REUNION ISLAND =REST AND ISOLATION

WEATHER: Overcast days and cooler nights

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: Doing nothing

BUMMER OF THE DAY: Paying 14EUR for a crap Club sandwich

BUYS OF THE DAY: The 375ml bottle of Diet Coke for 4.50EUR – they are .80EUR at the supermarket

WORD OF THE DAY: Lazy

Well things have been that ‘restful’ I am going to have to combine 3 days into one entry.  It has been that busy –not.

I have now been in Reunion for 3 days and I haven’t made breakfast once.

I have now been in Reunion for the last 3 days and I haven’t done dinner once.

Don’t worry I have been eating, just not as much as I have been over the last 2.5 months its just food bought from the supermarket.  The reason I haven’t made breakfast isn’t because I have slept past 10am.  I’m up, I’ve either just been on the computer or I can’t be bothered walking the 10 minutes to the restaurant to get there.  I had all intentions of going this morning, having showered and deliberately not switching on the computer, as I had all intentions of going, and then I laid down and thought was I really that hungry?  So I didn’t go.  Dinner has been pretty much the same.  They have a buffet here every night and it is only 35EUR, which I think the price isn’t too bad, but I just couldn’t be bothered going, I am not sure what is wrong with me.  I have eaten out once and it was for lunch on the 1^st day.  I ate at the pool bar that has sandwiches, salads and pizza’s.  I ordered the club sandwich and it was the worst CS that I have ever had and all for the grand cost of 14EUR!!  I know hotel prices are steep, but you would expect to at least get a good sandwich for that.  The upside is there is free Wi-Fi over the whole resort, so that eased the pain a little.

Wi-Fi.  IT has been my pal the last 3 days.  I have finally loaded my 44, yes people you have been looking through FORTY FOUR albums of Africa in the past 3 weeks.  Let me tell you with the internet connections I have had at some places it has been a stella effort in patience, but I finally loaded the last album yesterday.  I have also loaded 10 albums of Madagascar with only one left to go I feel great that I am now up to date with my pictures.  The internet even improved enough for me load up 6 videos that we prepared on our second last day of the trip and I am so so so so glad that we did that.  Sometimes photos and blog entries just don’t do any justice too some things and it was the BEST idea I have had all trip.  Watching the videos is just like have the crew right there and they are pretty DAMN funny!  I am also loving the contact I still have with everyone on-line.  We have live chats and real time comments on photos and messages and advice all there at the push of a button.  I’m going to miss that when they go back to their jobs and when I lose my 24/7 connection again. 

So with my computer and my TV on the music channel, which is the only channel beside CNN that is in English, they are the only 2 things that have kept me company.  Even the music channel runs on a loop and I have heard the same songs for the last 3 days.  They have some French/English songs as well which I have to say I am a fan, so I have written them down in the hope I will be able to download them at some stage.  I have no idea on what they are about but French pop seems to be pretty cool.  CNN is currently all over the Michael Jackson trial and I watched the Prosecutor’s opening statement in full and live, so that was pretty riveting – sad isn’t it.

The most exciting thing that has happened is a problem with my Travelex card.  I used it for my duty free purchase in Tanna and then when I arrived into Reunion 4 hours later I used it at an ATM at the airport.  Well getting out 70EUR wasn’t going to cut the mustard when I did my supermarket shop and it cost me 33EUR, so I went to use the ATM again and the machine said I had to contact my bank.  Weird, I know there is money on it.  Anyway I didn’t think too much of it, I have other cards purely for this reason, so I still got my cash and preceded home.  When I logged into my Hotmail there was a message from Travelex saying that have temporally stopped my card as they think there may be some fraudulent transactions happening and to call them.  So I phoned and it flagged because there was no way I could have gotten from Madagascar to France in 4 hours.  But really I was in Reunion, but it was a French bank I used, not a bad system they have there, it’s all about protecting your moula, so he unlocked it within 10 minutes and problem solvered.  Thanks Travelex for looking after me.

I do need to take a walk around the resort; I haven’t even made it to the beach yet.  Hold that.

Okay I’m back.  I felt so bad I hadn’t gone to the beach; I grabbed my camera and IPod and went for a wonderful stroll along the beach.  It isn’t the best beach on the island, but the water is so warm and as it was late in the afternoon, I decided to have dinner, I know first time, and watch a beautiful Reunion sunset with a cold Mojito in my hand.  Even though that wonderfully strong Mojito was 11EUR I was getting some bang for my buck, so I couldn’t complain.  So now I am back and I feel better that I have left my room and my balcony that I seem to have been hibernating on the last 3 days.  I did feel bad that I had done nothing, but I need to have some down time somewhere right!  I tried to book a day tour to the volcano, I met with my representative last night and he said he would call if there was a tour I could join tomorrow (today) and he would call.  Well I got no message and then my phone rings at 7am this morning there was some-one here to collect me.  WTF – I said I could be there in 15 minutes and the guide said he couldn’t wait and left.  So I contacted Cedric back this afternoon and there is no volcano tour tomorrow – so I have missed the boat all together now on getting out there.  I am a bit bummed about that as it was really the only thing I wanted to do while I was here.  Oh well, I did try.

