The Great Escape!: Bev and Brians Epic Madagascar Adventure!

Finally the Tuesday had arrived that Mom (Bev) and Dad (Brian) Kitching were landing in Nosy Be. We had organised for a car to collect them, so we took our quad into Hellville, parked it up and jumped in with Johnny, the driver.
We arrived at the airport way too early of course, so sat down for a beer to await the plane!

Much excitement when it touched down, and not long later they were through! Its a domestic flight from Tana and such a tiny little airport, we could at least get together before their luggage came through.
We had SO much to tell and show them that I think we went a little babbling crazy! So much of excitement! Back into Hellville to pick up the quad, which I rode home and left David with his parents to point things out en route home.

We spent a few days aquainting them with Palm Beach, Dzamandzar market, Hellville - where we went for a picnic in the town square and seemed to attract a lot of attention as I don't think anyone has ever seen vassers eating sandwiches from a local snack stand picnicking in the town square!
We walked around a lot and got prepared for our week long island hopping voyage, that was setting off on the Sunday.

Sunday dawned and we were "up and at em", chomping on the bit to get going. We were loaded onto the houseboat and set off towards Russian Bay - around 30km's across the sea from us. We sat on the front deck, on a sponge mattress with a shade cover overhead and listened as Henry (on ree as pronounced in French) went over the planned trip schedule, meals and answered any questions we may have had.
The boat has a front cabin with a double bed in it, in case there's a two person trip and they want to stay on the boat, but we just kept our luggage in there. It had a head (toilet) and a kitchen area - where Henry and the rest of the crew - Jorice the new trainee and Denny the Captain, prepared most of the meals whilst we were moving! There was such an array of fruit and veg piled up ready for the week ahead. It was pretty exciting and we lay back to enjoy the sunshine, the wind on our faces and to watch the dolphins surfing the waves off the bow, the water was so clear we could watch them dart down 5m or so before they breached the surface again. Ahhhhh. Bliss! A holiday on holiday hahahaha.

Our first stop was for snorkelling at a little island adjacent to Russian Bay. It was absolutely beautiful. An uninhabited island, and no fishing around. I saw some of the biggest Parrot Fish I'd ever seen, as well as so many other fish and sea life. It was gorgeous. We finished the snorkell and climbed back on board only to be served lunch (we'd already been served coffees, breakfast and a mid morning snack on board - I could see myself gaining a couple of kg's on this trip!)! Amazing - fresh tomato and avo salad with red onions and this delicious dressing, fresh baguette and omlettes... absolutely delicious. We ate lunch anchored in the bay, looking out at the glistening sea and hearing the waves break on the shore line not too far away.

After lunch we set sail and headed into Russian Bay. Ross's camp is on the far side of this huge natural bay, and consists of wooden huts on stilts, that all you can see are the thatch style roofs peeking out from the trees as you approach. There's a small slice of beach, and you can see an area where we will have our meals and the kitchen / prep room. We were shown to our little huts and left to settle in. The views were spectacular and it was so darn peaceful there!

Just after sunset, they lit a fire on the beach and had put down grass mats for us to chill out on, waiting for dinner! And what an affair dinner was! Crab in an amazng tomato and spicy sauce, and coconut rice and salads and roasted vegetables! Delicious!

We wanted to set off early the next orning as we were doing a bit of a deviation to the usual island hopping plans and wanted to include a stop on Nosy Iranja, and then two nights in Baramamiha, which is a village on an ilet off the sea - kind of like a huge bay that resembles a river mouth / lagoon.

Nosy Iranja is the idylic looking island that reminded us immeidately of the Maldives.There are two sections to it, separated by a 2km strip of ice white sand that gets almost totally submerged during high tides and is about 100m wide and 5m above sea level at low tides. I have no idea how the sand doesn't wash away - but it is absolutely stunning. The colour of the water and sand and the fact that you're this tiny little smudge in the midle of the ocean is just pretty cool!

We took a walk up to the lighthouse, through the jungles and past a few villages. Up at the top by the lighthouse is a school and it was hilarious when Brian stuck his head in the door to take some photos and the kids all stood up and greeted him in French in chorus! Up, up, up the lighthouse we went for 360 degree views. Breathtaking!

