Antananarivo day 2

I am up at 4am.  Mostly because I am still dealing with jet lag.  I also have a 5:30 am meet up for my next guided walk.  But I actually got up and out of bed, dressed and over to the bar so I could get another post out.  

Our tour started on Friday.  We met at 6pm for dinner.  The itinerary had been reversed so we were flying out the next day, meeting at the hotel at 3:30.  So we had the day.  Half of the group decided to go to the Royal Palace.  It is a ways out of town.  I heard the traffic in Tana was bad but it was BAD!  It took us two hours to get there. Which gave a nice overview of the town, poor parts, less poor parts, people going about their business.

We eventually got to the palace. Which was a palace.  But a Madagascar palace, to be fair.  Here are a bunch of pictures which may jog my memory a bit. 

View from the meeting room

The meeting room

The crypts

People come and light candles at the crypts still
It's hard to see but there are blood drops all around
from animal sacrifices performed outside the king's crypt

After the palace, we went for lunch at a 'local' restaurant (not a tourist place).  There were kittens there.  I think I have more pictures of the kittens than the rest of the vacation at that time.  

This is (from front) middle kitten, little kitten, cat 

Little kittens when we first arrived, before the begging began

Oh, I forgot.  As we were driving to the palace, we passed an exhumation.  I don't think I mentioned this was on my wish list because I didn't think it would happen. It's called Famadihana.  In Madagascar, around this time, families remove ancestors from their crypts, wrap their bones in cloth and drink with them for the day.  It is a cross between a family reunion and a wake.  Very celebratory and lots of rum.  Then re-encrypt them.  I told our guide if we can get in on one of those parties, I could die happy.  I didn't get a picture from the road but as we were waiting for our food, a group passed the restaurant on their way to an exhumation.  It was like a parade.  Music, dancing, lots of hooting!  

Those tubes are the mats they use to carry the bones

Our drive back to town was much faster, despite the cattle drive going down the middle of the city street. 

Back to the hotel.  Gathered our group and off to the airport.  Where our flight was delayed. Of course.  

We arrived in whatever town/airport we arrived in and got to the Bamboo Club Resort in Ifaty around midnight.  It was pitch black.  I found my bungalow and crashed.  

And that is where I will leave you.  Day one in Ifaty has been a LOT.  I will try to post the million pictures I took today or tomorrow (wifi dependent).

Day one - Antananarivo

Day one - Antananarivo

I am on a deck right outside of my hotel room.  In my room, great wifi, 5 feet on the other side of the wall, not so great.  But I would rather be outside than in my room so here we go. 

I set my alarm for 8am.  I guess I set it but did not turn it on.  So, I woke up at 10.  Breakfast was until 11am.  I got there at 10:45 as they were putting up the chairs.  Am I too late?  No, of course not madam, who we have to be nice to or we will get fired, just this way.   I was not the last one to arrive so guilt lessened. 

Remember when I bought that little madagascar book so I could use the little map insert.  I forgot the map insert.  I downloaded google map app and set out for Lake Anosy.  As I sit here on my deck, I can literally see it.  But this morning I was setting out blind.  As I was leaving I told the guy at the front desk where I was going and he sort of pointed me in the right direction and warned me to watch my phone.  The phone I had to have out to find my way.  

I found my way.  I think I missed one turn but when I tried to take the google route home, the street I missed was, how to put this..., not strolling dumb tourist friendly.  

I made it to the lake, walked to the jetty, peninsula, the thing that sticks out into the middle of the lake.  There is a lovely little park around that side of the lake.  $5000 to enter (about $1.50).  Worth it.  At least two new birds.  Probably as common as pigeons but I like to get off to a good 'lifer' start. 

Black Heron, in process of 'mantling'

Squacco Heron.  Handsome fellow.

The infamous stadium

I and all of my stuff made it back to the hotel safe and sound.  I met one of my tour people, Guiddo on the way in.  He is from Germany.    

Our group meets in two hours and the tour begins.

