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Welcome to my travel log! You will find here a lot more than in the travel reports, stripped from political correctness. Enjoy! 
Jun 30, 2001 02:00 PM Madagascar - Ramena; day two (Sakalava Bay)
There are many other places to see around Ramena, like Sakalava Bay for example. I went there the following day. It was very nice, tranquil beach in a form of a bay but without palm trees beach. The sand is white and the water emerald. It is not very easy to get there and the walk may be hot during the day as there is no shade on the entire route. It is however well worth visiting for at least three reasons:
- the beach;
- the restaurant; and
- the family of the Crowed Lemurs.
The grilled lobster menu in the beach restaurant (MGF75,000, £7.50) was the best lobster (two whole lobsters to be exact) I have had in my life. It went down extremely well washed with papaya juice.
Just perfect! The family of Crowned Lemurs (2+2) living in the close neighbourhood of the restaurant (+hotel) is very sociable. They have become fearless of the human presence and sometimes come very close. Actually, it was possible to touch the male, which was also very cheeky to drink my papaya juice – directly from my glass. I was happy enough it did not use the straw I was using, since there was only one straw in the glass!
The owner of the restaurant was horrified when she saw the animal draining my drink. I just took my camera and shot it. Then, naturally, I stated to the owner that I would pay only 50% of the price for the drink. We both laughed and she finally relaxed.
The other bay, called Dunes Bay (Bay des Dunes) is said to be very nice, too. The old lighthouse standing at the mouth of the Diego Bay at Cap de Mine would be worth visiting as well.
The way to the lighthouse, Cap de Mine and Bay of Dunes is passable only via a French military base. The pass permit was easy to obtain from the hotel – Miguel again was the star. The base is in complete ruin and civilians normally live on the beach. Only two guys were dressed in military uniforms, one of them, at the gate, had a machine gun but, as he whispered in my ear, the gun was not loaded because they ran out of the ammunition last year. I am not entirely convinced it was necessarily true. He, seeing my overweight camera, asked me politely not to take any pictures of the base and I promised to keep my word.
Rest of the soldiers were dressed just in shorts and sometimes T-shirts. They were trying to occupy themselves cutting the remains of grass, filling potholes in the asphalt with the sand from the mountain.
One of them, named Angelo asked me to take a picture of him and then to send it back to the military base for him. It was quite funny how he was posing with the spade and the plastic bag being used to transport the mountain sand. He also took the bottle of water I had with me to fill in the exposure. He was very serious but really simpatico. I asked him if he wanted a T-shirt. He did. I gave him six T-shirts and a pair of shorts for running. He was so happy, particularly with the pants. And I was happy that my rucksack was a lot less heavy and I that made room for souvenirs, etc.
I originally wanted to get to the Dunes Bay but I lost my way in the bushes. The guide book actually stated that I would need a guide but I did not believe it, well served me right! I then decided to climb the hill to see if I could see where I was. It was not an easy climb, with my super heavy camera swaying on a belt from my right arm, a bag with spare films, documents, money and bottle of water on the other arm. I just thought that I must be a stubborn Capricorn to having to climb there. When I looked down, I had to say to myself: 'shit, I'm never gonna make my way down, not here anyway'. So, when already on the top I decided change my mission and to look for an alternative way down.
At the top of the hill, I discovered that I was nowhere near Dunes Bay but also two other things that were not described in the guide books: ruins with remains of six massive guns from WWII and a magnificent view to the entry of the Diego Bay and Mer Emeraude. This should definitely be available for visiting not because of its enormous attractiveness but also due to its historical importance. The view was truly exquisite. I was not sure how many pictures I should take of it.
Again, no picture could ever express how outstanding the view was. Man, I have seen so many splendid things and views in my life but this one shocked me. I suddenly became so happy that I lost my way to the stupid Dunes Bay. This one was definitely more adventurous and more interesting. It’s like discovering something new.
I remember that the guys at the gate to the base told me not to take any pictures of the base (actually, ruins of the base) I promised not to take any pictures of the base but I was not sure about the hilltop. It looked to me like it was outside the base. I could see many traces of zebu and goats, mind you – they may have belonged to the army as well.