We didn't have long at Nosy Iranja as the wind picks up each afternoon and we wanted to make sure we were in safe anchorage for the night before the wind got too high and the waves too boisterous, so we headed back to the boat. David jumped in and did a spot of spearfishing - got us a green job fish and a nice sized blue fin trevally. All this with 3 little white tip reef sharks checking him out! While David was in the water Brian and I went for a little snorkell and had an encounter of our own. This damn remora - you know those fish that stick themselves to whales and big fish? Well it decided it wanted to stick onto me - I tried not feel insulted! It was hilarious, Brian and I swatting at this thing that was relentless, its a pretty freaky feeling but was also pretty funny!

So we set sail for Baramamiha and on arrival the boys all went ashore to try and get us some accommodation for the night. The chief of the village has been pretty smart and realised a business opportunity for sailing vassers - he has built 4 simple little huts, put beds in and mosquito nets (a must for vassers) and rents them out! So we secured out little rooms and settled in for the night. It was a bit dd the first night as there were a load of traders dhows, small ones with whole families on them, cooking and just sitting around - all moored up just in front of where we were staying. We later found out that they had done their trading and wanted to head home but the wind had changed direction so they had to pull in and wait for the wind to come right again before they could continue their journeys home.

The next day was Bevs birthday. We woke her up with candles and cupcakes and tried to make it a memorable one - strange as it was already, staying in this little village! We went for walks to check out the area and just took it easy having a nice relaxing day - it as great being on terra firma for full day and not being on the boat for a change!
That night the guys put on a special birthday dinner with the fish David had caught and finished off with chocolate rum bananas .... mmmmmm! Their cooking facilities were like a large table just above waist height with edges creating a box like structure on top of the table that was filled with sand and you built your cooking fires on top of that!

While David and I were strolling around we met this guy, whose name is very fitting of his description. Rasta Man (Wilk really, but commonly known as Rasta Man!) He was the most gentle soul I've come across in a long time, long dreadlocked hair and just so friendly and welcoming. He is almost finished building a little house high on the top of a hill, and invited us up. You have to be pretty fit to get up and down that hill easily I tell ya! But on top he has this cute little place on stilts, no stairs upto it yet so he had to jump up to get in, but we sat outside, looking over the entire bay, while he servied us some sugar cane from his garden and shared his honey with us, giving us over half a litre to take with us! He was telling us stories about the area, and showed us that his little dog (whose name I can't remember now but was something from a Bob Marley song) had just had a run in with a lemur, poor thing. Seemed to be ok though.

We had to head back - maybe Bev and Brian thought we had been kidnapped or something! We invited Wilk to come and have a couple of sundowners later with us which he did. The next day we were all setting off - us back to Russian Bay for the night, and Wilk was taking some guys to Nosy Be in his pirogue ... a tiny pirogue with a sail that just about fit the four of the guys on it - he makes a bit of money - and if the wind is right, they can sail the whole day to get there, 8 hours with your bum on a tiny plank sitting up straight heading over the ocean! I certainly could not travel that way! Its incredible to think that thats how the Indonesians discovered Madagascar all those hundreds of years ago - they set off in a pirogue and paddled and sailed across vast oceans to land up there, making Madagascar the worlds only Afro / Asian culture.

We returned to Russian Bay, having stopped at what is known as South African Island (because all the south africans stop off there for a snorkell I guess), amazing snorkelling again and I saw things I"d never seen before and so many different species of fish. Amazing!

The next morning we were up early and headed over to our final destination where we'd spend two night - Mahalina (which in Malagash means the place with the bar that causes trouble with your wife because you go to it instead of staying home) Oh yes! Although the bar is no longer there, Ross has set up an awesome camp with A-frame beach huts along this amazing huge stretch of beach, that has all these sand-bars so as the tides change you get these little trapped lagoons and pools of water, and then waves wash up huge cowrie shells and an amazing array of different shaped and sized shells.

Mahalina was great as we got to walk and walk which I'd mised over the last few days.
One afternoon we each found ourselves a couple of 'suitable' balls for a game of French Boulles. It was the parents vs the kids and we had such a laugh. We were whipping the parents, but they came from behind to take victory! Much celebration ensued hahaha.

