Berenty and Ramanfana

A few updates. A few weeks ago I went to a reserve called Berenty. Its a few hours from Ft Dauphin on a horrible road.......man I hate that road.

Its a super touristy place.....which is good and bad. It has nice bungalows, decent food and guides. But its a little too clean....and the lemurs are a little too tame.

With saw a ton of lemurs that just kind of roamed around and one followed me nearly into my bungalow because he saw a banana I had. They have no fear.....

Also, there's a place there with a TON of big bats. They just kind of hang out in the trees and fly around making a ton of noise. Very cool.

Found some Madagascar hissing cockroaches......thankfully not in my bungalow! We also did a little night trip and found some more lemurs....don't remember the species. Also the sifaka lemur does a "dance" when it crosses the road and I have some pics of that.

However I had a good time with a Quebecois couple that was here for less than 2 months.

Last weekend, I went with the same Quebecois couple to a place called Ramanfana(sp?) which means hot waters. Its about a two hour drive from Ft Dauphin up and across some mountains. Pretty amazing drive through forest/jungle. With some very beautiful scenery. Including rivers, rice fields...etc.

We stopped and ate lunch near a river. One of the Quebecois had some gum and gave it to the local kids....they went nuts. However, it was kind of ruined when they then asked for "l'argent"....drives me nuts.

I have a bunch of photos etc.......I'll have to try to upload them via Picassa when I get home.

Then I got a flat tire on the way home.......that was fun; changing a tire in the jungle.

Vacation update.......

After Reunion I flew to Tana (the Capital and spent the night). It was really cold in Tana…I guess I’m a wimp now. Then I flew up to Maronsetra to visit Masola National Park. The next day we took a motor-boat ride across the ocean to the park. Saw some humpback whales, it was really cool. It was hard to take pictures from a small boat that’s moving up and down in the waves. Nevertheless, it was really cool.

Masola is a rainforest that seems to be relatively untouched. Very remote…and thankfully only rained 1 day (the return trip of course). The first day we hiked around near the small bungalows we stayed in. Ohh, I forgot to mention that a younger swiss couple were there too. They are swiss-german from Biel/Bienne. We some lemurs, birds and reptiles. There are quite a few chameleons around. Next day was more hiking. We went for a long hike on the remote beach and hiked around the rain forest some more. Found a small chameleon the way back too….spent the afternoon laying on the beach. Love that. Actually, I get kind of bored just laying on the beach.

The next day it was raining hard….but the waves weren’t too big so we made our way back towards Maronsetra. We stopped at Nosy Managbe, which is a small island that’s a reserve. The lemurs there are super spoiled and try to steal your food. I prefer animals that are a little more wild and more afraid of humans. We also found a leaf-tailed gecko. Near impossible to see…..soooo well camouflaged. Had lunch….then finished the super fun…in the rain ride back. It was great to finally take a warm shower!!

The last full day was a pirogue ride up the river. I read it was really cool…..hmmmm…it was just ok. Back gets sore after sitting in a small wooden pirogue for hours….didn’t see much wildlife. Just some birds, boa and a hedgehog. Actually, the hedgehog was pretty cool. LONG walk back……overall, kind of a small disappointment. We tried to find some tomato frogs…no luck.

Next day flew to Tana and visited a palace about 45 mins from the city…..can’t remember the name….I think it’s the one that’s a world heritage site. We’ll assume that.

Then I flew up to Diego-Saurez on the northern tip of Madagascar. So, I’ve been to the far north and south of Madagascar now. Went to the Tsingy rouge……which was a little disappointing if you’ve been to Bryce Canyon before. But still beautiful.

Next day we went to La Montagne D’Ambre National Park. Pretty cool….place. Saw a number of lemurs….world’s biggest and smallest chameleons….hiked around the rainforest….waterfalls….overall, pretty cool and recommended. Went to a good Italian restaurant in Diego…..good food, especially for Madagascar.

Next day……rainy all day…….sucked cause I wanted to visit La Mer Emeraude….which looks really beautiful in the pics. However, not fun to visit while its raining and near impossible to access when the seas are rough. Oh, well……another reason to come back! Actually, I thought I might be able to visit before leaving the next day, but Air Mad changed my flight to 8 AM…….too bad.

Finally back to Ft Dauphin after two weeks……great times and an unforgettable adventure!!

Reunion Island

I thought I'd give a bunch of updates, etc about my vacation.......yeah, I obviously didn't. So, I'll give a more condensed overview..........

2nd day in Reunion, I decided to go to Salazie to hike around , etc. Went on a little hike to Le Bassin Bleu....not sure if I found it....if I did find it, its the tiny little pool in the pic above. Yeah, not worth the hike. Ok...I guess the scenary, etc is pretty cool. There are soooo many hikes to do. I got a little lost on the way back to my car and had to walk an extra kilometer or so.....oh well.

Next day I went moutain biking on Le Maido. It's a pretty cool moutain, which overlooks the Circuit de Mafate, which is an area that you can only hike into, no roads. The overlook is awesome. I went mountain biking in a group...kind of slow. Especially when I was stuck behind the fat french guy. I killed them all on the technical downhill parts. One time we were descending a double-track trail and the guy in front of me crashed and broke his wrist. It was obviously broken, so that kind of put a damper on things.

The rest of the trail was fun and fast at times. My butt was super sore at the end of the day. Then I visited an aquarium and a beach. The beaches in Reunion aren't amazing, but they are fine.

