BYE BYE MADAGASCAR

From its ancient baobabs to its adventurous sailing trips to its incredible (and oh-so-friendly) wildlife Madagascar's been good to us. But it's time to move on. South Africa, here we come.

Til then, below are a few parting shots from the land of the lemurs (and tortoises, and geckos, and ...).  

Nature at its most "natural"--these radiated tortoises live (and love) in one of the world's only programs set up to breed the highly-endangered reptiles. Seemed things were going well when we visited. 

That's one tiny gecko catching rays on the mirror of our rented motor bike.

A trip to Madagascar without a photo of a ring-tailed lemur? Not a chance.

Sadly, despite its reputation as a haven for rare and endangered wildlife, the island remains a frequent venue for slash-and-burn agriculture, as seen in the photo above.

Us at 20 feet under, diving near Ile Sainte-Marie off Madagascar's remote east coast.

BUSH TAXIS, BREAKDOWNS, AND BAOBABS

A boy holds his baby brother on the Avenida de Baobabs.

For those who may not be aware, Madagascar is a gigantic island. The fourth largest in the world, in fact, behind Greenland, New Guinea, and Borneo. And with so much to see (lemurs,  baobabs, islands, more baobabs, LEMURS!) we got started right away. We both remembered reading about the baobab trees in Saint Exupery’s famous story, The Little Prince, and on our map, the famous Avenida de Baobabs near Morondava looked like a manageable distance (just a couple inches!) for our first destination in-country after leaving the hilly capital city of Antananarivo.  

Soon enough, we learned that unless you can afford a car & driver or overpriced domestic flight, transportation in Madagascar is a long, hot, and exhausting process. As our city taxi from "Tana" neared the local taxi-brousse station (literally, "bush taxi"), people began running alongside our window shouting, tapping the windows, and grabbing the mirrors. The driver mistakenly slowed slightly, and one agile fellow opened the passenger door, jumping right inside. It would be this lucky athlete who would eventually sell us our bus tickets...for triple the going rate, of course. Lucky us.

Packed into the bush-taxi (a van made for 10 but usually seating 18 at a minimum) we flew down the road at breakneck speed, slamming on the brakes every few minutes to cram in additional passengers. Our three-hour journey only took us five and a half hours. Not bad, but we were still a good 14 hours from our destination, the Avenida de Baobabs. Since no bush taxis were leaving, we stopped for the night in the town of Antisrabe.

Thankfully, the amazing front desk staff at Hotel Hortensia told us of two guests with their own car who were heading to the same place. They spoke no English, and our French is limited to a few phrases Kip learned at Mardi Gras, and our Malagasy is non-existent. But, they agreed to take us. As we set off at 5 a.m. the next morning, we were overcome with joy at being in a real car and confusion of not knowing what to do with all the extra space in the back seats.

After 17 hrs in a bus/car, Kip had to climb it.

About four hours later, on a very deserted stretch of road, the radiator blew a hose. Fearing the worst, we began constructing a shelter of palms to stay the night.  Not really. We just listened to the radio while our incredibly competent driver smiled, grabbed some parts out of the back, and began the process of sawing apart the radiator hose…and then fixed it somehow. His fix worked for about five miles. Then we repeated the process.  We did this every few miles for the next seven hours. After stopping at a lake to refill the radiator one last time, we cruised the final few miles into Morondava, a town on the coast, and home to the Avenida de Baobabs.

We thanked our fearless driver/mechanics, and set off to see some trees. 

As Kip said, “We really traveled for 17 hours to see some trees?”  

We really did. And they were so worth it.

Baobabs at sunset.

On an island where more than 50 percent of all creatures are endemic, you see some interesting things, such as these unidentified insects.

Another photo of Baobab Avenue. Above, a pair of zebus (local cattle) pull a cart full of kids and vegetables headed to market in town. 

PHOTO FRIDAY: BAOBABS AT NIGHT IN MADAGASCAR

Lining a dirt road near the remote western coast of Madagascar, ancient baobab trees grow skyward as they have for centuries. After spending 20 hours in what the locals call "taxi brousses" (literally, "bush taxis") we finally made it to the famous "Avenue of the Baobabs," tired, thirsty, and not a little giddy from the scene before us. Surrounded by ancient giants, we watched day fade into night, as we fed mosquitoes and waited til just the right moment to snap the photo above. A Land Rover drove through the shot during the 30-second time delay, giving it a nice touch.