Henry and the guys continued to feed us these beautiful meals and at night we'd sit on the beach and watch the flames dance on the beach and just enjoy the amazing peace the place brought with it.

The sad part is that just behind the camp there is one of the hugest mangrove areas I've ever seen stretchng as far as the eye can see, but as part of their survival, the local villagers are cutting it all down to make charcoal, for their own use but mainly to sell. The magroves are totally stripped bare. You can see they have tried to keep some areas, but the stripped areas will take more than 5 years to come back and I"m sure by that time the natural lifecycles will be totally wiped out. As it is, the coral is getting wiped out as all the nutrients that should be absorbed by the mangroves are flowing out into the sea and killing the coral. Its so sad to see this kind of destruction but its also hard to see that its a case of survival of man - its what they do to live - its not like Dubai or other rich coutnries whcih destroy similar mangorve areas to build luxury houses.

After two blissful nights in Mahalina, we were heading home, via Nosy Tanikely for a snorkell. It was a pretty overcast day and the wind was up by the time we got to Tanikely, making it not so easy to jump in the wayer at 10am! But we did and it was so worth it. Tanikely is a reserve, and so you have the best snorkelling we have experienced in all the locations we have swam at. Just divine.

So after an amazing 7 days, we arrived home to an extremely over excited - and much bigger - Inja! Uncle Serge (our landlord) baby sat him for the week!

We spent a couple of days around the house just getting our land legs back and catching up on some chores we needed to. We then hired a quad for Bev and Brian and spent a few hours doing our island quad tour, stopping for lunch and a swim on one of the deserted beaches we know. We found this massive turtle shell washed up on the beach - its fascinating, their shell is the same material as our nails. It was pretty cool.

The next day trip we did was to Lokobe nature reservie, where we taxied to the closest village on Nosy Be, paid a wad of money to a guide from the village and then the four of us plus the guide jumped into a piroge for 5 and had to paddle the pirogue 2km's to the reserve entry village. Bloody hell thats tough going!

We had an awesome walk through the reserve, seeing some of the tiny grey fluffy nocturnal lemurs, a family of black lemurs as well as this massive python and the very interesting Aeroplatus lizard that is able to completely flatten itself on a tree and looks like lichen.

We then set off for a four day trip to the mainland, to Ankarana - known for its Tsingy, which is only found on Madagascar, and then up to Diego, on the northern tip of Madagascar.

Up at 4:30am to be collected by our driver, we boarded the ferry and then got to watch the typically African 'show'! Three cars - working cars were loaded, and then one car that was a shell of a car and all the bits in bags - engines, chassis etc. These guys carried the shell onto the ferry, but of course due to its disintegrating condition, everytime they tried to pick it up, a bit came off in their hands! Very entertaining. So the ferry finally set off, loaded up with people, cars and luggage for the 1hr20 min journey. I must dmit I was pleasnatly surprised with the speed and was expecting a 3 hour journey, so it was a very pleasant surprise!

We landed at Ankify port, I say port ..... a slope up from the water with taxi's, gargotes and people everywhere. Our next stop was Ambanja - to fill the fuel tank and then on to Ankarana. We arrived at one and found our accommodation - pretty simple but perfectly comfortable, and arranged for a guide to take us for a walk that afternoon. Our only shock was the park fees! Wowser, pretty expensive and as the guide said, if they money went back into the locals or the park it would be ok, but it seems is just used to line the pockets of those political officals who can get their greasy hands on it - typically African state.

We walked for about 3 hours and it was absolutely incredible. We walked down, down down into a bat cave - right deep into the cave under ground, with stalictites and stalicmites, guano (bat droppings) everywhere, the shrieking of the bats to be heard overhead and our only light from our torches or head lamps we'd taken with us. There were some rocks that sparkled with a pearlescent sheen and we saw huge spiders too! It was divine. We still had enough light left to make it to the small Tsingy. These are those sharp natural spikes that form in the limestone rocks with hundreds of years of rain having worn them down into sharp spikes. It really is quite fascinating landscape. We also saw some strange Boababs that the locals call - the trees the Fosa can't climb (foossas being the only predator in Madagascar thats a cross between a cat and a giant rat!). This Boabab has tiny thorns all up the trunk and branches. One of my favourite trees is one which the locals fondly call the Vasser Tree. This has brown bark which flakes off and peels to reveal bright white bark underneath! The same as vassers! Brilliant. Our guide, Simon, was very knowledgable and gave us the scientific names for all the trees, along with the tales such as the boabab and the vasser tree. He also spoke impressive English!
It was a great afternoons walk.