3rd day was spent canyoning near Cilaos on a route called Fleurs Jaunes (Yellow Flowers). I loved it and want to do some more. The French kids that were part of my group were all inexperienced and kind of slow. Since I climb a lot, it was no big deal to me and I flew down.....need to go back and canyon more.

4th day was spent on the volcano. Pretty awesome. Felt like I was on Mars........I guess they offer helicopter flights to see the active lava, etc. I hiked around the volcano some.....then I took off to Takamaka which is a valley full of waterfalls.......it was great. Loved it.

My last destination was Hell-bourg in the Circuit de Salazie. Scenary was stunning as usual. I went on a long hike to the top of a moutain near my auberge. When I got to the top, I decided to continue on to a viewpoint of le trou de fer It was amazing. I took some pics really quickly before the clouds moved in. My new goal is to canyon le trou de fer.......it would be stunning and an insane adventure.

Then I went to airport and flew to Tana in Madagascar.

Overall........Reunion Island is amazingly great. Kind of like Hawaii and France. I highly, highly recommend a visit. So awesome.

Madagascar adventures next.

I'm back!!!!! from vacation

I apologize to my many, many adoring fans for no posts in about 3 weeks......I received numerous (read 1 request from my dad) to update. So here we go.......

I spent two weeks traveling. Visited Reunion Island...didn't stay long enough....Maroantsetra (Masoala National Park)....and Diego-Saurez (Montagen d'Ambre National Park). I'll go into detail about each of them over the next few days or weeks.....

My direct flight from Ft Dauphin to St Denis, Reunion had only about 10 people on the entire flight. It was a pretty big plane too......Air Mad must have lost a ton of money on that flight. They should have put us all in first class.....whatever.

Oh yeah, just before I leaving I received a bunch of emails that my other flights weren't booked and that the reservations were canceled.....great.

When I get to St Denis I decided to find Air Mad and fix that problem.....but there was a HUGE line. Instead I found my rental car.

A little Peugot 207....so little I think my mom could have put the seat all the way back and still reached the pedals. I swear the French don't know that there are people over 5'5" in the world....Also, I was so used to my work truck that I stalled the car approximately 2,243 times. I may have driven the car a little hard too....as in the engine may have visited the redline a number of times. I recommend NOT buying a used Peugot 207 from Avis.

The roads in Reunion are really nice, but super super twisty. I therefore recommend renting (hiring for those outside the US) a Porsche. That would be insanely fun!

I resolved the problem with my tickets from my many remaining flights. I took a total of 7 flights....kind of tiring of flying. I'm spoiled from my international business class flights for work....so I hate flying economy on my own dime. Hahaha.

Finding my auberge, which is kind of like a small motel, was a major adventure. I took at least 5 wrong turns. One huge difference from Mada is that the roads in Reunion are way, way nice. While the roads in Mada barely qualify as roads.

When I arrived at my auberge......no one was there. Great......called the owner and he wouldn't be there for a few hours. So, I decided to be adventurous and explore a little more. Didn't find anything of report and I actually found my way back to the auberge. I think that was the first and last time I made it there without taking a wrong turn.

Also staying at the auberge were a Belgian couple on their honeymoon and a Reunionnais couple from southern Reunion. They were pretty cool and we had a good creole dinner. They were all impressed with my French language abilities.

Apparently they don't have heat there.....so I had to have like 3 blankets to stay warm. Near the ocean is warmer but I was up a ways from the ocean in a little city called La Petite France. So, the mornings are chilly but the days are great. That night I decided to head to Cilaos the next day even though I would have to return to La Petite France.......

Stayed tuned to hear about my Cilaotian (yeah I made up that word) adventure....

Picture is of the circuit de mafate

I will try to give a day-by-day rerun of my vacation over the next while.......you might even get two posts tonight.....not likely. Don't get greedy.

I'll be honest.....

I've got nothing exciting to post about this week. It's kind of cold, relatively speaking. Plus it's been raining and/or overcast nearly all week. So, that means I did nothing all weeekend. It's been about 17 C (about 60 F), however I continue to wear short-sleeved shirts, etc, while the Gasy show up to work with heavy down coats on, etc. We kind of laught at each other. I now have to use a heavy blanket while I sleep to stay warm.

In other news, I bought my plane ticket to fly to Reunion Island (there's a direct flight from Ft Dauphin) and then I find AFTER I bought my ticket that my visa and my passport might not be ready. Not good. I hope to leave on the 10th and be back around the 25th. I know that all of my adoring fans will be sad when I can't blog, however the reward should be some awesome stories.

I also decided to start giving restaurant reviews since I eat out basically every night. Today's review is Le Mirana. Yes, all the restaurants will have french sounding names, even though they are inexpensive in contrast to the US.

Owned by a french guy (Bernard, so the restaurant is also called Chez Bernand). He's from Avignon, France and his wife is Malagasy. This is my favorite resto in town and I visit usually at least weekly. Sometimes, 2-3 a week. My favorite dish is the poulet gaston. Not sure how to describe it....it's chicken with cheese in kind of a soupy, broth type of dish. However, basically everything is good there.

Also......it seems like most of the resto's have basically the same menu. Chicken, Zebu and fish. Voila. The Mirana is just up the road from Ankoba beach. Maybe I'll review Ankoba next time.

The pic is of Mirana. Maybe I should start a Ft Dauphin travel guide........nah.