I just followed the path full of Zebú's and goat's droppings to the still fully operational lighthouse. Not exceptionally attractive but situated superbly on the rocks. Only when I noticed that there was no way that I could find my way to the Dunes Bay, and while the sun was approaching the horizon, I realised that I should rather be on my way back. I still had to find an alternative way back from the hill.
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Jun 29, 2001 02:00 PM Madagascar - Ramena; day one
The way to the village was along the magnificent bay of Antsiranana. The distance is not long – exactly 18 kms (11.185 miles) but it takes approximately 40 minutes by Renault 4L or 20 minutes by a 4WD. That is because of numerous potholes in the ageing tarmac.
I decided to stay at Remena Nofy – Fihary Hotely. They have modern bungalows with comfortable facilities and excellent restaurant serving perfect seafood and an amazing, freshly done (while you wait) papaya juice. Pity it's not directly on the beach. The beach was not far away, anyway. Just two minutes walk down from the hotel.
However, the main reason why I decided to stay there was the personnel. Miguel, the acting manager of the hotel (deputing for his cousin, who was away for business) was very friendly from the very start. Gave good handshake, spoke quite good English and was smiling all the time. The other personnel in the bar and restaurant were also smiling friendly looking me straight in the eyes. All of them were young and this was therefore the place I wanted to spend the last days of this perfect holiday.
The bungalow (for three people; one double bed, one single bed) was reasonably comfortable however not to big. It had good shower with hot water and a mosquito net for the double bed.
In the shower, I was making myself useful washing the back of the day geckos. I could not refuse this service since they were already there. I just hope they were all females – I wouldn't like to be misunderstood.
Apart from the geckos, chickens were everywhere too, and they were, as usual, crossing the road from one household to another – how do they make sure that they've got complete inventory at the end of the day, week, fortnight, month, quarter, year, decade, etc.? I don’t know, and sorry for my auditor’s point of view.
The reason I went to the northern Madagascar was a bunch of national parks and protected areas, and weather. I was ready to rent a 4WD again to go on the trip to certain uneasy-to-get-there places. So, I started talking to Miguel.
Miguel was again exceptionally friendly and helpful. He was so kind to organise all the trips I wanted and it was for peanuts! The entire day trip to the Ankarana Special Reserve cost me just MGF 65,000 (£6.50)!
He was smiling all the time and it was difficult to imagine him not smiling. So when I saw him once not smiling widely I thought that something was wrong. I was actually right then – he had an argument with his cousin. Since there were not many guests at the hotel, Miguel was kind of bored and therefore had a full hand of offers what we could do together.
Then, his girlfriend, really very nice and beautiful, kept me company during the day when Miguel was busy at the hotel.
One day we decided to go out all three of us together after sunset. At the beginning, Miguel, his girl-friend, a waitress from the hotel bar and I went to see the local disco L'Oasis in the Ramena village, on the beach. Miguel promised hot atmosphere but before 23.30 HRS it did not really kick off as most locals must have spent all their money on the Independence Day extravaganzas. So, we quickly decided to go to Antsiranana (Diego) to one of the two night clubs.
The road to Antsiranana at night is even worse, but this time we took the 4WD mini bus so we could drive a bit faster.
We went to the larger of the two night club called Tropical. It looked really civilised and the DJ played decent music – intelligent mix of Malagasy and international. It had two bars located opposite one another across the round dance floor. Drinks were indecently expensive (MGF15,000; £1.50) but it soon got hot and we stayed until 2.30am. The atmosphere was excellent, people were going mad on the floor and the party kicked off for good.
Miguel, as the acting manager of the hotel, suggested that we should not stay too long because in the morning I was going for the whole day trip setting out at 7 am! He had organised that trip so I better listened. We had two options:
go back to Ramena village driving in the night on a bad road for at least half an hour and go o bed really late; or
stay in Diego in the hotel’s apartment to which Miguel had keys and share one bed (hmm…) and then face the early morning drive to Ramena to make it for before 7 am.
We were debating these two options for about 45 minutes and then I decided (since I was the boss) that we should go back to Ramena. Now, I am not sure if this was the right decision, but it did not really matter that much.