Oh I did get something productive done yesterday.  I got my haircut.  Jean-Louis David salon sounds reputable right.  So the reception chick didn’t speak English but the hairdresser did a little.  So I was just trying to explain I wanted to keep it long I just wanted a trim and to keep the same style.  So doing the right thing she pulled out a book that had my cut in it but shorter and I said yes like that but keep it long.  Well after about the 3^rd snip, I knew that it was going to be shorter than first anticipated.  Actually she has chopped off a lot and I am back to my pre-trip length I got done just before leaving!  Oh well I guess there is just 3 weeks between a good haircut and a bad one and if nothing else I got French cut right!?  It did need a cut, I was looking all bushy, so I can’t get too upset about it. Nothing like getting something lost in translation!

So that has pretty much been my last 3 days in Reunion Island, not very exciting but I’m okay with that.  Tomorrow is my last day and I might actually go and spend some time on the beach tomorrow with my book and leave the realms of my balcony.  I’m looking forward to the Seychelles, I think the weather is going to be improved there and really excited about Ethiopia and getting back to a group atmosphere.  I miss talking to people and having a laugh.  

THE ROAD TO REUNION ISLAND

WEATHER: 15C in Tanna and 22C in Reunion Island

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: A breezy travel day again

BUMMER OF THE DAY: The weather is crappy in Reunion

BUYS OF THE DAY: My duty free perfume purchase

WORD OF THE DAY: FRENCH

An early start this morning.  I was getting picked up at 6.45am, so I was up at 5.30am and got my computer booted up and continued to load my Africa photos as I did my final pack, if nothing else I am dedicated to getting my pictures on Facebook.  I got so absorbed and the internet speed was cracking along, I decided to skip breakfast and just keep them loading till 6.30am, when I headed downstairs to find Alan there waiting for me to take me to the airport.  What a nice surprise!  Plans changed and his party of 4 weren’t coming in till the afternoon, so it was nice that he came, cause he still could have sent his brother.

So with the music playing for the last time we drove for the 45 minutes to Tanna International Airport.  After yesterdays ‘awkward’ moment when I went in for the thank-you hug, there was no repeat of that and just a friendly handshake and a BIG thanks again.  It was all said yesterday, so I was now back on my own again for the next 10 nights.  I don’t know why I imagined that the Madagascar component of my trip would be relaxing with a lot of driving and hiking 3 times in national parks.  But I know for a fact that the next 10 nights will be spent chillaxing.  I have no day tours pre-booked; I will just see how I go when I get there.  I would like to see the Volcano which can be done in a full day tour, otherwise I just want to load photos and relax and know I don’t have to be anywhere at any time.  I will probably get sick of that after a few days, but besides the 7 nights I have on the river cruise I will be back being with people and back on the road again, so I will savor these days even if I do get bored.

Check-in was s seamless process again, who would have thought that Africa would have the quickest processes?   The counter wasn’t open when I got there, but I only had to wait 20 minutes.  I’m flying Air Austral, a French airline, and there was just the one check-in agent to start with and I was next in line.  The lady before me had her hand luggage weighed as she checked in.  Well I had my carry on back-pack already on my back, as per my normal check-in process, as I know that sucker would definitely weigh more than the approved 7kg so this was going to plan already.  Well there was an Air Madagascar flight leaving just before ours, so they had a check-in agent next to Air Austral, so he called me over to help out the queue.  So thank-god I didn’t get the other guy, cause I don’t know what I would do if I got pulled up with the weight on my back.  So I was checked in and they need to put hand luggage stickers on your carry on, so he asked me what carry on’s I had and I pointed to my handbag and he said what about the backpack on your back.  Oh crap, I’ve been found out, but he wasn’t interested in weighing it like the other dude, he just wanted to get the regulation hand luggage tag on the sucker. Phew thank you travel god, you have looked after me again.  I am happy to report my checked in bag was only 19.1kg!  Yay, I’m getting this travelling with one bag down pat finally after 7 months!

The only thing that I didn’t get done was to visit a post office with all the crap I bought in Madagascar and with some left over bits from Africa, so I am actually carrying a spare piece of hand luggage.  But I hope to off load this in Reunion or worse case in the Seychelles. So with my window seat boarding pass in my hands, actually I am sitting in seat 2A!  I have a feeling that this plane ain’t going to be a big aircraft if I have a 2A seat, but he saw the size of my carry on backpack, so it can’t be that small that it won’t fit in the overhead.  This seems to be my worse fear these days travelling on the smaller aircrafts. 

