MADAGASCAR...Uniquely Devastating

FRESHLY BURNT THE SMOKE RISES

I can't sleep at night since my return from Madagascar, the natural beauty is stunning but the images of poverty in Tana (Antananarivo,   the capital) and deforestation are still haunting me. The poverty is everywhere... the filthy garbage in the streets, the hot choking air and the traffic makes a 20 mile round trip in Tana into 6 agonizing hours. As you drive through the city u can see the smiles from the children being wiped from their faces. Madagascar the 4th largest island in the world, is 240 miles off the south east of Africa and is known for its lemurs and Baobab trees, but the poverty shouts out at us as we start our journey. An old French colony abandoned by France in the 1960s, they left little infrastructure and the roads have decreased from 60,000 km (36,000 miles) to a pothole filled 30,000 km (18,000 miles). Considered the 4th poorest country in the world,  people live on less than $2 a day, and is now is in the stranglehold of poverty since the coup in 2009, where business were burnt to the ground and 1000s of jobs were lost, and the simple luxury of buying a croissant for breakfast is out of their reach.
The Big Tsingy: That being said, I am met up with my old kiwi traveling companion Jay Goldsack and his Australian buddy John Mckelvey for a wild trekking and whitewater adventure.

JAY INCHING ALONG THE BRIDGE

ROCKY SPIRES THRU THE BIG TSINGY

jay, me and john

ROCK STEPS
We started off with a trip to the dry West side of the island. After only 2 days there and a monumental bumpy car ride to the Big (and Small) Tsingy, a UNESCO site,  Jay and I were sick as dogs, and after puking out our guts we struggled through the first day as we  climbed through the incredibly narrow passages of the Small Tsingy....did we pay for this? The next day we took another fun 4 wheel drive to the Big Tsingy, an outrageous limestone formation with rocky spires that reach for the sky like shattered peaks. We climbed along cables (occasionally clipped in), traversed suspended bridges, and leaped on rock steps as we picked our way through caves, and catacombs, hanging on for dear life, since one slip meant broken bones if not death. The Tsingy, which means "tiptoe" (how they climb) in Malagasy, has a matching portion several miles under the sea next to the coast of East Africa, and is an absolute natural wonder like nothing I have ever seen on this planet, even the Lemurs can be found crossing the rock formations in the forest next to it.

THE KIRINDY FOREST:

FOSSA MAIN LEMUR PREDATOR

Madagascar is a unique biological "Hotspot", with over 90% of its  indigenous species found only in this part of the world. The west side is dry but the wildlife is protected in parks, so there was lots to see. After another pothole ride we ended up at Kirindy lodge where we stayed in some creaky primitive huts. Stifling hot weather and loads of humidity, the first thing they told us was to keep all the windows and doors shut to our hut, no air!! yuck, why we asked....  because of the feared Fossa,  who bit the toes of a previous visitor. We took a cool night hike and saw some cute little lemurs, my favorite was the Dwarf Mouse lemur followed by the forked mark Lemur

and the Fat tailed lemur (this one hibernates during the dry season).

FAT TAILED LEMUR

The star was the leaping  Safakas, with amazing leg strength, they can soar thru the air some 15-20 feet (5-6 meters) and land perfectly on the trunk of a tree, kind of like a flying squirrel.

 The highlight of Kirindy came after the morning hike as we ate our lunch, there was a stir in the forest, a scramble, some primal screams, and then the Fossa leaped onto the ground with a brown lemur in its mouth. The lunch crowd grabbed their cameras and charged outside to see what happened. By then the sinewy Fossa, every inch of his body is full of muscle, and strong jaws had dragged the teenage brown lemur under one of the huts and was munching on him :((((( 

THE LEAPING SIFAKA

Another highlight was the Masked women of Madagascar: U might ask why would they put mud all over their face.... to attract guys? .....nope sunscreen!! They take the sapwood from the Masonjoany tree,  and add some water to make a paste for color and texture, then apply it to their face. The mixture has its own sp factor against the sun. Pretty cool!!

LAST STOP ON THE WEST COAST: THE FAMOUS BAOBAB TREES OF MADAGASCAR: The Baobab trees represent the iconic image for Madagascar, there were 3 species that we saw, all towering and majestic and protected by the government as well as the native Malagasy people. Standing 150' (50 meters) these trees can survive on minimal water and store extra in their trunks when it rains. On one section of the west coast they have the "Avenue of the Baobab trees", that attracts visitors from around the world and local merchants to sell their wares. 

 

We arrived at sunset and it was quite the surrealistic event. Everyone came out, the locals herding goats, the curios stands, even a place to have drinks opened. Nothing like  watching the sun as it embraced the limbs of the Baobab on the horizon. 

But of course on the way back to Morondova to catch our return flight to Tana,  Momie, our driver was having difficulty with the brakes on our 4 wheel drive.  The bearings were shot and screeching, and on top of that he was adding brake fluid whenever he could,  his last comment as the sun went down was "no worries, not far...." we limped into town on luck, the truck was in the shop the next day. 

Stay tuned for part 2 .... The East Coast....... at one point we were surrounded by towering open fires as we pushed our way through the "Slash and Burn" and watched the forest fall.....