Madagascar Day 2: Antananarivo to Diego Suarez. Madagascar, Friday, April 5, WTRD 20 of 36

The Bay in Atsiranana (Diego Suarez) Madagascar

Madagascar Day 2:  Antananarivo to Diego Suarez.  Madagascar, Friday,  April 5, WTRD 20 of 36

Anytime we have to get up early, I always wake up earlier.  In this case, I woke up at 2:00 am and couldn’t get back to sleep.  The hotel staff knew we were leaving early to catch a plane to Atsiranana on the north coast of Madagascar, so they prepared a breakfast to go for us. Russ collected the breakfasts and paid the balance of our hotel bill around 4:30.  Russ wakes up hungry.  Me, not at all.  While I finished getting ready and packing, Russ ate his breakfast of yogurt, banana, and several types of bread rolls.  I thought i would just eat mine at the airport before we caught the plane.

Hari, our guide and driver,  was on time, and got us to the airport for our 7:00 am flight. There were very few cars in the parking lot.  As soon as we parked the car, a man with a luggage cart was there to greet us, as were two policemen who instructed Hari to park the car elsewhere.  While he did this, the two policeman apprehended the man with luggage cart and took him away. Apparently, he was suspect of perhaps running off with other people’s luggage or something of that nature.  The great majority in this country are in extreme poverty and finding ways to get "money" or goods to buy/trade for food and necessities is a robust behavior.  Travelers are obvious targets and we soon learn that our guides are always with us.

Outside the entrance to the airport, old wooden benches were lined up outside.  Hari told me that this was the waiting area, and that I would need to eat my breakfast before entering the building. I ate a croissant and gave the package to Hari for his breakfast or to give away to someone else.  He looked very pleased.  We said our goodbyes knowing we would see Hari again upon our return to Antananarivo, and entered the airport building where we were immediately queued in line for baggage check in.  Once our baggage  was checked, we moved on to security.  There was a display case with all of the things that we are not allowed in the cabin of the air plane. No, no, no, no, we didn’t have any of these things.  We noticed that fishing gear, reels and line were not allowed.  No we didn’t have that either.  We had to pull out all of the cameras, ipad, iphone, computer.

Once checked in, we sat in the one gate airport waiting room until called for our flight, on a large propellor plane.  The plane ride was unremarkable, and we arrived in Diego Suarez about 9:30 am.  Our new guide Floris and driver Saulo greeted us and packed our gear in a large Hyundai 4 x4.  After greetings, Floris took us to an overlook of the bay in Atsiranana where we took some landscape photos and then went into the “new” part of town.

Madagascar is a tropical island, micro continent.

Diego Suarez, Portuguese explorer, claimed the land found here for Portugal, but Madagascar was colonized by the French.    The people speak French, English, and Malagasy. Atsiranana, is the Malagasy name for Diego. Suarez, but most people refer to the city as Diego.  In 1842, the indigenous people revolted against the French.  The French never enslaved the people according to our guide, but they were repressed.

The revolt failed, but eventually, the Malagasy achieved their independence in 1960.   Since then, the colonial infrastructure has deteriorated under a succession of corrupt governments who have used the tax dollars for other purposes.  Today, the majority of citizens live in an underdeveloped nation.  

During World War II, the Vichy French (Hitler supporters) who still governed Madagascar established the island as a base for German invasions in Africa.  The British along with Madagascar and allied forces, fought a battle here against the Vichy French, for dominance of military prominence and strategic command.  The Vichy French lost the battle. We visited the war cemetery in Diego.  It is the only well kept, clean space in the city.

In 1984, a cyclone, ripped through the island.  Nearly every French colonial building was gutted. 

Our National Geographic Guide Floris and Russ

Only one building, was refurbished by the French as a cultural center for the inhabitants. The rest of the buildings are empty shells of a bygone era.

The indigenous people do not have the wherewithal to refurbish or repurpose the  buildings.

As the population grows, the urban areas become more crowded and meager resources are stretched thinner, unemployment is very high and those who do work are lucky to earn $50.00 a month.

Russ and I have been in many rural South Pacific Islands of indigenous people who by western standards might be considered impoverished, but they did not seem so because there was plenty to eat, the lived primarily on a barter/trade economy,  and there was not the so obvious disparities between rich with money and the working poor,  have and have nots.

We take a walking tour of Diego,

the people’s market (where we were instructed not to take close up photos of people),

The large baskets house animals for sale.

city park,

and overview of ship yard before eating lunch at the Melville Restaurant overlooking the Bay.

Our guide eats with us and we enjoy his company. He takes pictures of everything he eats and relishes the meal.  We think eating with us was a surprise for him. Several days later, Floris refers back to our lunch together.  He asked if we remember seeing older French men men at tables with young Malagassy women.  Taking advantage of poor young women, sex trafficking is prevalent

After lunch we drive along a very rugged road for an hour or more

The better part of the main road.

Our first sighting of a chameleon taking his time to cross the highway....yes this is the highway.

and are dropped off at a lovely Nature Lodge where we will spend two nights.  We have the afternoon free to rest.

