11.11.08
Posted in Hollidays, Madagascar at 1:29 pm by tesstess
Tuesday the 11 November
Day of return to Tana. Early in the morning we took a taxi, which was not a taxi but a family going to Diego in their old 4×4. Almost arrived in Diego the car broke down, the cooling liquid ran out on the ground under the car. We felt sorry for the guy and his family. Luckily for us there came a yellow taxi just after us and we could go with it to the airport.
Everything went fine. We managed (hm, no, Anthony managed) to negotiate the price of the taxi from the airport to Tana from 40 000 to 25 000, and on top we got the most modern car of all our stay on Mada.
The hotel had nice personel and the room, on the third and top floor was charming. They also had kittens which lay in my knee when eating breakfast = happy Tess.
In the evening we ate in a nice, quite cheap restaurant. It took about 10-15 minutes to walk there from our hotel. I was scared all the way. Compared to the place we stayed in at the arrival to Mada this area of Tana was really calm, on the way to the restaurant we didn’t see a single person, which is scary in another way than when surrounded by strange people.
Wednesday the 12 November
The big market day. And also last day on Madagascar, at least that’s what we thought… in fact, late in the evening Anthony ade the reflection that if our flight left at midday, there would be no change to get the flight Paris-Nice at ten in the evening which we had planned. So, we double checked the AF tickets and – indeed they were on Friday, not Thursday. What a miss! The hotel had internet so we verified the Corsair flights and saw that the one we had initially planned to take was Friday (there are no dates on the GP tickets). Suddenly we had one more day of vacation!
We spent all morning in the biggest market in Tana, just looking around, then ate lunch and planned to do all the shopping of souvenirs in the afternoon. The weather didn’t want to play our game but decided to rain so our shopping was quite hectic. When we bought vanilla we got surrounded by ten people, all trying to sell us their vanilla, showing us why this or that one would be better. We had the hands full and got a bit stressed. How to know what is good quality and not? We had read they should be long, dark, a little bit towards red but not brown. And not too dry. It took Anthony half an hour to negotiate the good vanilla and price.
The last evening, which was not the last evening, we had decided to eat in a more expensive restaurant. It had a décor in warm red colors and servers everywhere. The first menu we got was only for aperitifs We ordered a drink each. After finishing the drink we both wanted more, and since it was the last evening… hm, anyways, we bought another one. When I had trunk one third of my new cocktail I was starting to get drunk. The food arrived but I couldn’t eat. Anthony told me after I had gone all white in the face. I had probably not drunk enough water during the day. Then I was happy we had one more evening so that our vacation didn’t end with a failed restaurant visit.
Thursday the 13 November
What would we do with this extra day? In fact I didn’t managed to buy all the day before, being so stressed by the rain and the sellers. We decided to visit another market. The sun was with us and we found lots of funny things. The market itself was an attraction, there were everything to be found, from furniture, to hats and jewelry, to animals, dead or alive.
In the afternoon we made a walk in Tana that the guide book had recommended. It went up on the highest hill, to the palace of the queen. From there we had a great view in all directions. We took a guide who explained us a bit of the history of the kings and queens. The palace itself what not a lot to see, it burnt down ten years ago and now they tried to rebuild it. The history were starting 700 years earlier, we saw drawings of kings with palaces more like huts, very different from our own history.
In the afternoon there was a thunder storm, it was the beginning of the rain season. And in the evening we returned to our very first restaurant. The musicians were there again. We were the only guests this night and the owner took well care of us. We ordered gabons and got four mega shrimps each. It was a memorable evening, and a good ending of our vacation.
11.05.08
Posted in Hollidays, Madagascar at 5:25 pm by tesstess
Wednesday the 5 November
Luckily this night it didn’t rain. It was time to leave the nature and go to Diego.