Tanana’s airport reminds me of Darwin’s airport of old.  Tin shed feeling, hasn’t been touched by development since it was built in the, oh I would say 40’s, oh maybe I’m being a little harsh, how about the 70’s.  A departure card had to be completed and then I was waved through at the departure entry and then through to customs, 10m away where there was one person working, processed in 3 minutes, 2 steps to the security screening, 20 seconds through that and I was done.  I didn’t even have to pull my laptop out of my bag.  I guess what sort of terrorist would want to blow up Tanna or Reunion Island for that matter.  The shops were just starting to open; it was only just after 8am I guess.  I still had 40,000AR (20AUD) burning a hole in my pocket, so the one shop that was open was the perfumery.  Well I do actually need some more perfume, so I bought a bottle of Givenchy and even though I did like the smell, I was also looking at the practicality of the size and shapes of the bottles so they wouldn’t take up too much room in my toiletry bag. OMG, I AM becoming a seasoned traveller.  I also need to point out that this is the FIRST duty free purchase since leaving home (except the travel adapter I bought at Heathrow) and that is a mammoth effort for me.  Considering I have passed through now around 23 airports, I am pretty proud of that stat!  Well that killed 10 minutes.

The plane we were catching was late arriving, but as it is a smaller aircraft there isn’t too much involved in turning it around, so we only had to wait an extra 10 minutes and they called us, we were processed and let through the gate for the walk to the aircraft.  It was an ATR 72-500, which in layman terms is a rear access only plane with propellers and a 2x2 seating arrangement.  So even though I was in 2A, I had to walk the whole aircraft to get to my seat, but lucky I was one of the first to board so I didn’t have to bump and grind past people in the aisle.  Well there is always some-one worse off than me, and the lady that was sitting next to me arrived and her hand luggage wouldn’t fit in the overhead locker, so she had to store it at her feet, but as the plane door closed there was no-one in the row in front so she did a swappsie and I got another seat to myself.  I have to say I have been quite lucky with my seats on all my flights.  I have just probably just jinxed myself, but touch wood it continues. 

The flight was only 1 hour and 45 minutes and it got me landing into Reunion Island just after 1pm as we wound our watches forward an hour.  I had looked at my documents on my IPod (once again I hadn’t had a chance to print them) and it is on the flight I noticed that the flight time on the voucher was the old flight arriving in at 6pm.  I had to juggle my flights around back in February as the original flight cancelled, and I must have overlooked letting the wholesaler know.  DOH.  So I knew for a fact that there would be no-one there to meet me as I wasn’t supposed to be there for another 6 hours.  We got a bus transfer in Reunion to the terminal and because I was last off the plane it meant I was first off the bus!  Woo Hoo!  So with no visa and no paper required to get through customs I was at the baggage carousel in record time.  The trolleys were not free and at this point I had no idea on currency and had no local money so with my bag one of the first off, I hefted my big backpack on my back and with my other 3 bags made it through to arrivals. 

I found the tour company’s booth and what would you know it was closed.  Yeah, well they weren’t expecting anybody were they?  There was an information counter not far away so I went up and asked where there was an ATM and also a pay phone where I could call the company; I at least had those details on my IPod.  So I went to the ATM and not knowing what would pop out I took the 3^rd option of 70 something’s and it was Euro that came out.  Okay, well I have some left over Euro from my Contiki tour, so I rummaged around and found some coins, enough for the phone.  So I find a payphone and it only takes cards!  It doesn’t say what type, so I found another bank of phones and they are all the same.  So I make my way back to information and she explained that it is a credit card like I should have known.  This is all my fault, so I haven’t lost my temper and I asked the lady if she could make a call for me, it was local, I had the number and I showed it to her and she didn’t believe me that the counter was closed, so she went and checked and we came back and she finally made the call for me.  After a few calls back and forth and after around 40 minutes some-one was coming to get me.  The information lady ended up being really nice and I was super grateful for all the help she gave me.  No point in getting cranky right?  It just makes other people cranky and then nobody is happy, even if this wasn’t my fault, I would have been the same.  I knew that Reunion Island was French, but so was Madagascar, I didn’t expect the whole country to be..well French.  Everything is in French, well at the airport and nobody speaks English, or if they do they don’t let you know.  All the signs are in French and all the information boards are in French.  What happens if you don’t speak French – um like me?

