Our travels
Video+Pics
Cycling
Walking
About us
Day 1 Amsterdam-Antananarivo We have to rise early because our plane leaves at 7:25. At the head of counters 13/14 at Schiphol airport the group assembles, tourleader Dorian is the last one to arrive with our tickets. While checking in we notice the time on our flightscedule is wrong, we have to tickets for an earlier flight. This means we have to hurry to the gate to fly to Paris with Air France. At Charles de Gaulle airport we have extra time this way to get from one terminal to another. And that is nice because it is quite a distance, we have to take a bus. The plane to Antananarivo is boarding on time, but we leave at least 30 minutes late. Soon after we left we get a very big lunch, so we expect a lot of the service of Air France. We couldn't be more wrong. After the lunch (at half past eleven) we see nobody untill 8 hours later a light dinner is served. After a while people start  walking in the isles.
Some come back with drinks. A quick look learns us there is a cart in the back of the plane with drinks
and if you are lucky there are some light snacks there too. Ofcourse we are at the wrong time and the snacks are all taken.
It is a very bad system if you don't have an isle seat and have to ask people to stand up because you want a drink. They
could have served some drinks after 3 hours or so. We think this is bad service of Air France! It takes a long time to pass customs. But even then our bags had not arrived on the belt. This promisses a lot for the rest of the trip, when everything is this slow here in Madagascar. Our hotel (Cheval Blanc) is very close to the airport. The room is very basic, but we are tired and we just need a good bed. Day 2-3 Périnet reserve After a night of turning and not sleeping very well we get up at 7:30. 
A hot shower, a tablet against headache and all is better. At eight we have breakfast in the hotel. Dorian tells us about the
trip after we all introduced ourselves. We all want to start the trip now. The local travelagent arrives with a bag full of Ariary.
Everybody exchanges 500 Euro, but then it turns out there is a million missing. Everybody counts his money again,
it takes some time with this amount, but it is not found. The travelagent goes back to the bank and returns with the money, so we can leave at eleven.
The first stop is at a supermarket to buy bottled water, then we leave the city and the adventure can start.
At a place where they make bricks we ask to have a photostop. Molds are filled with clay, after they are dried in the sun they
are piled up with straw in between. The straw is lighted and the bricks are baked.
Not much later it starts to rain. The bags are on top of the bus, and there is nothing to cover it, we fear the worst.
 At the privat park Pereyras we see our first lemurs and cameleons of Madagascar. A guide takes us into the woods for a short walk. They carry bananas to feed the brown lemurs. They know what to expect and hurry towards the treats. 
Not far away we find the sifaka,
they are fed with bread. It makes nice pictures but it is not very natural. After a lunch (bread with eggs and tomatoes) we are
guided into cages where the reptiles live. We see some cameleons very close up, but it feels very much like a zoo.
In the meantime the rain really started pooring down, the luggage is getting wetter. It takes us another 90 minutes to get to
our bungalows next to the Périnet park. And when we open our bags after arrival the content is damp, so wet spots. And we had
a flightbag around our bags, some others had there (not waterproof) bags without any cover on the roof. It still rains and with
no heaters in the bungalows it is impossible to dry your clothes. Before we left for our bungalows we ordered our meals in the
restaurant. We could choose from several 3 course dinners for 13,000 Ariary (about 5 Euro). The food is good, and enough. At
eleven we it is time to go to bed, hoping for a better night sleep. Wake-up call at 6:30. Today we go for our first walk in the 'wild'. It is a guided tour in the rainforest of 
Périnet, we are looking for Indri-Indri, the largest of
all the lemurs. The call of the Indri-Indri is easy to recognize, it sounds like the call of a whale and you can
hear it from over 5 kilometers. At the parc the group devides in two smaller groups with each their own guide. We have a guide who
is an expert on the birds, he find a lot of endemic birds.
He even shows us the crested nightjar, a very rare nocturnal bird.
But like all the visitors here we would like to see the lemurs. So into the hills we go. We see a few groups of Indri-Indri, but
also the woolly and the brown lemur. When an Indri female leaps from one tree to another she drops her young. 'Don't move' the
guide whispers, but that was not what we had in mind, we all hold our breath. Slowly she comes down from the tree, the young is
softly calling her, she picks it up and goes up the tree again. It looks like a happy ending. 
After the walk we have a pizza at the snackcorner near the park entrance.
The bus brings us to Andisabé, a village closeby. First action is ordering dinner for tonight in the old railwaystation. After that
we walk around the small village. It is very poor, it looks like the tourist Euros are not going towards this community.
Back at the bungalows we have some time to rest before we leave for the nightwalk. At 6:30 we leave with the same guides from this
morning. After dark it is not allowed to go into the park so we stay on the road along the park. Our flashlights find many cameleons
sleeping on the branches, and we even see the orange eyes of some nocturnal lemurs in the trees. At the parkentrance Sacha is waiting
with the bus to take us to ´La Gare´, the restaurant in the railwaystation. We had a nice dinner with Zebu steak. This night we
retire early because we have to be at breakfast at 6:30. Hope this is not a trend, every morning somewhat earlier.Day 4-5 Antsirabe Although we are present in the breakfast room long before 6:30, we are certainly not the first ones. After the usual baguette with marmelade the lugguage is put on top of the bus. 
