Salama to all my friends and family out there!
So so sorry for the lack and delay in blogging. The internet situation in Madagascar is pretty rough, and when rarely available it's quite slow. But anywho, here is what Chloe and I have been up to in the last 3-ish weeks.
So the first thing to say about Madagascar is it's quite a large island, and the infrastructure is quite poor. Before French colonization, a Malagasy King had proclaimed, "If I make roads, the white man will only come and take my country. I have two allies: forest and fever" And the French didn't much help...Distances between sites are large, roads in poor condition and it takes days to travel between them. Chloe and I had much to see on our list and thus were forced into a quicker travel pace. Coupled with our lack of local language skills (the native Malagasy, or French from colonization), and the locals constant attempts to rip us off (although I do understand as most are very very poor), our experience was at times pretty stressful. However, once reaching our goals and destinations, the sights were simply awesome.
After just a couple nights in the capital of Antananarivo, we set out on a 8 day journey by car, mini-bus, pirogue boat, 4x4 and foot with the eventual destination of the Tsingy de Bemaraha. On the way to the River Tsiribihina we passed through typical Madagascar landscapes of rise fields.
So so sorry for the lack and delay in blogging. The internet situation in Madagascar is pretty rough, and when rarely available it's quite slow. But anywho, here is what Chloe and I have been up to in the last 3-ish weeks.
So the first thing to say about Madagascar is it's quite a large island, and the infrastructure is quite poor. Before French colonization, a Malagasy King had proclaimed, "If I make roads, the white man will only come and take my country. I have two allies: forest and fever" And the French didn't much help...Distances between sites are large, roads in poor condition and it takes days to travel between them. Chloe and I had much to see on our list and thus were forced into a quicker travel pace. Coupled with our lack of local language skills (the native Malagasy, or French from colonization), and the locals constant attempts to rip us off (although I do understand as most are very very poor), our experience was at times pretty stressful. However, once reaching our goals and destinations, the sights were simply awesome.
After just a couple nights in the capital of Antananarivo, we set out on a 8 day journey by car, mini-bus, pirogue boat, 4x4 and foot with the eventual destination of the Tsingy de Bemaraha. On the way to the River Tsiribihina we passed through typical Madagascar landscapes of rise fields.
We spent 3 days and 2 nights navigating the clay ridden waters of the River Tsiribihina, with hot days in the sun interspersed with an impressive waterfall grotto, and nights camping on giant river sand beaches.
Our tour group was quite diverse, with 3 Frenchman, and a couple from Spain. Oddly enough, the most common language between the group members was Spanish. So throughout the 8 day trip I was able to exercise my Spanish skills in order to communicate with the others. It was super cool to get the foreign language experience although I don't speak any of the tongues native to Madagascar. The Frenchman who spoke Spanish and acted as language liaison to the 2 others from France, Danielle, was quite a character Only after 5 days spent together did he reveal that he does all the French voice overs/dubbing for Liam Neelson in American flicks, crazy!
Upon leaving the river we were taken by Zebu (oxen) cart
and then 4x4 to what was called a "Ferry" but was nothing more than a couple boats attached via cross planks
but somehow, some way it got us to our destination: the Tsingy de Bemaraha! Tsingy is used to describe the formations that were left after the seas receded from Madagascar and acid rain has eroded these incredible limestone pinnacles. We spent a full day exploring all the sights within both the Grand and Little Tsingy.
Our journey to western Madagascar ended with a trip down the Avenue de Baobabs. The Baobab tree is known for it's ability to grow very old and hold large amounts of water in its truck to endure long droughts.Local folk lore describes how when god made the baobab, he planed it upside down. While the baobab is not endemic to Madagascar, they do have some of the most impressive examples.
I was interested to learn, that while we were not in the complete southern end of Madagascar we were darn close; and that if you don't include some very tiny islands out in the Indian ocean, the south of Madagascar represents the 'antipode' of the US northwest. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antipodes) In short, Andringitra was nearly as far away from home as we could possibly be, and the vibe and energy there reflected that as it felt very foreign and mystical.
After a very long and trying journey via public and what was supposed to be "private" transport, Chloe and I made it to the distant and impressive Andringitra National Park. Andringitra sits along the mountainous backbone of Madagascar and is dominated by its large granite massifs and sacred waterfalls. We did 3 days of trekking through areas named "moonscape" in the Malagasy language.
I was interested to learn, that while we were not in the complete southern end of Madagascar we were darn close; and that if you don't include some very tiny islands out in the Indian ocean, the south of Madagascar represents the 'antipode' of the US northwest. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antipodes) In short, Andringitra was nearly as far away from home as we could possibly be, and the vibe and energy there reflected that as it felt very foreign and mystical.
Another very long journey via public transport brought us to the east of Madagascar where we went to visit Peace Corp volunteer named James living on the edge of a forest reserve. James was a fantastic host and friend to us. We got to eat with his local villagers and get a tour of the forest where we came face to face with the largest of the lemurs, the Indri.
So that brought us to our final chapter of Madagascar and the name of this post. I know she'll be embarrassed but...years ago, when she was just a kid, my sister was all dressed up for a formal occasion, complete with poofy dress and earrings. When she emerged from her room fully decked out, she twirled around and muttered the phase "don't you wish you were me?" Our family still finds this quite funny.
This phrase became the spoiled motto of our last days in Madagascar. To finish off our time there, Chloe and I splurged and made it to the Isle de St. Marie and its tiny sister island with no cars and only reachable by boat, Nosy Nato. Now we had thought Zanzibar was great, this just may have topped it. More tropical, more untouched, and a serious dream experience. We rented a scooter to explore Marie, discovered remote beaches, circumnavigated Nosy Nato on foot, swam, snorkeled, relaxed, had a fantastic Halloween with no semblance of the American holiday, and simply enjoyed ourselves. We joked for 4 days, "don't you wish you were me?"
If you ever get the chance, I highly recommend going.
Thanks so much for reading and keeping up with our travels. We wish everyone back home the best. I hope to provide an update on our initial adventures in Egypt very soon (the pyramids are huge and the Sphinx isn't!).
Happy trails,
Matt
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