Mosquito Nets on the Beds reminds us we are in Malaria country.

It is quite warm.  Russ and I catch up on doing some laundry, reading and napping, before dinner at the lodge.

We have brought about three dozen glasses with us. We tell Floris that we have brought some reading glasses (1 dozen) and some school supplies, and would like to personally deliver these to people in need.  We are severely short on supplies as the majority of 24,000,000 people in Madagascar are in need of basics.

Right away he says he can help, and could he have a pair of the reading glasses. The driver needs a pair too. Floris says his wife and sister-in-law needs glasses, too.  The glasses are going like hot cakes!

Floris and Saulo, are our first recipients.  They stop by before dinner to pick out some reading glasses for themselves and for Floris’s wife.  They are staying in another guest house close by.

There are no fences around the nature lodge and the surrounding neighbors are very poor. Security guards with dogs keep the property safe at night.  We are told to stay in our cabins after 10:00 pm as the dogs cannot distinguish between guests and intruders.  Okay then! Lights out.

All is Well with the Worrall Travel Rs in Madagascar

Madagascar Day 1: Johannesburg, South Africa to Antananarivo, Madagascar, Thursday, April 4, WTRD 19 of 36

Madagascar Day 1:  Johannesburg, South Africa to Antananarivo, Madagascar, Thursday, April 4, WTRD 19 of 36

We awake at 6:00, eat at 7:00 in the Garden Court Restaurant, board the shuttle at 7:30. We meet a family of 4 ( two young children) from Berkeley, CA.  They are off to Tanzania this morning.  When we reach the airport, we check our bags, go through security, immigration control, shopping area where buy a few things, and reach the gate by 9:20. Boarding is supposed to be at 9:35.  It is,  but we wait on the bus to take us to the plane and on the tarmac for an hour before finally taking off at 10:45.  

We eat lunch, and settle in for the balance of the flight.  We expect to be met at the airport by a National Geographic representative.  Prior to  leaving the states we were advised to get our Madagascar visa application in order with two new passport photos.  We made a special trip to our triple AAA office for the photos and Russ and I completed the page long forms and tucked them away for this occasion.  

As we arrive and go through the immigration line, our first stop is the health office.  They hand us a form to complete.  It’s about 1/6 size of a full 8 x 11 sheet - tiny print and even smaller boxes to fill, but it probably cost them nothing to print as it was a part of a small advertising booklet.  We recognize the form and have at the ready the ones we have already completed, photos attached. No says the woman, she doesn’t want that one, she wants the form from Lilliput.

We spend 15 minutes completing the form and hand it in.  The woman doesn’t even look over the applications, she asks for $76.00 and hands us a receipt which we take to the next station where the actual immigration officers are.  Perhaps they will want the form, but Noooo, they just want the receipt for the $76.00.  We show them the receipt, they had a visa to each of our passports, and we are done. The forms the ones we completed before we arrived and the ones upon arrival are apparently an empty formality.  Oh well.

We are relieved to see our bags appear on the old fashion conveyer belt.  Once collected, we meet up with a young man who is holding a National Geographic sign with our names on it.  His name is Hari.  He advises us that we will want to get some MGA Malagasy currency for tipping.  We do.

As we navigate through the rustic airport’s parking lot, children approach us to beg for money.  Hari prompts us not to give them anything.  He said these children should be in school.  If they bring money home to their family, their family will think it is better for them to beg than to be educated.  Most of the people in Madagascar are poor and uneducated.  There are 24 million in the country, 3 million live in Antananarivo, the rest live in smaller cities and through out the countryside as subsistence farmers.

Carrying loads on their heads is the norm.

High crime, many gated buildings and residences.

Hari delivers some documents to us, welcome letter from National Geographic, air flight and national park tickets, and  drops us off at the Relais Des Plateaux Hotel and will collect us at 5:10 tomorrow morning for our flight to Diego Suarez (early Portuguese city) in the northern top of Madagascar. There are two small boxes of Madagascar soaps as a welcome gift from National Geographic Expeditions. 

Originally, we had booked a Safari with National Geographic Expeditions, but switched to a Friendship Force Journey to South Africa with an extended  Safari opportunity with our Friendship Force Group.  National Geographic does not return deposits (which we had already paid), but keeps them in trust for another trip.  While we were already relatively close to Madagascar we decided to use the deposit for a journey to this country.  The country's infrastructure is so poor, our only choice was either a private or small group (4 people) so that we could travel in a four wheel drive van and find comfortable small scale accommodations.  We were willing to share with another couple, but we were the only ones on this trip.

Our private expedition was far less costly than the safari we had originally booked, and we loved it!

We have a nice room with air conditioning. The hotel has a beautiful swimming pool, exercise room, and supposedly the “best” restaurant in the capital city.  We do enjoy fillet of sole and lamb shanks for dinner, then retire early for our flight out in the morning.

All is Well with the Worrall Travel R's in Madagascar.