On the way back from the night club to Ramena, we got a flat tyre. In the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere and no tools in the mini bus we were unable to fix the wheel! The fact that I had the torch with me did not eventually help either. The hotel was, according to mine and Vony’s calculations, approximately still 3 kms (1.9 miles) away, so we were facing half an hour walk in complete darkness. The night was moonless. Miguel, as I figured was a bit lazy, and said that he was going to risk the wheel and drive up. Amazingly he did not really stop smiling for a moment.
When we arrived at the hotel, the tyre was totally destroyed and nothing would rescue it. Tyres are not cheap on Madagascar!
The next night, all of us again went up the hill to see the ruins of the military base. It was very interesting to see that the sole purpose of the base was to serve the WWII and nothing else. This was apparent that soon after the war was finished, the base was never used again. It was rather cool as well and the view from the top was wicked.
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Jun 28, 2001 02:00 PM Madagascar - Antsiranana
First, the airline cancelled my reservation because the agency from which I bought the ticket in England did not successfully reconfirmed my ticket 72 hours before travel as I required. So, the AirMad assumed that I gave up travelling – like it was an open ticket or something. I forced them to put me on the top of a waiting list, because, as always, the flight according to the computer system was full. When we took off, the plane was not even near of being full – at least 25 people could still come on board! This is AirMad for you, albeit I decided to reconfirm all my remaining flights myself.
The aircraft was a newer Boeing 737-300 so it felt so much safer than that one old B737- 200 from Toamasina to Antananarivo with some strange engines attached to it. The interior of that ancient one resembled the decorations I have seen in few Soviet films. This time it was better, even the business class cabin, although empty throughout the flight, was available and the overhead lockers looked at least familiar to those ‘many other aircraft I may have flown on before’.
I was 'impressed' with the service – the distributed the Belgian TUC crackers and four different kinds of soft drinks: Coca-Cola, Olympico Orange, Olympico Lemon-Lime and still water. Very efficiently, I have to admit.
The view from the plane window was again spectacular. The aircraft travelled over some red-brown and green mountains first and then a lot higher dark brown and graphite ones. Both carved unusually by the water and wind erosion. Quite fantastic landscape and surprisingly awesome visibility were not expected.
Extinct volcanoes, many, very many craters and Tsingy dominated the view as we approached the destination. It is again amazing that this country is not protected in its entirety. Not only is it unique with so many endemic species (being still discovered everyday) but extremely beautiful, all of it.
On the way back from Antsiranana, the plane flew for a longer while along the western coast (Canal du Mozambique) against the sun (because I was sitting on the right side and in early afternoon), so poor visibility limited the admiration and photography opportunities of the area. However, the Nosy Kely island could be nicely seen. So could be Mangroves.
After landing, I grabbed a taxi and ordered to go to the centre – to the Colbert Hotel. It was fully booked so I quickly decided to go to Ramena village, which was nicely advertised in the guide books. Although Antsiranana (Diego Suarez) is an attractive town, it was the right choice.
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Jun 27, 2001 02:00 PM Madagascar - Miandrivazo to Antananarivo
The second part of the trip, Miandrivazo – Antananarivo, was faster because the road was in excellent condition and the scenery was exceptionally picturesque.
The landscape resembles north-west Morocco and central Spain but it is more hilly. The hills are shaped in a similar way to the eroded sand in the Death Valley in California, US. These however are covered with dark yellow brown-ish tall grass with a green bush every there and again, each time with a bush of a different kind. Sometimes landslides caused by heavy rain and cyclones frequent in the summer timer uncover an amazing colour of the earth – vivid brown, almost red, deep red like the soil was mixed with blood.
Above-head, incredibly blue sky, light blue, very pale like it was diluted or something. White clouds, incredibly thin layer, not even solid but bitty with many gaps –the cheetah pattern alike but in some places more tightly packed and in other places, very loose and being not a cloud but a transparent trace of it. And the clouds – again, I have seen clouds like that in the Death Valley or central-eastern Morocco – not feather-like but with smooth, round edges, almost like they were engineered.
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Jun 26, 2001 02:00 PM Madagascar - Morondava; Kirindy Reserve
This private reserve was not on my list of places to see. The driver with whom I made the deal to go to Antananarivo said that it was nice and that I should go there and that he would not charge me for this.
