Mad about Madagascar

As our last and absolutely final country in southern Africa we would visit, Thomas and me spend two weeks in Madagascar.

We arrived in Antananarivo, the capital (in short Tana), where we went partying with some French Couchsurfers volunteering here.  As it was the 31st of October, Halloween was the theme…

The next day, bit hung over but with no regrets, we went to explore the city, bit polluted but still pleasant, with small alleys, lots of stairs, and hills offering beautiful views over the city. 

Next we headed up north, making our way with taxi-brousses for a total of about 24h. The taxi brousses are minibuses , filled beyond capacity (our record was 37 people in the minibus made for 20). Thankfully, the countryside was pretty enough to take away some of the pain. First stop was the Park Andronafasika, where the Lemurs (a type of monkey indigenous only to Madagascar) roamed. Then we went to the tiny island Nosy Be, the first tourist destination of Madagascar. Beautiful beaches and wonderful snorkelling, the best I have seen so far. We even saw a tortoise and an octopus that changed colours much quicker than a chameleon. And, touristy as it is, a local ‘park’ also allowed us to interact closer with some of the indigenous species.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last stop was Diego-Suarez, less touristy, where we stayed in a small fishing village. The nearby sea, called Mer d’Emeraude was magnificent, turquoise…

With the weather being so hot and us spending a lot of time in the sea, I also had the reckless idea of getting a haircut to facilitate my life. So, I walked into what seemed to be a rather respectable barber place, where the woman seemed dumb founded I desired a haircut. Three neighbours were called in for second and third opinions, and explanations on how to operate the shaving machine. She trimmed here, then applied the scissors there, next tried to balance it out but clearly had no idea what she was doing, and it showed… Once she cut my ear I decided the fun was over and bailed. Now, I usually don’t care that much about my haircut, but this time it really was ludicrous. So, later on, in Diego, I called in another barber, this time with the goal to simply shave it all off and start afresh. The young dude showed up with one pair of scissors (meat ones) and one comb, but also with funky tribal designs shaved into his own hair. Considering I didn’t have much to lose, I requested for something similar…. 

But, all good things come to an end, and so did our short holiday there. To close off, a classic, as one of the things I appreciated most about Madagascar, was the sea, and the spectacular sunsets.