4th of July...oops 26th of June

The 26th of June is the Malagasy 4th of July. Not really sure what the story is behind it. However, the celebration seems pretty similar. Fireworks and voila, but no stadium of fire! The little kids also carry these little lantern type things with candles in them. Kind of cool actually, but I didn't have my camera.....sad.

On the morning of the 26th I was supposed to go to Berenty however the guy from work I was supposed to go with, disappeared. I called him the morning of the 26th and he didn't respond and I stopped by his house...not there. That sucked but I went to beach instead and ran into another friend from work and we decided to go to Lokaro the next day.

We rented quads and drove to Lokara and took a few wrong turns along the way. However we made it. It was fun. Along the way we had to cross a "bridge" by pushing the quads on logs spread over a river...yeah, that was exciting, I kept waiting for one to fall in.

I didn't bring my camera...long story. Instead, I took a picture of this family carrying wood on their heads to the market. I've been told that a bundle of wood is only 800 ariary, which is less than 50 cents.

Weekly Update

Honestly.......I don't have much to post about. Work is work.....and I need a vacation. Actually, I'm planning a trip to La Reunion (not to be confused with a family reunion), Diego in the north and another place that I can't pronounce or remember how to spell.

Rained all weekend.......so, didn't do much. I like this french restaurant in town called Mirana (that's the guy's wife's name, his name is Bernard). I eat there often, about twice a week. He has a daughter, aged about 7 and she's kind of crazy. She won't leave me alone when I eat, tries to drink out of my glass, etc. etc.

However, the 26th is a holiday, so I'm going to Berenty to see the lemurs, etc. I should have cool pics, stories, etc.

Picture is from Lavanono again. This "group" came and sang for us, with the homemade guitar and I even danced with them.

Mid-Point

Today is approximately the mid-point of my time here. While, I'm not exactly sure when I'll leave, I call it the mid-point. Actually, I think I'll know in the next two weeks when I'll go home. I prefer to finish here about August 28th and start traveling the 30th. Which means I would be back home around the 29th of September. Not that I'm already planning my vacation and thinking of the end........oops.

I decided to make a list of things that I like and dislike so far.

Likes: white sandy beaches, beautiful mountains, winters with temps in the 70's, most of the people at work, not having to clean or cook, seeing unforgettable things, unforgettable experiences, Lavanono, St Luce, etc, etc.

Dislikes: the roads (they are so horrible!!!!), cafeteria food, rain on the weekends, nothing to do at night, mosquitoes, some people at work, sometimes the beauty is ruined by the filth, nothing is convenient or easy, super slow internet.

However, this is a really good experience for 6 months, but I don't know if I could go longer than that. I see why people need a break every 3-4 months.

I'm looking forward to finishing my assignment and then taking 3-4 weeks to explore Madagascar, La Reunion and Cape Town, South Africa.

The picture is of the road leading to Lavanono. I hope to hike to Pic St Louis next Saturday.

Surfing

I tried surfing on Saturday.........yeah, it's much, much more difficult than it looks. The first problem, of many, I think was the type of board they gave me. It was a short board, about 6 feet long. I think I really need a long board, since I've never tried before. So, now I have to find a long board......hmmmmmmm, not too likely. I may end up just body boarding and calling it good. It's not like I can surf once I get back to UT.

Good news: no sharks. Even though it would be kind of cool to see one, of course not while I'm surfing. Internet is super, super slow today, so no pic yet.......

Lavanono

We didn't have work on Monday the 1st, so I went with some co-workers on a great trip. The village is called lavanono . In Malgache you actually don't pronounce the last letter of nearly every word. It's a tiny little village in the far southern desert of Madagascar. The trip takes about 7 hours on super, super rough roads. Really, it should only take about 3 hours or less because its only 250 kilometers away. However, the roads suck the entire trip.

However, it was worth it! The desert ends with some beautiful beaches....as usual. We stayed in some eco-friendly bungalows run by a french guy (Gigi). On Friday, we left after work and drove to a town called Tsiohmbe or however its spelled. We spent the night there and had tortoise for dinner......kind of interesting and tasted decent. I also eventually had octopus at Lavanono Be.

Saturday, we finished the remaining two hours. So, glad to be out of Sharky!!! The roads in southern madagascar are so rough and not maintained at all.

On, Saturday we went to the beach and I did some bodysurfing. It was really fun.

Sunday we went to the southern most point in Madagascar (Cap Sainte Marie). We also visited the grotto of Cap Sainte Marie. It was pretty cool. Kind of sandstone type area with some cool caves, etc. Also, we bought some live chickens at the market and had some people at the Cap Sainte Marie Reserve cook them for us, while we explored the reserve. Saw tons of tortoises.

I've got a million pics.......but no way to share them all. The pic is from my bungalow overlooking the ocean.

So, that's why I didn't blog for a while. I hope to surf this weekend, so maybe I'll blog about that.

Andohahela National Park

It was a tough choice deciding which pic to post as part of this adventure, but since everyone thinks of lemurs when they think of Madagascar, I went with lemurs. We had Thursday off from work and I decided to take Friday off as well (more about that later).

Andohahela National Park is about 1.5 hours from Fort Dauphin. Actually, there are multiple entrances, but the main one is about 1.5 hours away. I decided to head there early Thursday morning, so I got everything ready and on the road by 7:30 AM which is a pretty big accomplishment on a day off!!! I even borrowed and tent and had enough food for 3 days of camping, etc.