Because we still have no cover for the lugguage the bags that are not waterproof are put inside the bus. And not in vain, it has
started to rain again. We were very lucky yesterday, no rain during the walk.
We drive along the same road back to Tana. The difference is it is not dark this time, so we can see something.
Just before Tana the sun is coming out, it feels great. We stop at the supermarket to do some shopping while Sacha, the driver, is going
for a cover for the lugguage. Because he takes longer than expected we have lunch at the parkinglot of the supermarket.
It feels like the Malagassy think: 'what a poor trip, eating out on the street and no cover over the lugguage.'
Past Tana we follow the RN7 south. Along the way we make two stops at souvenirstalls. Once where they sell cars made from cans and at
a place where they sell reed baskets. Not much further it is a nice landscape and we walk about half an hour along the road. The bus
picks us up a few kilometers further. At 6 we arrive in Antsirabe. At the reception of hotel Hasina people from restaurant Gaëlle
are waiting with the menu. Order now, eat at 7:30.The rooms in this hotel have names instead of numbers, we stay in the Lotus room. A nice room with a double bed at the third floor. After a warm shower, that feels good to the cold and stiff muscles, we go to Gaëlle for dinner with the entire group. The food is simple, but in huge portions. And the price is increadible. For 7 Euro we both have 3 course meal with wine and beer.  No pressure this morning. We took a shower at 8. For breakfast we went to Salon du Thé, not far away from the hotel. There we found a large portion of our travegroup. This afternoon we eat at in a very small village, don't know what we are going to get, so we decide to have the complete breakfast. It has eggs with bacon, different sorts of sweet bread and fruityoghurt. After breakfast we have some time to walk around the lake with Alex and Joke. It is difficult to walk here in the city every meter of the way there is a pousse-pousse. A pousse-pousse is a cart drawn by a man. The men are really hoping for a custommer. Please remember my number... maybe later.... At eleven we get into the bus to go to a famadihana (reburial ceremony). A local guide is supposed to show us the way, but he doesn't know the way himself. We stop at a local farmer and a boy is getting into the bus to show us the way. the road  is getting worse and even more narrow. Sacha decides this
is as far as his bus can take us. So we continue on foot. It is a long walk, uphill. When we finally arrive there are several people coming to greet
us. They are ranking up to the 'little brother of the big chief'.
A man takes us to the village a short distance from the tombe. Behind one of the houses, in the shadow they built a table with some
poles and planks. This is were we are having a welcome meal. It is a plate with
 rice and bacon. A piece of the pig, the black hairs are staring at me, is on
top of my plate. I have to swallow, but it is very impolite to not even taste it. The rice is delicious by the way. But i don't manage to
empty the plate, like all my fellow travellers.
The band starts to play, it sounds like jazz from New Orleans. After some dancing the group is going in the direction of the tombe.
The bodies are already taken outside the tombe. Four bodies, wrapped in white sheets, are lying beside the tombe.
There are some speeches, the only thing we can understand is that they tell something about us the Vazaha (foreigners).
But what they tell about us to their deceased we will never know.
It doesn't matter though, it is their party, not ours. And the praty lasts on.... The liquor is all around, even the wrapped bundles
are getting a sip from time to time. After a few hours of dancing the bodies are wrapped in new, clean white, sheets.
After that they ask us to leave, the returning of the bodies into the grave is a private matter. We are glad, the ceremony lasted very long,
we are here for 5 hours now. The group walks back to the bus, which Sacha managed to turn around.
Back in Antsirabe we order our dinner at the local italian restaurant. The hotel is only 5 minutes away on foot, but the pousse-pousse are here again.
We still decide to walk. Time to take a refreshing shower.
The pizzas are great, but the banana flambé was really bad. The bill was a mess, and the man refused to let us all pay for ourselves.
Everybody counted from the menu what they should pay, and put it in a bowl. We had a large amount of money, but he asked a lot less. So the
rest was put in the groupkitty. No large tip for this stuburn italian.
Day 6 Ambositra Breakfast in the hotel at 7:30. The bicycles for the sportive men are ready at eight. Erwin, Math, Wim, Alex and Tom get a short route description to Lac Tritriva. Later that day we knew the description was not entirely correct. They were told to take the exit at about 9 kilometer, but the exit was at 6 kilometers without any signposts.  The bus with the other 12 travellers leaves at nine.
When we arrive at the
lake we are told that no men on bikes arrived. And we didn't pass them on the way. we decide to go for a walk around the lake and then
see if they found it. But an hour later, after a guide told us some tales about the lake and we walked around it, still no bikes.