On the way we visited the Tzingy Rouges, having a private taxi, the famous Roger. (på franska uttalas det rocheeer). He was the only one driving a 4L on the tracks between the road and the Tzingy Rouges, he even had made his own track in a place where the normal path was too slippery and bad. I’m sure he would be successful if he tried to compete in rallies, I’ve never seen such a skilled driver! And I’ve rarely been so worried to get stuck in the nowhere.
The ‘road’ was in so bad shape that the car was leaning to one side, then to the other, I almost thought it would fall. And to not get stuck in the uphills he had to go fast. The car sounded like it would break any moment.
We made small stops along the way and Roger told us some history of the villages, mountains, rivers and seas.
The tzingys were beautiful, very special. A bit rounded, formed by the rain, staying up because of the clay, but they’re mostly consisting of sand. Roger told us that they change each time it rains, the ones closest to the river melts, and new are formed next to the canyon wall.
We saw another car, a 4×4, with tourists, they were slightly before us. When we came back to the real road and got our bags back (we had left them there to not be too heavy in the car), the tourists took photos of us and the yellow 4L, their driver had told them stories about this famous Roger.
On the way to Diego we stopped to buy mangos, Roger bought us a whole bag full, about 20 mangos. They cost 50Ar each.
Thursday the 6 november
A middle day, we didn’t do much. Walked around in Diego, an ok city, not very beautiful, but not too bad either. We ate lunch in a nicer restaurant with sea view, then wrote the post cards.
For dinner we ate mangos. The hotel was nice but a bit boring without windows.
Anthonys cold didn’t want to leave, even with the antibiotics. Sad, it removed quite a lot of the fun for him, even though it didn’t stop us from doing things.
Friday the 7 November
Today we went with Roger to visit Montagne d’Ambre. (Ambre = koda eller sav). We made a five hour walk with a guide who showed us lots of funny animals and plants. On the way there was a couple of waterfalls and a lake.
The nature differed in different places of the forest.
Lemurians of another species.
A very touristic photo. And a Fikus Etrangler.
Do you see them? We never would if the guide didn’t point them out for us. Click on the photos to see them bigger.
These will rest my favourites. So cute! And they will not get bigger!
Incredible this cameliont! Very funny way of walking.
We then moved to Ramena (pronounced Ramenn), a small fishing village just at the sea. The sea on the other side this time, the Indian Ocean.
We saw these Baobabs on the way between Diego and Ramena.
The streets in the village were of sand. In the evening some friends of Roger helped us to find a restaurant. It was located in a small house a bit aside from the main street, we would never have found our way there ourselves. When we came there was no lights on, but when the owner saw us she turned them on. We were a bit sceptic at first, strange to be all alone in a restaurant, but it turned out to be the best restaurant of the village. The woman went down to the center to buy fresh fish, then fried it, and served it with rice cooked in coconut milk. Delicious.
Saturday the 8 November
Contrary to the restaurant the night before, the hotel was really crap! We panicked with hundreds of mosquitoes, especially in the toilet. The neighbors of the hotel put super loud party music (dunkadunka) on up to nine in the evening, starting again seven in the morning. And then all the flies at breakfast. We simply couldn’t stand it.
We visited three other hotels in Ramena before finding one with a free room. Seems like a very popular village.
The new room was more expensive than any up to now, but also the far best one. Clean, no mosquitoes (protection on the windows), big private bathroom with hot shower and a normal amount of water in the shower instead of ¼ speed that we’d had up to now, calm, not a single noise around, and then the best of all – right at the beach. 10 to 20 steps in white sand to reach the water (depending on the tide).
These photos are taken ten steps from the door of our hotel room. We spend the whole day at the beach and in the hotel room. And, do you know what!? They even had four lemurs in a tree close to the hotel! Free, traveling around in the trees in the neighborhood. We were counting the money left, realizing it was not a lot, hardly enough for the days to come at Ramena. We already took out money with my visa card once in Diego, I’m a bit afraid that will cost…
More Madagaskisk Daggecko.