I arrived at my destination at about 9 AM. Got my backpack, camera, etc ready and hit the trail with my guide around 9:30. However, I used the restroom and when I left, I saw a GIANT spider. Glad I saw after I excited the restroom or might have fallen in the hole. Not a good way to start!

My guide is a local Malgache and speaks pretty decent French and English, so he decides to do the tour in English. The trail or area is called "Tsimelahy" is about 3 km and took us about 2 hours. It's in the transition forest between the rain forest and the spiny desert. I did not see any lemurs, but I guess they have some in July, so I might go back.

There's a nice river and gorge that runs through the middle of trail. Also, there's some interesting flora such as the boabab tree. Which are super cool and HUGE. I guess some can hold up to 120,000 liters of water, so the locals use them occasionally to get water.

After the trail and only seeing one other spider and some pretty cool lizards but no snakes, I went back to the national road and continued to the spiny desert or forest. Le circuit Ihazofotsy is the name of the next trail. When I arrived there was no one there and I barely made it since the roads are not well marked.

Then a couple of locals arrived and took me around. They didn't speak any French or English.....just a lot of finger pointing. However, they found a few sifaka lemurs for me. They were so hard to spot, just a tiny head sticking out of a tree. However, really cool to see.

I wanted to head back towards Ft Dauphin and into the rain forest part of the national park. I turned off the national route and headed towards the rain forest. However, I came upon a tiny bridge that was just logs and I decided it wasn't worth risk and returned back to my hotel.

Overall, it was really cool. A little disappointed I couldn't see the rain forest, I'll have to find another way to do that. Also, I'm glad I came home, because I was sick when I made it home.

Late Thursday night I found out we didn't have to work Friday, but it rained HARD all day on Friday and most of Saturday. When it rains, there's nothing to do but work on my Masters thesis......boring.

Sainte-Luce

Great weekend. This weekend I decided to go to Sainte-Luce because I read it was beautiful and yes it was! Its about a 50 kilometer drive on the same ol' crappy roads. Once I was off the national road, it got a little worse. I guess the recent rain had partially destroyed certain parts of the roads, so I had to drive around them. I bottomed out pretty hard in a few spots, just glad I didn't wreck my truck, but Sharky is tough.

So, after driving for about 2 hours I thought I'd be there already and I just driven through a little tiny village. Then all of a sudden the trees go away and you're at the beach. It's stunning.

White sand, tiny islands dot the baie de sainte-luce. There's a few pirogues on the beach and some local fisherman. Basically, its everything that Hawaii is and all the stuff you don't like about Hawaii (no tourists!).

It's a small, half-moon shaped bay with some rocks on the right-hand side. I decided to walk down to the rocks and see what's over there first. I climbed around on the rocks and I think I startled a family washing their clothes. The little kids here all LOVE to make noise, jump around and have their pictures taken.

I continued climbing on the rocks and discovered another idyllic bay. So, cool. Just me and more white sand.

I then ventured back to where I started and grabbed my sandwhich and bananas. Had lunch on the beach. There was a little rocky island close to shore, so I decided to see if I could reach it. Success! It was only about knee deep, so I climbed around on it for a minute. I saw a road that led further away, so I thought I'd take it with Sharky.

To get to the road you had to go through by this "hotel". I call it the Ritz of Sainte-Luce. It was a little, two story wood shack. It had a fence around it but no gate, so I just drove through. I drove for 5 mins or so and decided to turn around. I couldn't see that the road would take me anywhere interesting, so I turned around. Plus I didn't want to get stuck in sand.

When I came back, someone had placed a gate. So, I was going to get out of my truck, but instead a guy came to my window and said "50,000 ariary". I pretended to not understand what he wanted, even though I know he wanted money. So, he took off running towards the village. I have no idea what his plan was. So, I got out of my truck and moved and the gate while probably 10 locals just watched me and said nothing.

As Sharky and I were leaving we passed him running back towards the Ritz and I just waved and continued on back to Fort-Dauphin.

I love finding these little treasures all around!

I don't work Thursday so I'm hoping to visit the national park and take friday off too!

Ballin'

A few weeks ago, I received an email at work stating that QMM plays basketball on Saturdays. I set about trying to figure who and where. Not sure if they played the week before or not, but I found a guy (Olivio) who played and he agreed to go with me. When we arrived, there was no one there....then people started showing up.

My expectations were.....well, very low. When the averag height is barely above 5 feet, I didn't expect much. However, the tallest Malgache decided to come....and he was actually pretty good.

Also, I didn't bring my basketball shoes, since I assumed that I would never play ball in Mada. Big mistake! I tried using an old pair of hiking shoes but the soles are coming apart and they nearly tripped me a hundred times.

However, the biggest surprise was that they are really good. The tall guy was pretty good and the smaller ones had some pretty good skills. After playing at one of our "camps" we went downtown to play with the other locals. It was an interesting game, because they had "officials" calling fouls, etc. I learned how to say traveling (marche that's an accent grave on the e). So, now I need to find some shoes big enough for my feet.

Its been raining a lot lately, but I hope it clears up for the weekend.

Ohh and the photo is just of some people that I swear were going to fall off the building.

Agacements (french for annoyances, I think.....)

Some things in Madagascar tend to bother me. So, I thought I'd let you know what they are:
1-Sidewalks: I know there aren't many in Ft Dauphin, but where there are sidewalks, it would be great if they used them. I don't understand why people walk in the middle of the road (especially at night) when there's a perfectly good sidewalk to use.