So my French only speaking driver (and he is the tourism business and he only speaks French) arrived in an 18 seater new Merc bus all for me.  To get from the airport to St Denis the capital was only a 15 minute drive, but I was continuing further down the coast to Les Bains which was a further 30 minute drive.  The scenery on the drive was pretty amazing, hugging the coast line that had massive cliff faces on one side and the ocean on the other.  I would love to tell you that it was beautiful blue water, but it was overcast and blowy and totally not a tropical island feel but the cliffs were pretty cool to look at on the upside.  It was also nice to be on a normal road, with normal drivers (well they are French) and travelling at the actual speed limit, it took me awhile to work out what was actually different while we were driving, I was missing all the honking car horns.  It was eerie and quite…….

I’m staying at the Hotel Le Lagon, which is a 5 star hotel and I rekon this has pretty much been the bargain of the century when I booked it through a wholesaler for $50AUD a night and that was for a single room and it includes breakfast!  Now that is a bargain.  So my bags were whisked off me when I arrived and I walked into the massive reception area to check-in.  I think my early arrival may have thrown them out but without actually letting me know about it.  They asked me to take a seat and I waited for 25 minutes with no-one coming up to me to let me know what was happening, so I went back to the counter and she told me they were just waiting for my free drink.  I couldn’t really give a toss about my arrival drink, but after a further 10 minutes the drink came out with some paper work that needed to be signed.  Well the paper work was a 5 page booklet that I had to sign in 3 places and provide my credit card details on.  Man talk about a hotel taking their contracts seriously.  So after signing my life away I met my ‘guide’ and she then took me around the resort and showed me where the 3 restaurants were, the amazing looking pool, the pool bar, the club house and then to my block of rooms.  I am about the 5^th block back from reception, you just about need a packed lunch to get there, but the room itself is pretty cool.  So after Corrine left I checked everything out, the room is littered with bougainvillea flowers and the base colour of the room is that beautiful aqua blue which the towels are of the same colour.  Ahhhhh this is going to be home for the next 5 nights and I am really excited that I don’t have to be anywhere, I don’t have to dine at a certain time and I can sleep in and have nobody to account to.  This is going to be heaven.  I cranked up the laptop to see if the Wi-Fi reached this far and even though I have a ‘low’ signal it seems to be working okay.  I have used slower, so that is great as I want to use this opportunity to load the last of Africa and get Madagascar started loading.

Even though it pretty much has taken me a whole day to fly only 2 hours I was still feeling okay after waking up at 5am.  There are a set of ‘suburb’ shops a 10 minute walk from the hotel, so I decided to take a walk down there and scope the place out.  The great news is they have hairdressers there and a supermarket.  Now I haven’t seen a supermarket since leaving Cape Town, so I was finally able to replace my 6 month old razor, that surprise surprise had given up the cutting ghost and I also got some water, schnacks and because I could some camembert and cabana with some biscuits.  A touch of home.  I was on the hunt for a Reunion sim card though which I couldn’t get there.  I asked at the newsagent and the lady didn’t speak English but so I was handed over to the guy who told me I had to go into Saint Gillies which was 15 minutes by bus and I got him to write it in French for me and also the words for sim card.  I stopped at the bakery on my way back to the hotel and grabbed myself a pizza bread to tie me over till dinner. 

So I walked back to the hotel and dropped of my goodies and then asked the concierge to call me a taxi.  Well he is the concierge right? Anyone would have thought I’d asked him for a ride to the moon.  He had some attitude and I have come to the conclusion he is an arse.  He huffed and puffed that it was going to take at least 40 minutes for it to get here and that it will be very expensive and proceeded to pick up the phone.  Woah woah – cool your jets buddy.  What are my options, so he told me I could catch a bus for 1.50EUR.  Well that sounds a lot better than 30EUR one way in this damn taxi.  So back to the shops I walked and made sure I was on the correct side of the road and a bus came along within 5 minutes, talk about luck and the bus driver knew where I wanted to go without even showing him my piece of paper from the newsagent man!  Alright, I’m starting to get the hang of this French language (by not using it) and no talk thing.

I spent 90 minutes in Saint Gillies getting my sim card with a lot of hand gestures, having a look around the shops and then back on the bus, which incidentally had the same driver I got on the way in, so at least he knew where I got on as I had no idea on the name of the stop, but I had land marks to keep an eye out for so I would know when to press the button.  Aren’t I a smart cookie.  Saint Gillies reminds me of Noosa, little beach side town with surf shops and restaurants.  Cute.

By now I am pretty knackered.  It has been a long day, so I decided to not do anything for dinner.  I had the cabana and cheese in the fridge, so after my wonderfully awesome hot shower with the MASSIVE shower head I made myself a platter of cheese, bikkies and dip and this constituted as my dinner, keeping in mind I had the pizza bread around 4pm.

