back photo’s of cloudy Madagascar now could I? On our journey to Momotrek, we stopped at a rather random, lonely stall that sold wine and various other sorts of spirits. The others brought a couple of bottles of red and white and some even braved a shot at a clear litchi flavoured liquid (today we still do not know what it was) and a pineapple flavoured liqueur – for lack of a better word. I have to admit that dad’s warning of the deadly rum was still reverberating around my head but went with it anyway. Dave came out at supper time and presented a rather large, scary – looking...chilli. We were all dared to try it so Nick, Sally and I had a go and I am pleased to say I survived and suffered no long-lasting repercussions. For those of you that know me, you realise that this was an incredible feat. This chilli experiment was followed shortly thereafter with the alcohol experiment – the wine (I didn’t taste) was had with varying degrees of long-toothiness. Naturally we couldn’t let the other sinister liquids go unattended so we all agreed on a single shot of each, continuing further if we liked it. Pineapple down...tastes a bit like tequila. Right, now for the litchi – nothing could quite have prepared us for that experience, possible the most revolting thing I have knowingly had to drink...ever. Needless to say we passed the litchi on to Dave who enjoyed it in his room.
14 February
We all woke up to a glorious Valentines morning, full of cheer and butterflies and background music...scratch that, we all woke up thinking about our 6 hour hike. We had our 06:30 07:00 07:30 schedule and left for our walk just after 8. We were met Evo who was of the Vezo tribe but was now living in the mountains. The Vezo people are the people of the sea and live mainly off the fruits of the ocean – fruits de mer. We walked up and panted, then walked up some more, and panted and finally after what seemed like a rather laborious ascent, we got to the edge of a cliff where we sat, took some photo’s and caught our breath. As much as I would love to describe our picturesque view, my words would not do any justice – hopefully Heaven will suffice. Our walk culminated at the foot of a waterfall in a natural pool (piscine). Having done 5 km in 33 degrees Celsius we all took the opportunity to remove unnecessary clothing and shoes and jumped in. Cold and refreshing, just what we needed. After drip-drying we took an easy walk to our lunch spot and were spoilt by a 3 course meal – a potato/onion salad followed by some zebu sosaties and spicy rice and finally some fruit. We were all fully fed and feeling a little (sorry mom) “maagies vol, ogies toe” and realised we still had the long trek back – we took a short cut and were back to our humble homes before we knew it. That evening was our Valentine’s day dinner and it did not turn out how we had expected it to. It was not a night to be forgotten as we had a rather memorable experience with our fellow Momotrek inhabitants. The owner and 4 other patrons of said bar had been sitting in the corner for the majority of the afternoon drinking large varieties of well... everything. By the time we had come through for supper they were well on their way to a magnificent hangover in the morning. Steve and I had already been auctioned off (a joke – he kept telling me) and I only managed an offer for 5 Zebu – I was largely disappointed. We placed an order for supper and waited, 2 hours later dinner arrived and we were told to have a seat, above which the fluorescent light tube had blown and was in the process of being (in)expertly replaced above our heads by a very inebriated bar owner. After most of us telling him we liked the romantic lighting (for fear of losing an eye) he left it, and proceeded to fix the other lights around the bar. After a very nice dinner albeit cold, we sat and chatted for a while. One of the corner occupants in a blue shirt, aided by his friend was led to the exit where he enthusiastically walked into the wall – laughter erupted and we could no longer keep our eyes off these clowns. Once blue shirt managed to get outside he sat down in the typical vomiting position and all of us expecting the inevitable were pleasantly surprised when he stood up. Before we knew it he had whipped his uh...male organ from his pants and was attempting to have a wee while facing downhill. His sense of balance wasn’t great and eventually we noticed blue shirt stumbling down the hill as gravity got the better of him while having a wee. On this note, we decided that bed was our safest option and got up quietly and went to bed.15 - 17 February
This was our last journey in Mazdave and would take us to Toliara/Tulear/Toliary and the Victory Hotel. This was to be the first part of the journey where we would see Baobabs. Just after we set off, I desperately needed a wee – so I asked Dave to pull over and dashed behind a tree. Little did I know that the oncoming traffic could see my Vaza bum and this resulted in a Malagasy gentlemen almost coming off his bike. After much teasing and joking and police stops (all 11 of them just outside Isalo) we set off on our journey to Hotel Victory. Passports were checked on arrival in Tulear and then we arrived at what can appropriately be described as Paradise – Hotel Victory with a swimming pool and air-conditioned rooms. We offloaded and before we knew it we were all in the pool savouring the cool (warm) water. I had brought a romance Novel down to the pool to read and as we were all lying around the pool, nick decided he would read the steamy scenes for us in his best News Reader voice – this was hilarious and just as the scene was about to climax, Jen and Hannah arrived (2 of the Blue Ventures “BV” staff) and couldn’t figure why we were laughing so hard. Paperwork done and out the way we then met the volunteers from the previous expedition – there were rather quiet and we couldn’t help but laugh and think that Andavadoaka did not have a clue what we had in store for them, as not one of us is quiet and normal. That night we went out for supper to La Maison with the staff we would be with and the old volunteers. We had some fantastic cocktails which ended in me assisting Hannah (H2) in counting out money had her brain was slightly fuzzy. After a few good laughs and glass harmonics, we headed off back to the hotel and went to bed.
