The rain finally stopped at 4:00 am when I got up to check the sky to see if it would be clear enough to photograph the Milky Way. Isbjorn , one of the camp managers, gets up early every morning to take astro photographs. He has offered some coaching and a tripod for me to have a go at shooting the Milky Way. The water drenched decks are slippery as I carefully pick my path to the main lodge at 4:15. I can see some brilliant stars one moment that disappear a few seconds later as a veil of clouds and mist cover them over. Isbjorn is already up and shooting what he can. It's not the best of conditions.
The aperture on my Canon only goes down to 3.9. Isbjorn says it would be better if it were a 2, so he bumps up the ISO from 3200 to 6400, and increases the time to 25 seconds for me to try. I am using an 18-55 mm zoom lens. He suggests a 2.8 lens which he has for his camera. We turn off the image stabilizer, use manual focus which apparently difficult to adjust on my Canon lens which is not calibrated with an infinity setting, and set a 2 second delay. Isbjorn is concerned that compensating with increased time, higher ISO, and inability to precisely focus, the photographs will be grainy and slightly blurred due to the movement of the earth’s rotation.
We try several angles and shots. There are still whisps of clouds in the predawn, post rain sky. I think the shots are pretty good for my first go and my sub-standard astro photography camera. He says astro-photographers will attach a star tracker gismo on their camera and tripod to track the star's position to compensate for the earth’s rotation. I could see where this astrophotography could become a very expensive endeavor.
As the dawn approached we can see that the sunrise is going to be spectacular with the clearing in the east and rain clouds still exiting to the west. The morning light casts a pinkish reflective glow on the clouds opposite from the sunrise, and a brilliant rainbow forms. Wow! There is even a boat sailing under through the rainbow.
EAST
WEST
My Favorite Photograph Ever!
As the sun rose, I turned my attention to the flora and fauna, still dripping from the night rain.
After a morning of photography, we ate breakfast, then went with Tsiky on a tour of the local village. Tsora Komba has created a complete micro community around the lodge by providing training and jobs for neighboring locals, and making sure that their village homes are upgraded and easy to maintain, and their salaries a living wages so that the employed villagers can come to work and not worry about keeping the wood fires burning, and farming their own sustenance.
Fritters for Sale
Nature's Art - Runoff Sand Art
The owner, Eric has explained all of this to us, but it is more powerful to see the fruits of the labor. School is on Easter Holiday, which is a conundrum to us in this mostly Muslim village.
Tsiky explains the Malagasy love holidays and celebrates all of them. The teacher lets us into the kindergarten room, the only school directly in the village. Elementary and secondary students have about an hour’s walk for students. Even with help and financial assistance from Tsara Komba, the school room still needs more help. The toys and books look well worn and are tired.
Both to and from the village, we collect a couple of bags of plastic and other miscellaneous trash.
Our walk in the village is followed by cold showers, lunch,
and a relaxing afternoon. Russ reads, I download and edit photos. I am excited to be nearing the end of the uber photography, and looking forward to sharing my astro photos with Isbjorn this evening.
4:30 We are going on a sunset, sundowner cruise to the mangroves. Tsiky
and Celan take us to the mangroves. We enjoy great conversation and music with the two of them, imbibe on o tropical rum drink and watch the sun drop in the sky.
Sunset tonight is not nearly as dramatic as sunrise this morning, but still a lovely experience. It is our last sunset at Tsara Komba.
When we return to our lodge after dark, the staff has set up a private white clothing dining table for us on our terrace. We had mentioned to them it was our 50th wedding anniversary year, and they wanted to help us celebrate. Before dinner, however, we wanted to return to the main lodge to meet up with Tsiky to taste some of her flavored rums. She also wanted to see photos of our boat.
DISASTER
It is dark in our room as we gather our gear. Russ disconnects the computer from the computer, but doesn’t see that the my disk drive is tethered with a usb to the computer. He picks it up and the disc drive dangles momentarily and drops with a crack to the floor. Oh $#%t!. And of course it is damaged, makes a sad beep, beep, and cannot be read by the computer. There goes all the downloaded photos and editing work I had done the past month. I am SICK!
Good thing I have the SD cards for all the photos, but I can’t even describe how upset I am that all the hours I have spent organizing and editing have been lost! And that I will need to start from scratch. This was also my media backup drive to my main drive at home. As if it weren’t humid enough here, this accident really put a damper on the evening. Maybe the photos can be recovered when I return home. It would certainly save me a lot of time and grief. I've learned that once I return from travels though, my time is so consumed with other activities, photo editing is not something I want to spend time on. Ugh!
Update: December 30, 2019....The disc drive upon our return was pronounced dead. Nearly 9 months after this incident I am finally nearing the end of re-editing and adding photos to the blogs of our journey. My goal is to get it done before 2020. I have a little more than 24 hours left, and I'm motivated.
Our private dinner was lovely, and passion fruit cake was a special treat made for us by the chef. Because our lodge was away from the main lodge, there were considerable gaps between courses. I was able to take a 15 minute nap on the terrace lounge between main course and dessert.
We leave tomorrow, so we spend some time after dinner and yet another shower, to do some organizing and packing before lights out.
All is Well with the Worrall Travel R's in Madagascar - except for the disc drive.
 |
| EAST |
 |
| WEST |
|
| My Favorite Photograph Ever! |
As the sun rose, I turned my attention to the flora and fauna, still dripping from the night rain.
After a morning of photography, we ate breakfast, then went with Tsiky on a tour of the local village. Tsora Komba has created a complete micro community around the lodge by providing training and jobs for neighboring locals, and making sure that their village homes are upgraded and easy to maintain, and their salaries a living wages so that the employed villagers can come to work and not worry about keeping the wood fires burning, and farming their own sustenance.
 |
| Fritters for Sale |
 |
| Nature's Art - Runoff Sand Art |
Tsiky explains the Malagasy love holidays and celebrates all of them. The teacher lets us into the kindergarten room, the only school directly in the village. Elementary and secondary students have about an hour’s walk for students. Even with help and financial assistance from Tsara Komba, the school room still needs more help. The toys and books look well worn and are tired.
Our walk in the village is followed by cold showers, lunch,
and a relaxing afternoon. Russ reads, I download and edit photos. I am excited to be nearing the end of the uber photography, and looking forward to sharing my astro photos with Isbjorn this evening.
4:30 We are going on a sunset, sundowner cruise to the mangroves. Tsiky
and Celan take us to the mangroves. We enjoy great conversation and music with the two of them, imbibe on o tropical rum drink and watch the sun drop in the sky.
Sunset tonight is not nearly as dramatic as sunrise this morning, but still a lovely experience. It is our last sunset at Tsara Komba.
When we return to our lodge after dark, the staff has set up a private white clothing dining table for us on our terrace. We had mentioned to them it was our 50th wedding anniversary year, and they wanted to help us celebrate. Before dinner, however, we wanted to return to the main lodge to meet up with Tsiky to taste some of her flavored rums. She also wanted to see photos of our boat.
It is dark in our room as we gather our gear. Russ disconnects the computer from the computer, but doesn’t see that the my disk drive is tethered with a usb to the computer. He picks it up and the disc drive dangles momentarily and drops with a crack to the floor. Oh $#%t!. And of course it is damaged, makes a sad beep, beep, and cannot be read by the computer. There goes all the downloaded photos and editing work I had done the past month. I am SICK!
Update: December 30, 2019....The disc drive upon our return was pronounced dead. Nearly 9 months after this incident I am finally nearing the end of re-editing and adding photos to the blogs of our journey. My goal is to get it done before 2020. I have a little more than 24 hours left, and I'm motivated.
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