So I went, but frankly, I regret it. It was nothing special, all they chose to show me there I have seen before and the attitude of the people there surprised me. The place is too expensive and too small – not worth it!
They also charge for parking MGF15,000 (£1.5) which is outrages and indecent since there is nowhere else to park the car! They want you to take the guide for MGF30,000 (£3) for just 2h walk, the guide is lazy although knows the places where the lemurs would be.
It's a pretty good chance to see White Sifakas, Brown Lemurs and some other species of lemurs there. The chameleons, some of them quite large, are in the area but I have seen only a medium-size one as the guide was too lazy. I wouldn't recommend this place. No-one speaks English and the walk in the forest full of weird plants is very quiet, so if you are not fluent in French you would not have an idea what flora you are actually walking by.
In the reserve, I met Mark, an American student who was doing research for UNESCO about protected natural areas around the globe. He needed a lift to Morondava, and in fact was staying at the same hotel I was staying. As for an American, he was quite friendly (grateful for giving him the lift?) and talkative (not a surprise there!). I was amazed with the stories he could tell me about the UNESCO protected areas in so many places on our planet. His research was concentrated on the compliance with the UNESCO and WWF regulations and requirements. I was pleased to hear that most of the governments actually comply with the rules and the nature is benefiting from it.
On the way back to Morondava, I suddenly realised that I missed a particularly beautiful spot to photograph. Well, I did not actually miss it as I took several pictures there at night, but only that morning, I realised how striking it actually is during daylight. It was a lake covered with some sort of violet flowers and several baobabs reflecting nicely in the water. The flowers like there are actually quite common in Poland called ‘lilie wodne’ or ‘zabiece’ but they are never violet or purple but rather white or cream, maybe slightly pink. However, I could be very wrong here – Madagascar enjoys shocking uniqueness of its flora and fauna.
That was the last time I saw myself Morondava and its vicinity. The failure of my colleagues to arrive at Morondava to join me prompted me to leave at my earliest convenience. The earliest convenience was that early afternoon.
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Jun 26, 2001 02:00 PM Madagascar - Morondava to Miandrivazo
Many local people told me that for tourists it is not actually worth driving from Morondava to Antananarivo because the landscape is not nice and it is rather boring.
Well, it was only partially true. On the part Morondava – Miandrivazo, the landscape was only a little nice with some distant mountains in the background. A few villages along the main road were not impressive at all but the architecture of the villages changed significantly, which was definitely not boring.
The road was very bad! In the past, it was apparently a very good road, but the cyclones ruined part of it. The bit between Malaimbandy and Miandrivazo disappeared completely making it the worst road in the country! The wholes in the sand track were so big, they could easily swallow the entire car. I kept exercising my imagination to picture how the minivans of Taxi Brousse might plough this track and how pissed off with the slug pace the passengers can get. If they actually care!
There is nothing on the road so I did get quite pissed off with the pace I was progressing to Antananarivo. When it got dark, I could see how local farmers burnt the grass on the hills. Some of the fires were getting out of hand and looked seriously frightening. At the other hand, it made an incredible sight and it felt like I was being on the set of some science fiction or rather fantasy motion picture. Dark scenery, burning hills, no souls visible, impossible track to negotiate, no visibility, nothing on the horizon… Get the picture?
That day was the Independence Day of Madagascar (26 June) and a lot people wore their best clothes and children were dressed up as well yet walking with bare feet.
Everything was closed on that day and when I arrived at Miandrivazo, it was already too late to eat at hotels and all other restaurants were closed! There was a big vast party in the streets and kids were shouting and throwing petards, which made terrible noise.
I had to risk eating in the street from some food vendor… It was not bad for the locals and many people were shoving the food up their mouths. The vendor had no soft drinks, just the infamous Malagasy rum and some other heavy duty alcohol beverages. When I ordered Soda Passion (my favourite, apart from the very good Tonic) a girl had to run to a nearest acquainted shop to get me one. One thing about the food from very local or street vendors – not very good at all! It lacks imagination and a whole range of spices.
Well, certain things like sambos (a kind of crispy dumplings or ‘pierogi’ stuffed with meat or fish) could be very tasty, but more complicated dishes like duck, chicken or zebu are usually low quality. They are awfully cheap but the mass production suffers from lack of cook’s dedication. It is therefore far better to eat in more upscale establishments.
