NEither are monkeys
Neither are Monkeys!
Gil with a Common Brown Lemur
On Sunday we travelled to Madagascar’s main container port Toamasina (or Tamatave in
French). The vast majority of shipped goods, including fuel, comes through that port, and is then transported by road to the capital, Antananarivo, which incidentally is at an altitude of over 1200m. The road between these two cities has to be seen to be believed; some is reasonably good, but most rather narrow by most standards (like a secondary road in NZ), and with no shoulders, no passing lanes, stretches with many potholes forcing traffic to snake its way between the holes, and succession after succession of hairpin beds up and down the steep hills. Fully loaded trucks crawl up the hills at walking pace, belching toxic diesel fumes, and the taxi brousse were seen passing the trucks around blind corners as if there were no tomorrow; for some of them it may be the last thing they do, especially with the poor roadworthiness of the vehicles loaded to the hilt, both inside and on top! In Taomasina, we counted more than 100 trucks, all in a row waiting to pick up their loads which is often a full sized container. The town itself has obviously seen hard times, having been affected by political unrest in the past ten or so years, and by recurrent cyclones which batter that coast. The roads in town were potholed and sand strewn, and many official buildings had broken windows. However, the market was very colourful and lively, with thousands selling their wares, and colourful human and cycle driven rickshaws making traffic a nightmare. Yes, the trucks also drive between the pedestrians and rickshaws. Despite being winter, the weather was warm and humid. We would not recommend it as a place to live. In fact, if you have the opportunity to visit, please don’t take it!
Our last night was spent at a little resort 7km off the main road back to Tana at Manambato. It took us 24 minutes to cover that distance owing to the condition of the road. The hotel is on the edge of a huge lake, with white sand on its shores. There were very few people along the whole beach, and palms and coconut trees dotted along the shore. We had a simple room, but comfortable with hot water in the shower. The meals were served in the dining room along the edge of the beach, and were remarkably good (smoked fish with green bean salad, huge prawns and ratatouille and rice, and then crepes and coffee). The local family were watching a Mada “soap” DVD in the dining room, and then some local music which we enjoyed with them.
The next morning it was back to reality, and the drive back to Tana. The trucks, diesel fumes, clatter bang cars and crazy drivers made us very grateful to reach home safely.
(Below- Andasibe Hotel Cabins in the Rain Forest)
CHECK OUT BELOW FOR FILES OF MORE OUT AND ABOUT ADVENTURES