2-Road construction: Ok, ok. So everyone has road construction. However, here they built a road, then a week later they ripped it up. I don't understand why they construct a perfectly (well, perfect dirt road), then turn around and re-do it........

3-Meetings: Apparently if you say you are going to attend a meeting, you really don't have to. Maybe that's a Malgasy thing.

4-No diet sodas. None. And you can only order a big bottle of water and of course I don't trust the tap water. So, I drink a lot of soda.

5-Begging: Apparently its ok for anyone to just walk up to you and ask for "l'argent". I think that's the only word they know in french. For instance, a guy opened a door for me at the hotel and ask for money. Come on.......then a lady near Lac Anony was begging and I offered her a bottle of water and she refused and was frustrated.

That's all I can think of. Despite this, Madagascar is still a really neat experience and cool place to be. The picture has nothing to do with the post, its just some cool plant growing out of a cement stair at the "hotel" we stayed at.

Lac Anony Weekend and other stuff

So, I have done a good job keeping the blog updated. Not sure why. A week ago I tried frog legs. Actually, honestly tasted just like chicken. If you would have told me they were small chicken wings, I would have believed you. The next day at work we had save the frogs day.......I felt bad. So, no more frog legs for me.

I went to see some frogs at work in our protected area.....but they only had some in bags. Kind of disappointing. I'm back at my original hotel, but I found out that I may have to go back to hotel #2 which I don't like. Grrrrrrrrr.

I was supposed to go to the Andohahela National Park with the guide who took me to Mandena Conservation Zone. However, I called him the night before and he said that his new born was sick and he couldn't go. I was pretty disappointed because we had Friday off and I had planned on this trip for a while. Friday, I just hung out at the beach, did some studying, etc. Nothing noteworthy.

Saturday morning, I called a co-worker to find out what time people play basketball at the this little church. She then invited me to visit Lac Anony. I think that's what its called. She said it was 2-3 hours aways and I could come back the same day.

I met up with her and her son and another family around 10:30 and we took off. I drove alone in my truck, which was fine and just rocked out to my music. Thankfully, my truck plays MP3s.

The road was rough and LONG.....just like all Malgasy roads. We stopped in a city along the way, but I don't know the name of the city, for lunch. I was scared of the food.....lots of flies around, but they said that they have eaten there before and did not get sick. So, I tried a tiny bit and I'm still alive.

We drove through a large sisal plantation to get to the Lake. Actually, one spot was pretty hairy. It was a large drop off with a tiny path to the side that was covered in cactus. So, we had to hack away the cactus to clear a path.

This area reminds me a lot of Utah. We even ran across a large pack (not sure what the right word is) of crickets. Its very dry and with similar vegetation. Well, they don't have sagebrush, but still very dry and barren. The picture is at sunset of the lake. It reminds me a lot of many other lakes around Utah. Its a brackish lake. We stayed in an old hotel, that had no water or electricty. Actually, I planned on coming back the same day, but it was like a maze getting to the lake, so I didn't dare go back in the dark. Oh well.

On Saturday, we arrived around 4:30 PM and basically just set up tents for the kids and found out who ran the "hotel". It was 40,000 ariary for 2 rooms. Which is only about $20. Pretty cheap. I was scared that I would be eaten by spiders or mosquitos, however the insect nets seems to have spared my life for the time being. I forgot to take some pics of the hotel though....too bad.

On Sunday we just kind of hung out on the beach and played in the lake a little. A bunch of little local kids ventured down and played with volleyball with us in the water. They were soooooooooo excited when they saw the ball. I'll have to admit, they were a little clingy at times. But very kind. One of them had a cool hair cut, long in the front and 90% of the rest of his head was buzzed.

I almost forgot, I think I found where all of our donated clothes go to. At the city where we ate lunch, they had piles and piles of clothes on the street. I'm not sure if you had to buy them or not. I think I found a pair of my old spider man underwear there........let me know if you donated something and now want it back!

The way back, we tried a different route and avoid the perilous drop/cactus way. It seemed a little smoother and less hazardous. I'm sure I've forgotten other things and I've got a bunch of photos I wish I could share. Oh well.

I'll try to post more "stuff" later this week.

Weekend update

Sounds like a SNL skit or something...........so I changed hotels to the Azura hotel. Bad idea. I was getting kind of tired of the same thing everyday, so I wanted a change. Well, the new hotel's pool is disgusting and the their internet doesn't work. So, I think I'll ask to change back this week. I'm sure the lady at work that takes care of that stuff will be pleased with me.

I thought I was going to go for a hike with a friend from work, but she called and said she was sick Friday night. Instead of going for a hike, I grabbed Sharky and tried to find a thing called "ile des portugais". I guess its the first settlement in Madagascar. However, I couldn't really find it.

Instead I ended up taking some road that turned into a super sandy road, so I stopped and turned around. I didn't want to get stuck in the sand.

Then I went back the way I came and took a right and headed around this big lake here. The lake ends at the ocean. Its pretty cool and desolate. There's just sand and water, no vegetation right there.

Hopefully next week I can go to the national park and do some hiking.

Also, I don't proof-read this stuff........so I don't care if there are typos or mistakes or whatever.