There is no phone coverage here. So we drive back untill the phones are working. The men are stranded on the mainroad, with a
broken chain. The bus turns around to pick them up. Maths bike, the one with the broken chain, is put on the roof of the bus. The other
four are cycling back to the hotel. We buy some snacks in the supermarket, so they can have a light lunch on the steps of the hotel.
After that we move on, further south.
In the village of Ikianja we are allowed to have a look inside a real malagasy house. It is very small, downstairs is the place for the lifestock.
Upstairs there is one bedroom for the entire family and a kitchen. In the bedroom there are two beds. One for the parents, we see a
chicken scraping under it, and one for all the children.Not much further south we see a bridge wich was blown out by the rebels in 2001. By blowing the bridge they seperated the north and the south of the country. Before we arrive at our hotel in Ambositra we have to order our dinner in restaurant Violette, it is becoming a habit. Tonight we stay in a nice local hotel according to the travel organisation. We don't expect much. But we are wrong. The rooms at Résidence Mahatsinjo are great. After a short rest and a warm shower we get in Sachas bus to go to the restaurant. The original live music on a typical Malagassy snare instrument is not really nice to hear. But the food is good. Sacha wanted to go to bed early so he left already and we have to walk back. Day 7-8 Ranomafana Park It is half past seven and it is cold. The breakfastroom is an open space with some reed mats around it. This means we need our sweaters. At eight Sacha is wrestling with the two small covers on the roof of the bus. 
It takes a while before he manages to cover all the lugguage. We have no faith in the solution of the two smaller covers.
But we leave anyway, and there is no rain this morning. Our first stop is at the local market of Ambositra. A nice place
to shoot some pictures. Next stop is a workshop annex store where wood carvings are made and sold. The inlay woodwork is amazingly
good. And most people of our group buy something. We buy a small tableau with a baobab scene on it. The bargaining of such a large group
takes some time.
 And we leave much later than we had planned. We drive further
south and we see
the change in clothes worn by the local people. The Betsileo living in this area wear very colourful things. In Camp Robin
it is market day and we ask to stop herre for a while. All sort of stuff is sold on the market from the colourful cloths to life pigs.
Many opportunities to take pictures.Lunch is outside at a nice viewpoint along the route. Another group of travellers has taken all the benches at the parking spot. So we drive a little bit further and eat at the other side of the road. After some pictures of the view we drive on. Not much longer before we turn of the RN7 into a dirtroad. The road is recently reconstructed and we make good progress, untill a bridge is under construction. It looks like it is going to take some time untill they are finished. So the group decides to go for a walk and let Sacha pick us up later along the road. Nico is not feeling well and stays inside the bus.  We walk and walk and walk, at least it is downhill, but we
hear or see no bus.
I try to make a picture of a Zebu walking along the opposite side of the road. The zebu is not amused and attacks. A scary moment,
but the animal decides to back up after two threats. In the mean the sun is going down very rapidly and still no traffic from behind.
The scary scenerios of very cold nights and no food are coming along, just as the first trucks are passing.
Not much later we see Sacha approaching. We have to drive another half hour. We wouldn't have made it walking to the hotel.
Ofcourse we start with ordering dinner and then we find our bungalow.
Dinner at half past seven is getting tradition. The crabsoup is great and a large quantity. And that is good because the crayfish
has a good taste but almost no meat in it. Not to mention the crepe for dessert that never arrived....
It looks like they want us to leave. But that is too easy, so we head for the bar ans order some local rum (Dzama). Mild and delicious.
Breakfast at 7:30. Dorian ordered a extra luxury breakfast. Next to the familair baguette with jam there is also homemade yoghurt and a huge and very heavy croissant. After we manage to swallow it all we leave for the 
Ranomafana Park. The group devides into two groups. One group is going for the 3 hour walk and the other one for the 4 hour tour.
But we keep seeing eachother at every lemur we see. Next to the golden bamboo lemur, the small bamboo lemur, the sifaka we see brown lemurs.
And that is it. The guides are not half as good as the guides in Perinet. She is not making any effort to find animals. We could have made
this trip by ourselves and see as much as we did now. Lunch in Domaine Nature. Good food and they made a seperate bill for everybody.
After the lunch Sacha is taking us back to our hotel. Time to order dinner. After a short relaxing stay in the sun we are picked up for
the nightwalk. It is 5 o'clock when we walk in a row uphill
to the place where the nocturnal animals are going to show up. It doesn't take long for us to realise why they come,  they are fed here. A ringtailed mongoose,
a civetcat and some mouselemurs show up. It is an embarrasing scene, al the tourists (about 50), trying to get the best
spot to take pictures.  In the meantime it became dark and we make our way back downhill. We see a mouselemur, without being lured by food, a frog, a chameleon and a gecko. Although we have more food than yesterday we can't resist to take another rum. Read more about our trip through Madagascar in part 2: to Ifaty. |
Madagascar 2006