Later that day.  

I met my group.  One person dropped out which is good.  There are 15 on the tour.  I think four couples and the rest are single.  Five Americans; two couples (mom, day, daughter and her husband), one single guy from New Jersey.  Two from Germany;  one single woman, one single man.  Three from the UK, one couple and one single female.  A couple from Serbia (?) living in Amsterdam.  One single woman from Hong Kong living in Kenya.  And two single women from Canada (including yours truly).  If my math is wrong, I forgot someone.  

Our guide's name is Coco.  He is from south Madagascar.

Free Rum.  Choice of ginger, coffee or cinnamon.  I went with coffee.

I would 100% been sharing a room if I didn't pay for the single room.  One single woman is getting a free single room, you're welcome.  

Tomorrow we are flying out of Antananarivo around 7 pm to the coast.  In the day, we are taking a tour of some palace or castle or some such.  I am going because the group is going.  Bird park will have to wait.  

Early to bed tonight.  After I slept in so late today, I have to be prepared for an early morning tomorrow.  

 The next day (day two Antananarivo)

Company at the next table at breakfast. 

It is two days later but I cannot get wifi so I may not be able to update.  I'll give you this bot for now and will try to at least get blogger app to load on my computer so I can do some I posted updates . 

Two days later, I'm in Madagascar!

 I am tucked in my little Madagascar bed eating airport Pringles, but I thought I should check in.

Arriving in Vancouver

Let's start at the beginning.  So many days ago (two?) I got up at 2:45 am to get ready to leave for the airport at 3:45am for my 6 am flight to Vancouver.  My saintly friend Valerie M. drove me.  You may remember that I booked a super early flight in case ANYthing went wrong and I had the ferry as a back up.  Well nothing went wrong so I had a several hour layover in Vancouver. I bought some Pringles and read my book.

By the time I bought my Pringles, 
I was the only bag left on the carosal.

Flight to Paris was equally uneventful.  The food was mediocre at best.  I was already scrambled for what day and time it was.  It was dark but it was daytime according to my internal clock.  I watched three movies and four 45 minute tv episodes, French with subtitles to keep me awake.

I had about two hours in Paris to get to M gates in Terminal 2E.  And the 2E train was not working so they has buses running.  No problem, I made it just as people were starting to line up to board.  I was looking for blue passports and quick dry pants to see if I could find another tour person.  Barely any and no one near me to talk to.  

When I got on the plane and to my seat, my seat mate was a Canadian, also heading to a tour but with a different company.  That was the extent of our initial conversation because I fell asleep before we even left the ground.  It was a long flight, over ten hours.  This time it was bright daylight outside but my internal clock was saying it is time to sleep.  So, I slept some, read my book some and chatted with Karen some. She is also solo traveling.  We had a lot in common but her trips involve rafting and biking and mountain climbing.  So, really nothing in common at all!  haha.  

Anyway, near the end of the flight I asked where she is staying in Antananarivo. The Belvedere!  Did she order an airport transfer?  Well, yes she did.  And that's how I scammed a free ride to the hotel.  I gave the guy a huge tip so not actually free, but technically free.  Whichever, it's a win for me!

Multilevel line ups to visa and border control.  I've got my passport sticker and stamp so I am good to go. 

Before we left the airport, I exchanged 400 euros.  I have a brick of cash now.  I don't even know what I got, she didn't give me a receipt.

my room is really dark, or I don't know how 
to use my camera, or both.

30 minute ride to the hotel.  Lots of clusters of men standing around the streets at 11:30 at night. No women I could see.  So, no walking around at night.  

It was hard to see what the hotel looked like in the dark but it seems to have lots of open to the outside areas.  My room is nice.  There is a second bed up on a loft. I'm going to have to take pictures in the day with better light. Or after I figure out my camera.  Or both.

This should be fun.  I am trying my water purifier for my water tonight.  So, we should know by tomorrow how well it works.  Fingers crossed! 