The next day we started the journey to Diego. We had no idea what kind of time we would do and if we would end up staying there overnight or not. The first 15km's took us an HOUR! Such was the state of the road, but after that we actually even got up to 90km / hour at one stage, wohoo! We got to Diego and drove around looking at this and that, and found a tourism office, where we aksed if we could get to Amber Mountain - another reserve / nature park, just outside Deigo. They stuck their head out the door to look at the car we were in (a Renault Scenic) and they said no way without a 4 x 4! Hmmmm. So we had a spot of lunch and decided there was not much else to do in Diego so started the long slow drive back to Ankarana (3 hours!).
We stayed in a different camp this time which gave us the opportunity to try different options for potential clients. Aurilenes was great, the staff were super friendly and polite and most of them could speak a bit of English, which is always a great help with us South Africans!

Because we now weren't going to Amber Mountain we had one extra day, with park fees being so high, we thought we may as well just head back to Nosy Be rather than sit around for a whole day. So we started back and called the ferry to see if we could get on the return. Two factors against us - one being that it was National Day, so no ferries were running, and the other was that there is only one ferry a day leaving at 9:30am, which we'd clearly missed. The fact that we had to travel 15km's towards the port (out of a 3.5 hour drive) to get moile signal to make the calls meant that we thought we may as well just carry on driving.
So we decided we'd stay the night in Ambanja, a half hour drive from the port, so we could get there easily i nthe monring for the next ferry. We drove around for a bit and finally found a nice looking hotel. We pulled in and the place was deserted. We walked around and finally a staff member very sleepily appeared and asked to help, we said we wanted two rooms for the night, but he saud sorry - tis national day and we're closed! We pretty much begged and he let us know that there's been a huge party there the night before to celebrate and so all staff had the day off, no rooms could be made up and there was no restaurant running etc. We said we didn't care, give us the bedding etc and we'll make up pur own rooms! So thats how we ended up getting the rooms. Phew! The next thing we needed was food, so we asked for directions to some western restaurants .... we went to about 4 other hotels and then eventually just tried to find a gargote, but it was National Day - absolutely everything was closed! I'm not kidding! How riridculous!! So we finally had to go basic. We bought some baguettes from a road side stall, went into the market where only two stalls were open and bought tomatoes, garlic, onion, cucumber, limes and carrots, and on the walk back to the hotel the one gargote that was working had some hard boiled eggs. So back at the hotel, we pulled up a table and chairs, we had bought one bottle of Sur Eau (water steriliser) which we used to clean everything, and we proceeded to make a salad with a lime and garlic dressing, which we ate on our baguettes! Talk about making a plan!!!!

The next morning was my birthday, and we were up early heading to the ferry for our ride home. As soon as we got to Nosy Be we headed straight to Oasis, the main cafe in town, and ordered coffee and pizza's all round! We had only had one cup of tea / coffee on the morning we had left Nosy Be that I'd packed into flasks for the trip! Ahhhh - how beautiful it was! And the pizza! Wohoo! That night we also went out for dinner and did Italian again - I think we were craving normal, non - Malagash food for sure!! It was uber delicious and a fantastic birthday night out!

Friday was Bev and Brians last day, and they spent it taking photos and saying their farewells to Surge and Clementine and to Palm Beach! We couldn't beleive that 3.5 weeks had gone by so fast but when you look back at everything we'd done and the miles travelled, 11 days on the go, you can understand why it seemed to have flown by. I am so sure Bev and Brian were more than ready to go back home - to hot showers, no mosquitos and bugs, cheeses and cold meats like ham hahaha! The thing they did say was at least when they go home its back to normal, for us going home from the travels is back to Palm Beach and our simple life of cold showers, fishing for dinner and watchin the tomatoes and lettuce grow so we can finally reap the rewards of our simple life!