So another country, well even though Reunion is technically France, it is another stamp that I will need to get for my Globetrotters book and a tick in the box.  I’m looking forward to 5 days of rest and relaxation and being in one spot for a small length of time.

Welcome to Reunion Island.

400KM IN 7 HOURS - THAT’S MALAGASY ROADS FOR YOU

WEATHER: Cool, rainy and overcast – a good travel day I guess lows 13C – high cloudy 21C

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: Making it back the capital alive – Malagasy roads are INSANE

BUMMER OF THE DAY: A long day in the car with literally one break for lunch

BUYS OF THE DAY: My chicken Malagasy pizza for 6AUD

WORD OF THE DAY: Crazy – referring to the drivers on the road

With such a BIG travel day ahead meant for an early start.  6am wake up for a 6.30am breakfast and bags were in the car and we were on the road at 7.25am.  So we have 400km to travel today and depending on traffic Alan thinks it will take around 7 hours.  Not only the traffic, but that is just the way the roads are, slow and windy and getting stuck behind the taxi buses and trucks.  I do have to say that 90% of the drivers are all courteous to each other on the roads.  The slow cars will move over, the trucks will let you know when it’s good to pass them with indicators and when you do pass them they give you a friendly toot.  The slow people don’t cop it from others, the taxis are stopping anywhere and everywhere picking up people and goods and if there is a breakdown they always have their fluro hazard stands out and if they don’t have them they get branches from trees and put them up to 30m away from the truck on the road so you know there is a hazard coming up, whether it is broken down or just unloading or loading.  So I may go on about how crazy the roads are, but it is the small 10% crazy drivers over taking on bends or getting impatient waiting for a clearance behind a truck that make up the carzy component and we saw 3 near accidents just today based on that.  It is also the conditions with children playing beside the road, dogs. chickens, people on bikes, people pushing varumba’s, people heading to church in their family groups you name it the side of the roads in Madagascar have it.  I’m not sure I would have the nerve to drive here just based on that.  The first 2 hours we were still on the plateau, the weather was pretty foggy, so Alan had to super concentrate as we were lucky to be able to see 30m in front of us at one stage.  It is the first bad day’s weather we have had over the 10 days and if we were to have one, today would be it as we literally sat in the car the whole day.

So more driving time to think as I look at the Malagasy people out of my window.  As the weather is a lot cooler and a little showery, most of the villagers we rugged up in Masai look-a-like blankets, which is the first time I have seen them be used.  I have seen them hanging off their shoulders all week, but never worn and it was a site to see 90% of people all rugging up in these blankets.  I do have to note their normal day clothes.  A lot of their clothing is donated from Europe and USA, so it is funny to see sometimes a man wearing a sequined top in the rice paddy, people wearing Team USA tracksuits or football jerseys’ with Johnny or Hank personalized above their numbers on the back.  Men wearing pink hoodies, suit jackets while carrying a bag of fire wood, Hawaii shorts with checked shirts.  The ladies are a little better dressed, but I guess when the clothes are donated you really aren’t going to be too picky.  I want to point out I am not laughing at them, it is just interesting seeing all the colours mixed and matched in that makes the people them I suppose.

I sometimes wonder how can the lives of these people be improved.  How much would a varumba (cart) cost?  This I know for a fact would be a massive help to people, or a bike.  It is incredible how much can be carried on a bicycle and also to be used as a mode of transport.  It still amazes me how the women, and men, balance their bags on their heads.  The children do it as well, so I guess you start at an early age, but some of the things on their heads range from just a shopping bag to a 10kg bag of firewood, bags of rice, buckets of water and trays of food and they walk with purpose and confidence that their load will not fall off their heads.  How would you even start to help?  Is it fair to only help one village?  How do you decide?  Hmmm I might think a little further on that. 

The final 25km took us 40 minutes.  We got stuck behind this truck on the windiest bit of the road back into Tanna, so there was just no opportunity for an overtake, so we pretty much went 40km the last of the way pulling into the hotel at 4pm.  Phew what a BIG day and that’s just for me, what about poor Alan driving the whole way.  So after a thanks, a tip and a hug (which he is obviously not a hugger - awkward) I said goodbye to my guide and driver for the last 10 days.  Alan wasn’t taking me to the airport in the morning as he has another group coming in, so Hans his brother was coming to collect me at 6.45am.  So this is a MASSIVE THANKS to Alan.  Even though his English was not the greatest, we got along well, we had some laughs, sang together, and we did have long but comfortable silences but they were companionable, so I may have not got the whole history about his country, but I still had a marvelous time.

I was banking on getting a lot of internet done tonight.  Last time I was here the internet speed was amazing.  Well I was on the ground floor last time, getting a room on the 3^rd level this time obviously affects the speed and it was slower than a Sunday driver.  Bloody hell. 