The town itself is quite nice and it is fabulously located on the hills above the reasonably large river Mahajilo. It is interesting that the guide books actually say that it is not worth breaking the trip in this town. I would like to disagree, although I did not spend an awful lot of time there – just the late evening and early morning. The river views available from many spots around the town deliver brilliant sights!
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Jun 25, 2001 02:00 PM Madagascar - Morondava; Avenue des Baobabs
About the avenue of baobabs I had heard long before I started planning to go to Madagascar. I had also seen many pictures on the Internet as well. The latest guide book from Lonely Planet had a picture of the avenue on the cover of the book. This avenue therefore had to be included in my plans.
So, it is most photographed spot of the island. Extremely attractive place and terrifically photogenic! The best time to take pictures there is the entire day. People would claim that the far best time would be the sunset and soon after sunrise and although the light is in fact very good at these times, during the day there will be less tourists over there and locals would pose for photographs eagerly.
During the hour of sunset, it is in fact attractive to see how the colours of the trees change and the background composes perfect shots of the area. However, sunrise is a lot better because the sky is usually more cloudy, which makes the greatest, or better, the most dramatic effect with these magnificent trees.
During the sunset period, say approximately three quarters of an hour before the sun disappears, herds of tourists from all over the world rush onto the Avenue des Baobabs with the aim to take the most memorable photograph from the holiday on Madagascar.
There are better and worse days but usually the place is crowded awfully. Most of the people, however go there to actually take some good pictures and therefore there is this global unwritten agreement between tourists that if anyone cries “hide now!” everyone is disappearing from the view hiding behind these massive tree trunks.
The co-operation is always appreciated but there is actually no need for it as everyone hides away happily because everyone hopes that all others would do the same for them. It really works!
Well, I was actually fortunate that the day I was there was not too bad and only few tourists were there. Actually more locals were in the view, which made the scenery more natural. I was so overwhelmed with the extraordinarity of the place so I shot approximately eighty pictures on the avenue! This is quite a lot for a traditional film camera.
There are travellers, who stated that the baobabs on the way from Morombe to Morondava are better for photographers than the avenue. It is not entirely accurate. Better baobabs are actually on the way from Toliara to Morombe as there are few baobab forests on route. There are not directly on the road but in a distance, some 1.6 kms (1 mile) away, so the determined photographer would have to walk there through the rice fields or the savannah. I was not this determined but I guess I should have been. In England they call it a benefit of hindsight. The benefit is rather theoretical.
Baobabs Amoreaux are the Communal Natural Monument of Morondava. It features two baobab trees hugging one another like being in love. It is actually quite a nice spot and the trees look amazing! I did not know about this place but I quickly found out from many postcards.
There is also nice local story about the trees, how they got there. To cut it short it tells about a couple of people who like many others disagreed with their king to have a war with the neighbouring kingdom were on the run from the army. They got tired and stopped hiding in the forest. They were never found so they stayed there, built their house and lived there happily ever after. After they died, in the place of their house, these two baobabs appeared and they grow there until now. The taxi driver was so kind to tell the story. I think it is cute and as the belief in this story is so strong that the officials decided to make a Communal Natural Monument, the nature certainly benefits from it.
A thorough observer would most probably recognise which of the two trees is the female. It is not actually difficult at all.
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Jun 24, 2001 02:00 PM Madagascar - Morondava; day three
Olivier was very funny, he was writing a diary or a journal, and being just after the national service he had certain point of view on many things. He once tried to teach the kids to count 1-10 in English just as we were sitting on the beach watching one of the brilliant sunsets, or as Olivier would state ‘the sun going to sleep’ – it’s a French thing, you know.
Sunsets were spectacular there! Almost all of them were accompanied by a green halo just above the sun. I am not sure what was the reason for this phenomenon.
One night, I was extremely lucky to have my dinner decorated with an unbelievable moonset. I was sitting with Olivier at a terrace of one of the best restaurants in town right at the water’s edge shoving up the best seafood ever and looking out for the smashing waves trying to reach our table. The size of the Moon was incredible and the colour range exceeded my expectations several times! The Moon turned from almost white to cream, yellow, grapefruit, orange, mandarin, red, devil red and deep burgundy, archbishop red. I do not think I have ever seen anything like that in my life before.