Weekend Adventure

Since I often get tired of hanging out in my hotel, I try to get out on the weekends and visit around the area. Often, I have no idea where I am going or what I may or may not see. This weekend, I decided to head to the west (I think its the west). To the west is where the lush green area of the area around Ft Dauphin, turns into desert. At least that's what I've read..........

The national road leading out of town actually gets better the further you are away from town. I also think national road means road that was built once a long time ago and was never maintained after that. Some of the pot holes are bigger than my truck!! I imagine that a war zone has fewer pot holes than here.

The scenery leaving town is beautiful. Many more beautiful mountains and lots of vegetation and the occasional river. The bridges over the rivers do make me nervous.

Along the way I saw a few cemeteries. I didn't dare get too close to them because I'm afraid it would be "fady" which means taboo or something along those lines. I also found the entrance or an entrance to le parc national d'Andohahela. I hope to explore that park in the next few weeks.

That's all for this weekend.

Jolly Ol' England

According to google analytics I have some readers in England.......just curious to find out who they are. Maybe some people from Rio Tinto??

If you're willing, I'd like to know who you are.......

This is a pic of Sharky. The name of my truck. There are 3 Malgaches inside, but I doubt you can see them.

Also, it may rain this weekend.......so I might not have any amazing adventures this weekend. However, I wanna visit the Berenty lemur preserve in the next couple of weeks.

Secluded Beach

Monday was a holiday in Madagascar versus Good Friday. On Sunday, I was invited by some Malgaches to visit a secluded beach called Lokaro. It was about a 1.5 hour drive from Ft Dauphin. Which means you didn't actually drive very far....I think about 40 kilometers, but again the roads are horrible. So, Sharky (that's my truck's name because it's white and I like sharks), 3 Malgache friends and I went to Lokaro.

The trip was interesting because they didn't really know the way....I guess they normally walk there. So, we drove past the turn off point and had to ask some locals where to go. When we finally found the right turn-off point, the road turned into sand. We are talking, deep, deep sand. The key is keep going fast.....once you slow down you are in trouble!!!

After the treacherous road, including forging a small river, tons of sand and a precarious drop....we arrived.

The beach is BEAUTIFUL.......just like a postcard. White sand, tree-lined, perfect water, etc, etc. Another thing I learned is that fair skinned people should not hang out at the beach with dark skinned people. Otherwise, you will look like a lobster.

Basically, it was the perfect way to spend a holiday........just relaxing on the beach.

Mandena Conservation Zone

Last week I emailed the lady in charge of biodiversity to ask if I could visit the conservation area that QMM/Rio Tinto has established here in Ft Dauphin. I didn't hear back for a while....then she called me on Friday and asked if I wanted to go on Saturday. Of course I said yes and then she arranged for a guy named Philo (whom I hadn't met before) to be my guide.

I picked Philo up Saturday morning and we drove to the conservation zone which is right next to the mine. This area is one of the very few remaining areas that is still forested.

The first thing he showed me was their nursery where the keep all the seeds and grow the plants. Pretty interesting, including a carnivorous plant(not a venus fly trap, but one that has kind of a pitcher to catch stuff in). I didn't feed it anything.

Then we kind of went on a walk through the forest and he showed me different plants that are endemic to the area, etc. There are some crocodiles and lemurs but we didn't see any. They have some fossa in a cage. Fossa are the "lions" of Madagascar. They are the main predator of lemurs, etc.

While we were walking I saw a small hole on the trail and I thought it was a leave sticking out of it. Philo got really excited and pulled it out of the ground and it was a chameleon. It had changed color to match the dark earth around it. In the pic it's green, but it was actually dark grey when we first picked it up.

We saw some birds, bugs, etc, etc and some guy just carrying a big piece of meat in his hand.......

It's an interesting area to go and see what Madagascar was like 50 years ago before the forests were all destroyed.

Les Malagaches

One thing I've noticed about the locals (besides the fact that they are African) is how short they tend to be. My mom and sisters and even grandma would feel right at home here. There are just midgets all around. Especially the women.....so tiny.

Next thing: a lot of the natives have NOTHING. The other day I saw a guy and his son walking in just their underwear. No shoes, no shirt, no shoes, nothing at all. Actually, I think they might have had a hatchet or something to cut wood with.

The people here walk everywhere.......and I mean they could live 10+ miles away from town and they will walk (barefoot) into town to sell fruit or whatever. Its insane. It also makes driving at night an adventure. Cause there are no lights.....and they have dark skin and there are no sidewalks, etc.

Also, they carry everything on their head and I mean everything....long pieces of wood that they cut with a hatchet, fruit, laundry, water. They have an amazing balancing ability. I saw one lady, with a baby on her back, carrying wood on her head, while walking barefoot.

I don't have any pics of this stuff yet...so I put a pic of my tour group to Mt Jmo.

La Petite Vegas

Here in Ft Dauphin, near a beach called Ankuba (not sure if that's spelled correctly) they have an..........hmmmmmmmmmmmmm........"event" on Saturday afternoons. In the small parking lot near a restaurant called Marceline at Ankuba beach they have coq fights and gambling. There are usually a few roulette wheels and some board game that looks like tic-tac toe with a number 1-9 in each square. Not sure how that's played. The "roulette" wheels is made from an old bike wheel and spins very slowly.

I've been told that there's a "casino" somewhere in town. Living here is basically like living in Vegas........well except for the opposite.

Mount Jmo

On Saturday the 4th I decided that I wanted to go out and explore now that I have my unnamed truck. So, after lunch at the beach I decided to just start driving and see what I could find. On the way out of town I was stopped by the gendarmes (national police). No probs there.