So my time in Madagascar comes to a close.  It was a far better experience than I imagined and would recommend it to anyone that has it on a travel list.  It would be perfect for the walkers and the hikers with all their national parks here.  It is a shame I didn’t get further south to their beaches, I am sure the sand and the colour of the water would have been amazing.  Well maybe that could be another trip back to this vast country.  I take away a lot of images from Madagascar including:

The colour of the soil, I can see why it is known as the Red Island; it is a real deep red colour. 

The crazy roads and the crazy drivers, the local buses loaded with all their wares from chickens to bikes

The local transport in the villages - Zebu’s and carts and varumba’s

The beautiful rice and brick paddies

The Lemurs

The stunning scenery

Children working – this is a way of life in third world countries but it is still hard to see

Ladies balancing all sorts of baskets and goods on their heads – this is truly amazing

The bright colours of the Malagasy people – stunning

Car horns – always beeping telling people to move, or thanks or hello – insistent all the time

So I say goodbye Madagascar and her people.  You were amazing.

MY NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC DAY IN ISALO NATIONAL PARK

WEATHER: Low of 15C and a high of 32C

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: Getting to see some Lemurs on my second last day

BUMMER OF THE DAY: Can’t think of a single thing

BUYS OF THE DAY: Some local crafts for 5AUD.

WORD OF THE DAY: Namaza – friendly

ANIMALS SEEN TODAY: LEMURS!!!  Red fronted lemurs, Ring-tailed lemurs, spiders and a raphich vanga

Up at 6am this morning, and to think this was ‘normal’ time in Africa.  As my bungalow is so far down the resort, I decided to take my pack with me to the main building so I would have to go back down there after breakfast and it gave me some extra time in my bungalow.  As I walked out there were porters all walking around ready to pounce on doors that opened with people and their luggage.  I didn’t have any small notes left to tip, so I carried my backpack for the first time in I rekon 3 months further than 2m.  OMG and it’s not even full.  Lord I think I have gone backpack soft!

I had to pay my bill this morning and my coke and beer only came to 6,000AR (#AUD), but lunch yesterday was 40,000AR, which is like 20AUD, which has been the most expensive lunch so far here.  In saying that it was a 3 course affair in a 5 star restaurant, so it wasn’t such a bad price really, just expensive in Malagasy terms. 

We only had to travel 15 minutes down the road to the village and to the entrance of Isalo National Park.  We collected out guide here, Rivoo, checked in at the rangers office and then we headed by car down a dusty bumpy road the 4km to the start of the hiking trail.  We were the only car in the car park at 8am.  Where is everybody else.  I know both the big groups last night at the resort had done their hikes yesterday.  Oh well, I’m not going to complain, it means no people in your photos and nobody else talking and ruining the serenity.  So with a wave to Alan who was sticking around to look after the luggage we set off just after 8am.  Isalo National Park is 81,000 hectares and was opened in 1962.  The section that we were going to visit today was the Canyon of Namaza, which is a natural canyon that has been carved by wind and rain into strange shapes.  As we descended into the canyon and made our way in you could hear the running water pretty much straight away and this sound stayed with us the whole 3.5 hours we were in the canyon.  We followed the river, named Ranama River, all the way to the source and we crossed it 4 times in and 4 times back and I didn’t fall in once!  There has to be something said about hearing running water gurgling over rocks.  Our first stop was only 15 minutes in at the camp site of the camp and this is where we spotted our Lemurs.  They were certainly more people orientated as we walked in there were campers eating their breakfast below where the lemurs were.  Knowing what lengths we went to in Ranomafana National Park, these guys were just sitting in trees over the camp sites BBQ and sitting areas.  There are 7 species of Lemurs in this park, of which 4 of them are nocturnal, so we had 3 on our list to see today and we knocked 2 of them off within the first 15 minutes!  The last one was one that I have seen before in Ranomfana so really we could have turned around right there and gone back to the car, but now it was off to just enjoy what nature had created over millions of years and to be honest I am not a massive nature lover, but this walk was amazing and definitely worth the 3 hour effort.  I have taken so many pictures of streams, moss covered rocks, sandy beaches, tree lined streams, rockeries, the steps we walked on, more streams, more plants, waterfalls and sandstone worn away with the passage of time.  It was a great morning and we only saw one other couple on the first circuit and they were leaving as we arrived and the 2^nd circuit had 2 big groups of 20 arrive into the pools as we were leaving as well.  So it certainly was a great idea to start out early to miss all the people.  Good call Alan.  I rekon the 150 photos I took could rival national geographic I’m telling ya!!! 