Although I planned to chill, I could not just lie down on the beach. Apart from visiting the surrounding area of Morondava and getting Olivier on the Taxi Brousse to Antsirabe I had many things to do. One of them was taking care of the way to travel to Antananarivo in the timeframe allowing me to make it for the plane to Antsiranana. My colleagues did not eventlly arrive on time and it just made things more complicated and more expensive for me. Officially, there were no flights available, which would otherwise make things simpler and a lot cheaper.
So, the other options included Taxi Brousse or renting a 4WD.
The Taxi Brousse, some sort of public transport (a van, small bus, or similar vehicle packed to the limits), were not reliable and took a long, long, long, long, long time. The 4WD were not easy to rent and many of them were already booked for travel around the area or to the Tsingy National Park.
I finally found a driver with 4WD who agreed to take me to Antananarivo. I was getting desperate so I agreed to the price and because the Toyota Land Cruiser, fully air-conditioned and with tinted glass windows was a pretty nice vehicle to travel, I was not so unhappy about the price.
In Morondava, again I could not believe that people could be carrying everything on their heads – some weird things, too but the most impressive was a bucket full of water!
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Jun 23, 2001 02:00 PM Madagascar - Morondava; day two
In Morondava, I planned to stay several days on the beach to get some tan, finally. However, I needed to stay there because I was waiting for my colleagues to join me from their trip in Serengeti National Park. Therefore, my Morodava activity plan was to do nothing and relax as much as possible. The level of adrenaline was reaching its tops in my blood stream and it was a good idea to let it stabilise before I was to set out for the remaining of my perfect holiday.
Then Olivier, the same whom I gave the lift from Morombe (ah, the drivers actually demanded he’d pay for the privilege), came asking me if I would be interested in sharing a taxi to the Avenue des Baobabs and the Baobabs Amoreaux. It’s a short escapade just outside the town. I said yes, and we made an appointment.
Soon after, I found out that Olivier did not have a place to stay and because he was on a tight budget, he did not have very many options to choose from. So I took him to my bungalow, it was large enough for three people so I did not mind. It actually made feel good about myself.
He was a good man and quite funny as well. He was one of the very few Frenchmen who try hard to speak English in the sake of conversation, even when realising that their English is not perfect. I did enjoy his company, even though he would not go clubbing for example. He preferred to observe the night sky. Aha! We had one common hobby, or worse, fascination: astronomy.
When I arrived on Madagascar, I was quite unhappy that I did not take my star constellation map for the southern hemisphere. So it was such a good job Olivier had one with him. I was quite impressed that he would be so prepared. Although being on the southern hemisphere for such a long time (remember he was doing his national service there), it would make perfect sense.
One night we spend watching the night sky searching for constellations that are discrete and not easy to spot like the Capricorn. This one had a special meaning to me, as I am Capricorn by stars.
Olivier had field glasses so we could observe galaxies, star clouds, star clusters and our Milky Way’s dust. That was only possible because the quality of the air was excellent and since electricity is not obviously common on Madagascar there was absolutely no light pollution.
It was great to discuss all the three great differences of the sky (night sky and day sky) on the southern hemisphere with someone so enthusiastic, and possibly passionate, about these things and a lot more knowledgeable as well. I actually forgot I wanted to go clubbing again. These three things are:
- Sun
- Moon
- Stars
Sun. It travels through the sky upside down making the noon being the point in the sky were sun is in the northern direction. It is a funny feeling for a European.
Moon. It should really be ‘Crescent Moon’ because only this is different. Moon is eaten by the Earth’s shadow the other way round – like the whole thing was happening backwards. Certain positions of the Crescent Moon are fabulous, like this one that make the Moon having horns pointing the space. Never does it happen in Europe! The sky is so perfectly clear that the craters on the satellite are easily visible. Amazing!
