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.