It starts as bacteria and turns it into nuclear waste

This is a terrible post but I am publishing anyway because I am too tired to care.  Good night all.  

Gadammit... - (amended) - Yay!... (amended) - this trip just needs to start already!

August 20 (one month to go!)

'no problem'

Remember when I said in my last post that I was going to wait to book a single room so that it went on my next visa bill because I am travel-budgeting this trip on the fly.  Who could have guessed that might go wrong.  Everyone but me probably.  

I know, I know, this is 100% my own fault.  No more single rooms allotted for my trip... 

They let me pay for the single supplement and I MIGHT get my own room.  If I don't, I'll get a refund. They will let me know next week.  

Even if I don't get my own room, I'm sure it will be fine.  I will make best friends with whomever I am sharing with and that will be that.  

Ok, back to homework.  Bah! 

August 24

Update on the single room.  I got an email today saying "Good news".  They were able to get me into a single room.  Sorry, potential best friend.  Let's be honest, there was just as good of a chance that we would have been mortal enemies by the end.  I guess I will have to keep being nice to my Canadian best friends.  But I am going to suggest they better consider finding an apartment in a cool foreign location with a guest room if they want to compete.  

I got an email from Lakana Hotel, my non-refundable hotel in Nosy Bohara.  They weren't cancelling on me, miraculously.  They were letting me know they can't process my credit card from Madagascar so I will have to pay when I get there.  So, 'non-refundable' gets a bit more flexible...  I went back and read some more reviews.  I am still in.  

But some of the reviews were saying try to get the bungalow at the end of the pier for unobstructed views!  Good thinking!  I emailed them.  They said that it is 'free' (which confused me but I finally figured out they meant available) but it would be an extra $12 night.  Sure, why not.  I'm burning money anyway.  I emailed back!  Let's do it!  

Did I mention it will be the end of whale season so if they happen to be swimming by, I want an unobstructed view!  

Here are some pictures from Lakana Hotel's website: 

https://www.sainte-marie-hotel.com/en/sainte-marie-activities/sainte-marie-humpback-whales

Additional good news.  I am getting a backpay cheque before I leave so that should lessen a bit of the travel budget issues.  I might get back up to $0!  

August 26

I woke up this morning to the news talking about Madagascar.  That's unusual.  I perked up.  Is this going to affect my trip?  I immediately assumed some sort of political unrest.  But no, it was a stampede at a football stadium that resulted in at least 12 fatalities and many more injuries.  Tragic yes.  But it won't derail my trip.  I didn't even know they had such a skookum stadium in Antananarivo.  

At most, sentences like this  At least 15 people were killed in a similar incident during a music concert at the stadium in 2019, and in 2018 one person died and at least 37 were injured in a crush ahead of a qualifying football match for the African Cup of Nations might make me wary of attending an event at the stadium but it wasn't in my plans anyway.  So, I went back to sleep.  

Later while looking at BBC for information which took me to SKY news which lead me to The Independent which lead me to their article, Madagascar Travel Guide: Everything you need to know before you go.  Which lead me to this sentence: Since distances are considerable and many of Madagascar’s rural highways are in a lamentable condition, the best way to cover several regions is to hop around with Air Madagascar. Unfortunately, they’re notoriously unreliable, changing flight times and dates with minimal notice; prepare accordingly.

Excellent. I'm not sure how to prepare more accordingly other than to spend my days in Nosy Bohara looking for a job and an apartment.  

August 29

I have too much time on my hands and too much headspace to give to this trip.  I may have changed hotels again.  I am losing track.  I decided to stay in the hotel the tour starts at, the Belvedere, and I booked it as part of the tour.  It was only $6 more than Sole.  I figured if I found any of my tour mates at the airport, we could share a cab (or I can scam my way onto one of their 'airport transfers' which is considerably more than the estimated cost of a taxi - I wonder if this 'bracket' is long enough to be it's own sentence, outside of a bracket... nah)

It is clearly time to start packing so I have something else to concentrate on.  

Packing seems like it will be a new post so I will sign off on this one.  