So after 3 hours in the sandstone canyon and having walked around 6km, back past the now sleeping Lemurs on the way out is was a great way to start the day.  It was starting to also heat up and it was only 11am in the morning.  So we travelled back the 4km back to the ranger’s office and to drop off Rivoo.  I remembered this morning hearing a stamp getting used as we got our paperwork done.  I only have one more day in Madagascar and it is a Sunday, so guessing the post office will be closed, I was yet to get a stamp in my Globetrotters Book.  So I got Rivoo to come in with me and asked if they would stamp my book, which she did with no hesitation.  It is a groovy NP of Madagascar stamp with a Lemur, perfect. 

Alan and I decided to have an early lunch so we could just high tail it once we get back onto National Highway 7 and guess what the restaurant was called.  Chez Berny!  Well it must be a classy establishment.  I got Alan to take a photo of me with the menu and when I went into pay, he hand wrote a receipt up and then stamped it with the name and details of the place, so I asked him if I could use the stamp in my Globetrotters book which he said no worries, so it was a successful day all round getting my book stamped. 

We now needed to cover 230km to get us to Fianarantsoa, also known as Firana for obvious reasons, and this is one I can’t say properly, even after Alan told me like 10 times.  Sorry it was just too hard.      

So 12 noon and we were back on the road again.  My second last day in Madagascar.  So over 5 hours of driving with only one stop at the Papyrus making place to have a look at their shop that was closed a few days ago for a few small purchases and a toilet stop for Alan (and smoko) Being on the road and driving it gives you time to think about what you are seeing through the window of the car.  Sometimes you would be in the middle of nowhere, no villages and no shops and you would see a lone bike rider or a walker, it reminds me of the Masai we saw when we were driving to the Serengeti.  Same thing, where are they going, how long have they been walking for.  They are literally in the middle of nowhere, nothing as far as the eye can see anyway. 

They have a lot of roadside police checks through the whole country.  Mainly checking paper work for the trucks and taxi’s and I have seen them looking at the 20 people jammed into the local buses ( that should really hold 10) but that doesn’t seem to worry the police here or the passengers getting crammed in like sardines.  I guess the other option is to walk and we could be talking 20-30km, so I guess I would take the cram as well.  Not once have we been stopped.  I guess they see the vazzar (white person) in the front and assume that all the paper work would be in order.  I rekon we probably pass through minimum 5 a day, so over the week that is 35 checks passed through.  We always hope they pull up the trucks, so it gives us an opportunity to get past the slow buggers, and we got waved through each time!

Alan met one of his colleagues at the last hotel with her group and she gave him her transmitter for the radio, so we could plug in a USB stick loaded with songs and have that playing and not having to rely on my IPod or the reception of the radio stations when we are in whoop whoop.  I used to have one for my car back in the ‘old’ days, but it was cassette based (yes that long ago).  This one you just plugged into the lighter it plays out of your car speakers.  So all afternoon we had The Best of Mariah Carey and The Best of Shania Twain playing for the 4 hours.  Better than nothing or French love songs right!?     

So we got into Fianarantsoa at 4.45pm and there was an old town city tour that was on the itinerary to be done this afternoon.  F#*k that.  I have walked for nearly 4 hours thins morning, sat in the car for nearly 5 hours, it was getting cold and it was starting to rain, I think I will forget the walking tour if that’s okay Alan.  The look of relief on his face was evident, but I just couldn’t. 

The guest house where I was staying the night was really sweet.  It was set up cottage style with the main house at the front, with a beautiful garden with tables and garden chairs and lanterns you had to walk past to get to the rooms.  My room was on the second level and it looked like an attic room.  It was massive with large bay windows and a conch, a writing desk and a TV!!!!  IT has been months since I have had a TV in my room and guess what?  I didn’t even turn it on.  I know right, it normally would be the first thing I would have done pre Africa I guess.  It was actually nice to know I didn’t need it on, but in saying that I still had my IPod playing for some noise as I got my blog updated.  Something’s won’t change, I always have music playing, I’m a music gal.

After dinner I found out that the accommodations had Wi-Fi, so I jumped on and loaded the last 9 entries of Madagascar, so it was good knowing that they were now up.  I am nearly up to the 18,000 hits on the blog, so that is pretty cool and it certainly keeps me encouraged to keep writing.  Thanks to all of you who keep coming back – it makes me feel great to know people are taking the time to read my entries.

Well we have a MASSIVE travel day tomorrow – so I will say goodnight. 

Goodnight. 

MY NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC DAY IN ISALO NATIONAL PARK

WEATHER: Low of 15C and a high of 32C

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: Getting to see some Lemurs on my second last day

BUMMER OF THE DAY: Can’t think of a single thing

BUYS OF THE DAY: Some local crafts for 5AUD.