The roads here are soooooo horrendous. Just pot holes everywhere (except for the roads QMM maintains). So, you have two choices. Go slow or just go fast and take your bumps. I tried going slow but its frustrating, so I just go fast and try to avoid the huge pot holes.

I had been driving for about an hour and I spotted a mountain that looked like it would be cool to climb. Stopped and started trying to hike over to it. No luck. There was no trail, etc......but some old guy that spoke a little French pointed to where a trail should be. I walked over there and walked right past it....until some little kids started yelling to turn around. Then I finally found the trail and the kids started following/leading me.

We crossed through some rice fields, over a cement culvert running over a small gulley....kind of scary actually, cause it would have been an interesting fall. We also crossed a small river and they laughed at me because I tried not to get my shoes wet. Actually, the laughed and giggled at me a lot.

After 20 mins or so we reached the base of Mt Jmo (yep, I named a random mountain after myself). We crossed through a tiny village of about 5 huts and some more kids joined us. They only spoke Malagasy and so most things were done by waving hands, etc.

After about another hour of hiking or rather….scrambling up steep, densely vegetated slopes……I decided to stop because I didn’t think it was worth the effort, I didn’t have any water and it was getting kind of late. The sun sets pretty early now. What’s funny, is that when we turned around there was probably 5 small boys that we up on top waving and shouting at us.

The way down was much easier, because we actually followed a trail instead of making our own trail……….I wish they would have shown that to me earlier!!!

Basically, I struggled big time going up this mountain, sweating the whole way and they had jackets on, no shoes, etc, etc and didn’t make it up. The way back down was pretty uneventful. With me trying to avoid getting my feet wet. I tried asking if they had any “Maki” which I thought meant lemur in Malagasy……but I don’t think they understood. So, I didn’t see much wildlife other than a small lizard.

At the end of the trail all of them lined up for a photo……..I think they’ve done this a number of times. Then one of them asked for “argent de poche”……..which means she wanted some money. I was kind of disappointed because I thought they were just being friendly, not trying to make some money. However, a few of them followed me back to my truck and I decided to give them some money. They were so excited…….more excited than I was on Christmas morning, so that made me feel good.

Overall, a pretty cool trip.

Need a name for my truck

So, I have a little, white, diesel, crew-cab Nissan truck for work. It has 2 options: A/C and a radio. That's it. I'll get a pic up tomorrow.

But I'm asking you for ideas a name.......not sure if its male or female.

Also, it still has a spare tire, which I guess is rare since spare tires are a favorite of thieves around here.

Daily Life

So, I better post something today or everyone will stop reading......which may be a good thing.

I basically have a routine here. Wake up around 6:20, eat breakfast at the hotel (which can be hit and miss). They have pretty decent crepes (NOT crapes), but the pastries are super thick.....not light and fluffy like french ones.

Then work from 7:30 to 4:30ish. The crappy part is that I'm stuck in my little cubicle all day in front of my computer for now. However, we should start having meetings for the implementation project. That will be a nice change, I think.

Then back home, getting in around 5ish. Then relax or swim........dinner (usually at the hotel, but tonight I'm gonna try a place called Coco Beach.).....then more time on the computer studying for my CIH (Certified Industrial Hygienist) exam or writing my Masters thesis.

I spend way too much time on a computer.............

Then rinse and repeat.

The weekends, I can sleep in and go the beach or hiking.

That pic took FOREVER to load...........

Weekend.......

So, what do most of the expats do on the weekend here? I'm sure you were all wondering and eagerly anticipating the response. Well.......they go to the beach. Specifically, Ankoba beach. Its a nice, little beach. There's a pretty good restaurant there. I had some tuna kabobs there...delicious.

Also, Friday night I hung out with some fellow employees. Two are from the Congo....well one is now South African and the other is quasi-quebecois-american. He's lived in both NYC and Montreal. The last guy was here on a business trip from London. We went to a little French restaurant, which was pretty good.

The trick to living here is finding all the little places to eat at, things to do....and where not to go.

Sunday was just a chill, relaxing day.......I'm still working on my tan and trying not to be the whitest person in Madagascar, but I'm still number 1.

Ok, ok.........

After some complaints (ok, just one so far.....) that I still wasn't posting every day. Here is a post for that person. It's actually after midnight, so I guess it's really Saturday.

First week of work is over........hard to make progress when all I did was try to get my computer set up and try to start learning who is who. The President of QMM was here today and he gave the doom and gloom speech. Which is basically.......the economy sucks, so be prepared for anything. Yep, just peachy.

Ok, so the plan for tomorrow is to try surfing and not drown or get eaten by a shark. Also, I may try to visit a few sights or forts around here.

So, maybe you'll get a few more posts this weekend and stop complaining.

Work

So, I guess I better post a little about what I do for work and maybe a little about the operation here.

So, I worked for Kennecott Utah Copper near Salt Lake City, as a health and safety advisor. Due to my french language skills and some of the work I did during the implementation of the management system we have now, I was asked to come to QMM (QIT Madagascar Minerals). Side Note: QIT is Quebec Iron Titanium based in Sorel-Tracy, Quebec, about an hour outside of Montreal. All of these business units are part of a larger company called Rio Tinto........or maybe something else in the future once China is done purchasing the rest of the company. Hope no corporate types read this.........