A lemur for closure

A Red Ruffed Lemur

😐😐

Another new hotel. Sheesh!

August 9

Ok, I know Madagascar is a poor country and I am pretty much ready to go with the flow once I'm there but that isn't going to stop me from griping about trying to plan before I get there. 

It turns out the 'the Madagascar plan' has some Nazi history so no 
 Google image for that. No swastikas on my blog is a loose rule I have. 
 Instead you get this children's online geography course on Madagascar

Last post I mentioned that my hotel on Nosy Bohara sent a message that they had a family event in September and can't host me.  

I realized afterwards, that I was booked in October.  But I can't be bothered to email and clarify (in French) so I just found a different hotel (more expensive but hopefully better?).

Then yesterday I was checking my bookings and I noticed that my hotel in Antananarivo, in which I am booked three times, was asking me to upgrade my room (three times) to include a private bathroom for $12 a night.  Umm, the literal name of my room is "Twin room with Private Bathroom"!  I checked and here is the amenities now.  Note the CROSSED OUT toilet and shower!  Nope.  

I made this giant so you can see the crossing out.  

Again, I'm not invested enough to ask questions.  So, I went in and found another new hotel for my three stays in Antananarivo.  This time the hotel that the tour starts in has rooms but I found a different place nearby that had a suite (with a toilet, I'm 90% sure!) and included breakfast for not much more.  But again, they are getting more money out of me.  I will remind myself that dropping money there is not a bad thing, they need it more than me.  But expect more grumbling if this happens again.  

I am now booked at Sole Hotel.  It looks somewhat utilitarian.  Don't fall in love, we may lose this one too. 

the 'suite' 

The view of the outside is less than comforting.  

It ain't the Ritz... 

August 14. 

I got an email from my new hotel asking if I want a transfer from the airport for $22.  That's probably a good deal.  I'll have to think about that one.  The only other time I booked an airport transfer (Ecuador), it didn't show up.  

Once I land in Antananarivo, I have to go through immigration and get my visa which I hear can take some time (or not, who knows anything anymore...).  Maybe I should just grab a cab when I get through.  It will be late though.  Still mulling this one over. 

Non-hotel related topic.  I called my favourite money exchange place.  No, they and no one else will have Malagasy Ariary (MGA).  I will have to take USD or Euros and convert there. I don't love the double hit on exchange but it is what it is.  

Other than that, I haven't done much research/planning. I haven't even had a chance to read more of my Lonely Planet.  So, let's pull the plug on this post and start fresh later.  

A lemur:  This is an Aye-Aye. It is hard to find/see so it's a big 'get'.  But it looks to me like the stuff nightmares are made of so I will be fine if I don't 'get' an Aye-Aye, thank you very much 🕇🧄🧛

bye-bye aye-aye

Deadliest Roads Madagascar and other research mistakes

You all remember for Morocco I refused to do any research since I was going on a tour and I didn't have to know where I was going next, I would just arrive there and discover it as I went.  It worked somewhat.  But since I am bored and have nothing to do but wait, I have been watching some shows.  

I started with David Attenborough's Madagascar.  Lovely, nary a bad view to be had.  Lots of curious animals and beautiful birds.  Nothing bad to see here people, just look at the cute lemur dancing across the unspoiled landscape.  

But then my friend Joe suggested I watch Deadliest Roads Madagascar.  Not a lemur or a bird to be seen except for some very maltreated chickens.  I think I could watch the Friday the 13th movie franchise and be less sure someone was going to die than when I watched this show!  

So, remember when I said I was leaving two days between Nosy Bohara and my flight home so I would have time to get to boat/bus it to Antananarivo if my flight got cancelled.  Guess which road was the star of Deadliest Roads Madagascar.  The very road I would have to take!  Umm, no.  So, if my flight is cancelled, I will live in Madagascar forever.  

First of all, this is the name of the episode: Dicing with Death Madagascar.  