The next day was a day pretty much at leisure. At 9 we went into town using the rickshaws – I have pictures of them which I will have to show you. They are called “‘poes poes” in Malagasy – I could not bring myself to repeat it, my mouth just felt dirty. We met at La Terrace and walked from there – all of us getting our last little necessities, changing money and eating ice-cream. More will be said on Tulear at the end of this expedition as we have a day there were I can do present shopping before my trip home. That day being pretty uneventful only warrants a small paragraph.
The day we left for Andavadoaka – wake up at 4:45 to leave by 6 as we had to pack the Camion. To try and describe this – picture a cattle truck, complete with the metal bars over the top and tarpaulin: this was to be our chariot. This is an authentic mode of transport for the Malagasy people and here we were embracing the experience. Suitcases were packed, then mattresses placed on the floor and last but not least – people. There were 14 BV people and 3 Malagasy stowaways all crammed in the back. We stopped for breakfast in a small village along the way (3 hours into the journey) and had their local rice cakes (Mokare) and doughnuts (Bokoboko) for 100 Ariary each – it certainly wasn't fantastic but we soon learnt to love the local cuisine. We went and all emptied our bladders in their local latrine area – all expertly dodging large animal (and human excrement) as well as animal carcasses and more human excrement. After wringing our kidneys dry we hopped back onto our chariot and continued. The chariot stopped and we found we had a puncture – this was repaired and we drove for a further 20 minutes and experienced the same problem. At that point we decided to have lunch: dry baguettes, cheese and tomatoes. To eat the aforementioned lunch you had to bite each thing and put it all in your mouth to give yourself the illusion of a cheese and tomato sandwich. We each had an apple and then waited for the chariot to be ready, taking bets on when we would leave and devising games to keep us entertained. We eventually left and drove into the night and suddenly the radiator overheated, so we stopped again and our driver and his buddies walked to the next town to bring back some water. On the road again – once we passed the Italian Hospital, we knew we were close. We drove through the Village of Andavadoaka and were welcomed by BV and its staff. Relief! Less than 200 km in 14 hours 15 mins – world record I reckon. We were welcomed, took our bags to our cabins and headed up for supper. More information on the meals will follow in the next instalment.
We woke up to a not so beautiful Madagascar morning complete with a sky full of clouds and a temperature that wouldn’t cause any profuse sweating. We headed off to breakfast at 08:00 which was soon to become routine. Breakfasts usually consisted of mushy rice pudding, 3 slices of freshly baked bread and tea or coffee. We had honey on the table; sucre au lait (condensed milk) and normal sugar and sometimes something that closely resembles butter but doesn’t melt. Tea is made as such: 1 tsp suc au lait plus tea equals breakfast tea. Yummy. At our first breakfast morning we were given a timetable for that day – consisting of science training and other introductory talks to Blue Ventures and what they do. Our first 2 days were introductory talks and pretty much stuff to get us up to speed. I would love to give you day by day accounts of our 6 weeks here in Andavadoaka but we have a routine which is repeated weekly, so the few things that do stand out will be detailed. We work on a 6 day week where we have 5 days of diving and 1 off day. Our weeks looked something like what I have mentioned below but this would change with certain activities.