Sunday the 9 November
From Ramena there is a known walk to do, called ‘les trois baies’ = ‘The three bays’. We discussed a lot with different people to know if we could do this walk alone, without guide. Most of the people told us it was preferable to have a guide. After all the people here are very poor, not always secure for tourists to be alone. This is a trend just starting in the north, some areas being less safe than before, but it’s still far from as in Tana.
Since we had already gone over our travel budget we decided to go alone.
The first small bay was an old military zone. Abandoned huts everywhere, and a beautiful beach. The only military in view was at the road at the entering of this area, taking an entry fee, we guess specially put there because there are tourists that pass.
A black dog followed us from Ramena and kept with us like if she belonged to us.
At the first bay we stoped to swim a bit. The dog lay down close to our bags, like if to guard them. So, somehow we got a guide anyways. A bit later we crossed a couple of houses and a woman grilling prawns, and here our dog decided to stay, hoping to get some rests.
Between the bays we were completely alone. At one point Anthony saw a man behind us and we got worried to be attacked. We walked faster, and even missed the second bay. The third bay, Sakalava, also known for surfing, were very big. We ate our lunch and took a swim.
We took the road (which of course could hardly be called a road) back. It was a long and hot walk. We hoped that we would get home before the dark. When getting out on the bigger road between Diego and Ramena we bought some beautiful shells in a small stand. A small truck came by and offered us a lift. It was a truck with the two seats in the same direction as the road, like an old military truck. It was a funny.
This day we had an uncomfortable story with langousts (also called spiny lobster, or rock lobster). Madagascar is a bit famous for it’s langousts, we had spoken to several tourists who told us how good it had been. Already at Nosy Komba we wanted try it out but they told us it was not allowed to catch them at the moment, since it was reproduction time. On the path along the three bays the met a fishermen who had caught two langousts and wanted to sell them to us, and after a long discussion we agreed on meeting him in the evening at our hotel, where we pay and ask the hotel to cook them for us. However, when the fishermen came by in the evening and we talked to the hotel owner we understood there was a problem. The fishermen had left the langousts there in the morning, apparently this hotel have a deal with this fisherman and since the owner didn’t want to make the fisherman or us angry they had accepted to the langousts and put them in the freezer. But they didn’t want to cook them for us since it was not allowed. Everyone was a bit pissed off. The owner, who was French and drunk every evening, decided in the end to pay the fisherman for the langousts, to not loose his confidence. We felt really stupid.
Monday the 10 November
Last day on the beaches of Madagascar. Three fishermen came in the morning with their boat just infront of our hotel and brought us on the expedition to ‘La mer d’Emeraude’. There were some clouds but at midday it cleared up.
The color of this lagoon is crazy, so beautiful! We saw some flat fish swim next to the boat, about one meter wide!
We stayed all afternoon at a beautiful beach where there were some huts to eat in. The everyday life of the fishermen of Ramena is to fish early in the morning, and the rest of the day bringing tourists over the lagoon to this beautiful beach. It’s the day where we saw most tourists on the same time.
We did some snorkeling and some relaxing in the shadow of a palm tree. The fishermen prepared a nice lunch with crab and grilled fish.
11.03.08
Posted in Hollidays, Madagascar at 4:41 pm by tesstess
Monday the 3 November
Alarm on 4.30. Tired. Fast do the packing. At 5.30 one of the guys from the blue boat came to help us with the bags. They let us on first, then they filled the rest of the boat with local people. The boat left at 5.50, ten minutes before time. Sometimes they surprise us. Everywhere we seem to be the only tourists! Well, on Nosy Komba we saw around then other tourists. Maybe two older couples, otherwise only white, fat men around 50, only there for the beautiful young malgash girls. They made me angry.