The trip over this very road (Note Nosy Bohara right there in the middle)

 

Here are some actual footage from the episode.  These are just a couple that I managed to grab between covering my eyes.  I didn't grab the ones of people puking in the back of the 'bus'.  The bus is a small pickup truck, licensed to carry 15 people but actually carrying 20. At one point, the 'bus' engine was fully underwater for several hours. The bridges look like they are made out of twigs and stir-sticks. The roads are just rutted paths of mud, rocks, rivers and potholes and the occasional beautiful view if you are not covering your eyes and have a window seat (that's extra!)

Those that stuck with it did manage to arrive at their destination, only 36 hours late.  And they were happy to just get there at all. 

The episode was also about the illegal rosewood industry.  They are cutting rosewood trees at an alarming rate.  And then transporting the logs for 10 days over some very precarious terrain.  Also many possible deaths.  And the sapphire industry.  Again, death defying (or not defied in some cases) for VERY little gain.  This is a very poor country. So, no rosewood or sapphire gifts for friends and family. 

If you want to see it (seriously, brace yourself): 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKrlsCVHwWA&t=767s

I am really really hoping the main road that the tour takes is considerably better than this one.  I'm not asking for TransCanada level, but mostly paved... hopefully?  

Oh, another bit of research.  I bought a Kindle and got free Kindle Unlimited.  The books on there are crap but they do have Lonely Planet Madagascar!  Excellent. I have been reading that.  Where I discovered that everyone calls Antananarivo 'Tana'.  So much for my pronunciation practice.  

I also have been googling.  Never google.  I found '8 reasons to go to Madagascar'.  Here is number 8

I was looking for a place without a plague epidemic so lucky me!  What were the chances?  (Sensible precautions will be taken!)

And I've paid for the tour now so I'm going, deadly roads and plagues be damned! 

End with a picture of a lemur

silky sifakas lemur

I may be TOO organized! Now, I wait...

It's been a month since my last post.  After that flurry of trip planning and ticket booking, all I had left to do was find a place to stay in Antananarivo.  It's been so long, I forgot how to spell Antananarivo.  And since I had to relook that up, I also checked how to pronounce it!  Stress is on the RI. 

But I digress, so fast.  

As I was checking my phone for pictures, apparently I saved this (no idea why...)

Anyway, the hotel that is the starting point for the tour was showing as fully booked so I found a different place.  I am booked in three times.  When I arrive for one night, between the tour and my flight to Nosy Boraha, and two nights before my flight home.  Hôtel Restaurant La Ribaudière.  

They've got a lot of 'artsy' pictures in their gallery which are less helpful with the practical info but it does seem nice.  And there is a cat in there so...  

So, everything is booked.  Now I just watch the days tick down on my vacation countdown app

Oh, and shop.  I bought a little Madagascar guide book, mostly for the map insert.  And I bought a Madagascar Bird Book!!!  So exciting.

Mom's deck 

My deck

  

When I went to Morocco, Amy lent me her sister's Kindle.  It was Prime day a few days ago.  So, I bought a Kindle.  And I get three months of free Kindle Unlimited. Which expires two days before I get home.  I wonder what those two days are going to cost me?  So far, all I've downloaded is 'Kindle Unlimited - What to know before you SUBCRIBE AND PAY for Kindle Unlimited".  Italics and allcaps are in the title.  

And I bought a pair of shorts.  I hate shorts. Shorts hate me.  But I figure, if I can ever get away with shorts it's on a tiny island off a different island off the coast of Africa.  Who am I going to see? Who's going to see me.  Someone knock on wood immediately!  There will be no pictures of the shorts.  Ever. 

This reminds me of my very first crazy trip. It was with a girl named Amy (different Amy) and two guys from New Zealand.  We lived in a van for two months traveling from Victoria to Cabo San Lucas and Mazatlán in Mexico.  Amy and I made a pact.  No photos of us wearing shorts.  That was 34 years ago.  I wonder if she is still upholding her end of that pact too?  

End with a picture of a lemur (mouse lemur)