2months in the Far South

Trip to the North : Ankarafantsika National Park

2 days spent on the 15th and 16th of September in Ankarafantsika on the way from Mahajanga to Ambanja

15.09.2011 - 16.09.2011

After 2 hours from Taxi-Brousse south of Mahajanga, i stopped on Thu morning into the Ankarafantsika National Park.

Entrance

Tall Baobabs

This is the tallest species of Baobab in Mada. There are a few specimens in the Park, but no tree of less than 2 to 3 hundreds years. These in the pictures are about 700years. Scientists are investigating why no young trees can be found. It could be that their reproduction depended on an animal which is now extinct. These good therefore be the last trees of this kind but they will live for another few hundreds years.

who s got a big nose?

Ebony

kapok, tree, beans and inside

These big kapok beans contain a cotton-like inside which is used to do pillows over here

hidden iguana

weirdos

these things are actually moving. They look like flowers but they are a kind of insect, called "cicadelle". One of the weirdest thing i ve seen here !

Oiseau de Paradis (Male)

Typical features (only for the male): long tail and blue circle around the eyes.

pretending they did not see me

This fellow stayed still for a while pretending no one had seen him. Notice he kept himself in a quite unstable position with one leg up in the air.

twirled tail

siesta

who are these guys on the other side

Coquerel Sifakas are very territorial, this picture was shot on the boundary of 2 territories where 2 groups spent 1h staring, intimidating each other. The group of this guy finally won the battle and claim a new couple of trees.

yeepa

califourchon

Posted by tfenal 24.09.2011 09:49 Archived in Madagascar Comments (0)

I saw a Baobab and the Canal du Mozambique !!

only 2 weeks to go, i am indulging myself with a mix of holidays and working trip in the Northern part of La Grande Ile. Cut in 2 parts it is still 2 times 12h of taxi brousse to reach my destination...

13.09.2011

Yesterday at lunch time, after a hard working morning at the NGO headquarters in Tana (seriously i did work), i thought again about the proposition from my flatmate to leave at 3pm to the North for 8days. Never left such in a hurry and with such a random last minute decision, but that was great ! and it seems i did not even forgot anything.

After the 12h night trip from Tana to Mahajanga in Taxi-brousse, i thought i could indulge myself with a massage (Ravintsara essential oil, good for everything). Life is hard, specially after spending time around the swimming pool of the hotel, tasting all the types of natural juices from the menu.
This looks more like Africa, The Sun is shining hard, must be over 35deg at lunch, and no need to wear a jumper at night ! Looks like another country compared to Tana.

I ll be leaving more north tomorrow evening for another 12h enjoyable Taxi-brousse (osteopathy could have a great potential market here) to meet a colleague in Ambanja and visit some potential sites of mini hydro plant.

Photos to follow...

Posted by tfenal 07:43 Comments (0)

Back in Tana for a few days

07.09.2011

Back in Tana since last Saturday; i ve been busy working during the day, and for a few enjoyable night outs in Tana.
Time to go out of town again, leaving tomorrow morning for 4 days in Andasibe area on our site of Vohimana. (3h east of Tana, in the hills / forest)
Then middle next week, big trip to the North, 16 to 20h of Taxi Brousse to visit the 2 sites of the NGO next to Ambanja and pass by Nosy Komba to see a hydro plant with a Pelton Turbine made in Madagascar.
Will stay in the area for a week or so, hopefully with a bit of tourism as well.
Then back in Tana around the 21st and then just a few days left ... argh
I ll have to come back to this country; 2 months is far too little !! :o)

Posted by tfenal 08:44 Comments (0)

3 days in Antsirabe

Trip to the south of Tana by Car !! With Carlos and his son. We were lucky and honoured to be invited to a famadihana (ceremonie du retournement des morts) by the family of a friend.

06.09.2011 25 °C

We left Tana on thursday morning, and therefore had 2 days to visit Antsirabe and area before the ceremony on Sat morning.

The first stop was at the natural water spring, where the interesting bit apart from the water was this super tuned Renault 4CV, just on the edge to be chavy, but which arguably stayed on the classy side.

the engine : not the 4CV original one but a R8 Gordini

barely recognisable Renault 4CV

In a tiny village on the road to Morondava, failing to find a 4th player for a belote game, we decided to stop for a baby-foot instead (The temptation was so big after having passed by the town in which all malagasy baby-foot are built. we got beaten quite badly by the local squad...

baby foot malgache

a game in a village

After a visit to the big and colourful market of Antsirabe ...
carpes au marché d Antsirabe

carpes au marché d Antsirabe

Friday evening; we went for Tilapia for diner, super tasty; cooked by one of the staff of the hotel and served in our room...

tilapia frit

Finally on Sat morning, we arrived at the village of the ceremony around 7AM to find most of the family and a big band already dancing and playing

the band up in the village, 7am

vue du village

the band

vue du balcon

Before the exhumation
avant

avant

and after...
apres

apres

There was a debate between the members of the family whether or not the unoccupied spaces of the newly built "caveau" had to be covered by banana trees trunks or not. If not, the fear was that these unoccupied coffin spaces would bring bad luck to the family and create early death of other family members to come and occupy these spaces.
I was asked what was my opinion, but prefered not to comment, not being an expert in this matter.

Posted by tfenal 05:18 Archived in Madagascar Tagged antsirabe Comments (0)