Stars. Most of them are different and not visible in Europe, including the Alpha Centauri, the closest after the Sun, star to our planet. It is really fascinating to see that it far less bright that other, a lot more distant stars! The constellations are different, and one of the most fantastic is the Southern Cross and the Scorpion. My favourite Capricorn, surprise, surprise is so cool, too. The other great thing about the constellations is that some of them seen clearly on the northern hemisphere can be seen on Madagascar, too. They include Orion (my favourite on the northern sky) and the Great Bear (Ursa Major). The Great Bear can only be seen there before 7.30 pm, after that it sets and disappears behind the horizon. No worries, there is always plenty of time to spot it because the day in Madagascar is short, the sun sets between 6.30 and 5.30 pm. It gets dark soon after sunset and there is plenty of time to contemplate the view. It is also very funny to see the Great Bear upside down, this screwed my imagination a lot as well! It made me feel like I am actually upside down.
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Jun 22, 2001 02:00 PM Madagascar - Morondava
The town of Morondava was not very big and it was small enough not to resemble any other seafront town on Madagascar. It looked to me like it was some kind of resort with numerous hotels, bars, restaurants and night clubs.
Well, no surprise that this place blossomed with tourism as climate there is the best on the entire island. It enjoys the driest weather with plenty of sunshine – more than 10 months of pure hot beach weather!
There is also plenty of sand beaches – one large long beach around the town – which are rather empty and very nice.
On the beach, there were several vessels abandoned by the owners and/or insurance companies and one could be amazed from which countries some of the ships came. Countries like Panama or Nicaragua are far, far away from Madagascar. It looks pretty nasty as well, because the boats are getting rusty and the beach looks somewhat polluted. Pieces of the rusted metal gets distributed by the wind on the beach and creates health hazard and danger of serious infection. Beaches are however large and it is very easy to find a spot that is clean and free from nasty sights.
The beach is also the place where local working girls hunt for their prey. None of them speak English however so it is easy to put them off. The girls in night clubs are so much prettier (if it’s only possible at all) and would, if only for the curiosity’s sake, experiment with a vazaha for free and many times. So there is absolutely no need to pay for sex in Morondava.
Restaurants normally face the ocean so the lunch break or dinner guarantees nice view and the sound of smashing waves. Some of the restaurants and hotels have difficulties with abrasion (erosion caused by the sea waters to the coast) as the ocean had already claimed a lot of coast. The huge stones thrown in the water to prevent that did not really take an effect.
There are some examples of properties destroyed at the coast – some submerged already in the water, claimed by the ocean. And there a few very close to the water’s edge that during high tides, usually in the evening, waves can reach several tables inside the restaurant’s open air terrace. One must therefore be careful when selecting tables, unless one wants a surprise free garnish of raw see weed with their skewered giant prawns and garlic grilled lobster.
Apart from lying on the beach and wandering from one restaurant or bar to another, there is still plenty to do there. Not in the town itself but in the close vicinity.
Around Morondava, there are a few national parks, two national and communal natural monuments and extremely photogenic landscape. I will come back to this in a moment.
I, naturally, could not stop myself going to a nightclub. Jolly good job that one of the best was just five-minute walk from my hotel (Morondava Beach). The nightclub’s name was My Lord. And oh my Lord, was it of a good quality! The entire building was made of wood, bamboo cane and palm tree and it was really well decorated. Its interior could make everyone believe that it could actually be anywhere on this planet.
It must have been popular as well because there were plenty of local guys - overdressed dancing with quite interesting folk flavour, and girls, very beautiful dancing with some mystic sexual intuition. Hmm, am I overstating here perhaps?
Pity that there was a lot less girls than guys, just a bit less than enough. Although most of them very beautiful but 50 percent pregnant. I am not sure why they all 'loved me very much'. Maybe it was because of my fresh and beautiful tan. It was a peculiar feeling being hunted. I haven't felt like that since university, as Cuban prostitutes from December 2000 trip don't count. There were four girls who wanted to ‘go with me’ – all at a time. My French was not good enough to explain my philosophy in this area so I just said that there is only so much water in the fountain. Not only were they four girls – two of them were pregnant, one very advanced! Then I said ‘Allah will forgive only so much’ but it did not seem to help a lot. Only when I started talking to some other girl they stared fighting and I had them off my shoulders …and thighs.
Good music! The DJ was not an idiot at all playing good blend of European and Malagasy music, some good quality, mature music. Yet, some vibes were techno-hip-hop style but it sounded like they were produced by some decent artists.
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