At Nosy Be we made sure to carry our bags ourselves to the big harbor. Along the way a guy tried to convince us to go with a boat, and then he presented us to a taxi brousse driver who would take us directly at the depart to the nature reserve of Ankarana. The price was a bit expensive, but the driver said we would be only three on each row in the bus, to not have it too crowded. Anthony managed to get the price down from 30 to 25 for boat + bus. The driver wanted us to pay him half before the boat left but Anthony refused and we paid 15 before leaving. Anthony didn’t feel secure with the guy and was worried for our bags, he was surprised to see the driver on the boat, he thought he had fooled us completely and wouldn’t come.
The boat was completely crowded of people. We were sitting in the front, like VIP with 20 other people who I think paid more than the ones who were very crowded outside.
Getting of the boat I followed one of our bags carried away by a big guy. Five other guys also wanted to carry it and they started fighting. Someone stepped on the shoe of the big guy so that it broke, he was really angry. I was happy the bag didn’t break and that we didn’t have anything fragile inside. In the end he found our bus and the bags were put on the roof. We went to eat some bananas and a café (in a place where we could still keep an eye on the bags).
When getting into the bus we understood that the driver was not they guy who we had paid, our guy was just a middle hand finding clients early and taking money in between. They put a small girl between me and Anthony. First I tried to refuse, we were already three on the row, but Anthony told me it was ok. Then they took her out and wanted to put a man in her place. Here I had enough and said clearly NO. They didn’t agree and tried again to push in the man in the bus. I was getting panic and screamed so I scared everyone, including Anthony. Anthony tried to calm me. I felt like I needed to throw up. We put the man next to the window and me between him and Anthony on top of the 10 cm wide hole between the two seats. We were all swimming in sweat. It took four hours.
The bungalow in the park was ok, clean sheets and mosquito protection. Common but fresh shower and toilets.
The guy helping us with the bags turned out to be a guide and we decided to take a smaller walk already the same evening.
It turned out later that the guide was not a real guide but a “pisteur”, the step before becoming a guide. His French was not very good and resulting in quite a few misunderstandings. However he was nice and knew all the latin names of plants and animals. Just that we would have been more interested in pedagogic explanations and French names…
We saw a view point and a cave with bats and skeleton. It was impressive and we were happy we decided to make this evening tour. On the way back it was completely dark and we could see night living lemurians in the trees, or at least a couple of eyes.
Tuesday the 4 November
The big excursion day. We had decided to make the ‘grand tour’ to the green lake. We also wanted to include the smaller side tracks on the way which normally was the ‘medium tour’. Our guide had a funny way of calculating the total price, he added the cost of the big and the medium tours together, even if the medium tours was just twenty minutes side tracks from the path of the ‘grand tour’. Anthony managed to negotiate this to something a bit more reasonable. In total this day we walked 26km.
During the night it had rained. The mice had eaten on the palm leaves on the roof, leaving small holes for the rain to come in through. It’s kind of hard to sleep when it’s dropping on your legs.
However, the dropping at night was nothing compared to how drenched we were some hours later. Walking in the rain forest under tropical rain doesn’t leave a centimeter of your clothes dry. I kept thinking about Karin and Andreas who would have loved the rain, and I managed to find it amusing. I held out my hands and felt the big warm drops.
We saw trees, birds, lizards and cameleonts. Not a lot of birds, maybe because it was still kind of winter. There were only one kind of perot, a dark grey one making lots of noise and different sounds.
This bird is just swallowing a lizard, tail still outside. It stayed on the branch and didn’t let himself be disturbed by us during his meal.
The rain finally ceased and we could take out the camera. At the lake we took a one hour, well needed pause. The guide put banana on the trees to attract the lemurians that usually arrives in ten minutes when smelling the bananas, but this day none came. They had probably went down deeper in the forest to get more protection from the rain.
On the way back we got to see several groups of lemurians. So cute, especially the mother with the child on the back.
We saw beautiful tzingy with a newly built path and even a hanging over a small canyon. This was one of the most spectacular nature views we saw, but the battery of the camera was dead. The grey sharp rock, contrasted with the fresh light green leaves on the cactus trees.
When we got back at six it was just getting dark. Ten hours of walking.