The purpose of my assignment is aide with the implementation of the corporate mandated HSEQ MS or health, safety, environmental, quality management system. The obvious goal of the HSEQ MS is to improve the HSEQ performance of the business.

It appears from the few days that I've been here that not much is currently in place....or at least I haven't been shown it yet. So, that means there's a ton of work to do. While at the same time, QMM is in the process of finishing construction at the site and is beginning commissioning of everything. So, that means that everyone is super busy and the last thing they will want to do is this. However, without their help, the implementation would only be on paper and not actually produce many desired results.

The HSEQ MS is similiar to ISO 14001 and ISO 9001 or OHSAS 18001 if that means anything to you.

QMM mines a mineral called ilmenite which is a combination of iron and titanium. The product is then shipped to Quebec to be further processed.

Ok, that's all I have for now and I don't have any pics of the mine, etc yet. Feel free to ask questions in the comments.

La Piscine Naturelle

So, last weekend after the visit to La Reserve my driver (yes I have a driver) took me to something called la piscine naturelle (the natural pool). When we first arrived I thought it was only this little cool waterfall that led into a small, but kind of dirty pool. There were some young adults (for lack of a better word) playing in the waterfall, etc. I had a chance to speak to one of them, and I discovered that they are from Belgium and France. Some of them work at the same place as I do.

After a quick sandwich for lunch, my driver tells me that there's more to see. So, we hike up a little bit further to a much larger waterfall. Then we ran into another Malagasi and he told my guide that the real "piscine naturelle" is up further. So, after about a 20 minute hike we arrived at the pisicine naturelle. So, the photo is of the real piscine naturelle. I saw some cool frogs and a hummingbird taking a drink of water. I have pics, but of course it would take way, way too long to upload them.

On a side note. Even though the hike was not strenuous, I was sweating like a fat man in a sauna. I guess its due to the heat and humidity.

Ring-tailed Lemur

So, I visited the Reserve de Nahampoana on the outskirts of Ft Dauphin. It was pretty cool, with lots of tame lemurs, etc. Saw some interesting frogs, chameleons, plants, etc. Today at work they told me that if I would have brought some bananas they would have eaten them out of my hands........oh well, next time I guess.

Photos take FOREVER to load, so you won't be able to see many.

Hotel

So, my hotel is much, much nicer than I expected. It's called the Sunny Hotel and has a tiled bathroom, nice bed, fair amount of space, pool, decent food, they do my laundry, clean, cook, basically everything I need.

So, I have my pics on my computer now.....but the internet connection is insanely slow, so I'll try at work sometime next week.

Impressions of Fort Dauphin

So, I finally arrived Ft. Dauphin....its HOT and humid...so we'll see how that goes.

It's very beautiful here with gorgeous mountains and awesome beaches. I think I'll learn to surf.

Poor, poor, very poor. A lot of people live in those little straw/thatch or whatever they are homes. Everyone just walks around in the middle of the street.

I have a chauffeur for the first week or so. Its kind of nice. I just tell him where to go and we arrive there....instead of me getting lost.

Again, I'll post pics once I find my cable to my camera.

Paris

Le Louvre, duh
So, I scheduled my flights so that "I had to" spend 3-4 days in Paris.......I mean isn't life difficult sometimes??

Actually, I've already been to Paris 3 times.....so it wasn't a big deal, but it was still fun.

I was worried that the weather would suck since its March and its often rainy and cold in France, especially northern France.........but I was blessed and the weather was near perfect.

I have a french friend (Khoune) who lives near Disneyland outside of Paris, so I stayed with him. Also, I have a friend from SLC (Elle) who is studying in Paris for 2 semesters.

I hung out with Elle Saturday evening and went to a tiny concert with some french friends of hers. It was really cool....kind of some folky type music....interesting experience in Paris since that type of music isn't well known there.

Sunday, I just kind of wandered around the city and ate some delicious ice cream and pastries!

Monday, Elle and I explored the shopping district called Le Marais........its the gayborhood of Paris. Some shops were super high-end while others were more reasonable.... We also spent a lot of time trying the stereotypical french foods.....crepes, etc.

Tuesday, I went to Sacre Coeur......its an awesome white church set on a hill over-looking the entire city. I think its my favorite church....better than St. Peters, Notre Dame and maybe even the Sagrada Familial (in Barcelona, which is an awesome city).

I've got pics and I'll post them when I find the cord that connects my camera to my computer.

Adventures so far........

Apparently, the Malagasi are never in a hurry to get stuff done.........I didn't receive my flight tickets until about 4 days before leaving.

However, I was able to travel in international business class........once you've done that you will never, ever want to fly economy. Kind of a double edged sword.

So, my plan was to fly to Paris on the 13th (arriving the 14th)....then leave on the 17th to Antananarivo (capitol of Madagascar) and then leave the 18th to Fort Dauphin (final destination for 6 months)...........however Air France changed the flight to leave the night of the 17th instead of the morning and so I missed the connection and now have to stay in Tana until the 20th.

In case you haven't been following the political situation in Madagascar here's a link:

link

So, obviously I wanted to minimize time in Tana. Alas, I leave early on the 20th, and haven't had any problems at all here. Actually the hotel is decent.......better than some hostels I've stayed in!!

Blogging......

So, after many requests, I am going to try to blog...........

For those that know me, I hate writing. So, the posts may be very infrequent at best.

However, I will try to keep this updated with the adventures during my 6 month stay in Madagascar.