WORD OF THE DAY: Namaza – friendly

ANIMALS SEEN TODAY: LEMURS!!!  Red fronted lemurs, Ring-tailed lemurs, spiders and a raphich vanga

Up at 6am this morning, and to think this was ‘normal’ time in Africa.  As my bungalow is so far down the resort, I decided to take my pack with me to the main building so I would have to go back down there after breakfast and it gave me some extra time in my bungalow.  As I walked out there were porters all walking around ready to pounce on doors that opened with people and their luggage.  I didn’t have any small notes left to tip, so I carried my backpack for the first time in I rekon 3 months further than 2m.  OMG and it’s not even full.  Lord I think I have gone backpack soft!

I had to pay my bill this morning and my coke and beer only came to 6,000AR (#AUD), but lunch yesterday was 40,000AR, which is like 20AUD, which has been the most expensive lunch so far here.  In saying that it was a 3 course affair in a 5 star restaurant, so it wasn’t such a bad price really, just expensive in Malagasy terms. 

We only had to travel 15 minutes down the road to the village and to the entrance of Isalo National Park.  We collected out guide here, Rivoo, checked in at the rangers office and then we headed by car down a dusty bumpy road the 4km to the start of the hiking trail.  We were the only car in the car park at 8am.  Where is everybody else.  I know both the big groups last night at the resort had done their hikes yesterday.  Oh well, I’m not going to complain, it means no people in your photos and nobody else talking and ruining the serenity.  So with a wave to Alan who was sticking around to look after the luggage we set off just after 8am.  Isalo National Park is 81,000 hectares and was opened in 1962.  The section that we were going to visit today was the Canyon of Namaza, which is a natural canyon that has been carved by wind and rain into strange shapes.  As we descended into the canyon and made our way in you could hear the running water pretty much straight away and this sound stayed with us the whole 3.5 hours we were in the canyon.  We followed the river, named Ranama River, all the way to the source and we crossed it 4 times in and 4 times back and I didn’t fall in once!  There has to be something said about hearing running water gurgling over rocks.  Our first stop was only 15 minutes in at the camp site of the camp and this is where we spotted our Lemurs.  They were certainly more people orientated as we walked in there were campers eating their breakfast below where the lemurs were.  Knowing what lengths we went to in Ranomafana National Park, these guys were just sitting in trees over the camp sites BBQ and sitting areas.  There are 7 species of Lemurs in this park, of which 4 of them are nocturnal, so we had 3 on our list to see today and we knocked 2 of them off within the first 15 minutes!  The last one was one that I have seen before in Ranomfana so really we could have turned around right there and gone back to the car, but now it was off to just enjoy what nature had created over millions of years and to be honest I am not a massive nature lover, but this walk was amazing and definitely worth the 3 hour effort.  I have taken so many pictures of streams, moss covered rocks, sandy beaches, tree lined streams, rockeries, the steps we walked on, more streams, more plants, waterfalls and sandstone worn away with the passage of time.  It was a great morning and we only saw one other couple on the first circuit and they were leaving as we arrived and the 2^nd circuit had 2 big groups of 20 arrive into the pools as we were leaving as well.  So it certainly was a great idea to start out early to miss all the people.  Good call Alan.  I rekon the 150 photos I took could rival national geographic I’m telling ya!!! 

So after 3 hours in the sandstone canyon and having walked around 6km, back past the now sleeping Lemurs on the way out is was a great way to start the day.  It was starting to also heat up and it was only 11am in the morning.  So we travelled back the 4km back to the ranger’s office and to drop off Rivoo.  I remembered this morning hearing a stamp getting used as we got our paperwork done.  I only have one more day in Madagascar and it is a Sunday, so guessing the post office will be closed, I was yet to get a stamp in my Globetrotters Book.  So I got Rivoo to come in with me and asked if they would stamp my book, which she did with no hesitation.  It is a groovy NP of Madagascar stamp with a Lemur, perfect. 

Alan and I decided to have an early lunch so we could just high tail it once we get back onto National Highway 7 and guess what the restaurant was called.  Chez Berny!  Well it must be a classy establishment.  I got Alan to take a photo of me with the menu and when I went into pay, he hand wrote a receipt up and then stamped it with the name and details of the place, so I asked him if I could use the stamp in my Globetrotters book which he said no worries, so it was a successful day all round getting my book stamped. 

We now needed to cover 230km to get us to Fianarantsoa, also known as Firana for obvious reasons, and this is one I can’t say properly, even after Alan told me like 10 times.  Sorry it was just too hard.      

So 12 noon and we were back on the road again.  My second last day in Madagascar.  So over 5 hours of driving with only one stop at the Papyrus making place to have a look at their shop that was closed a few days ago for a few small purchases and a toilet stop for Alan (and smoko) Being on the road and driving it gives you time to think about what you are seeing through the window of the car.  Sometimes you would be in the middle of nowhere, no villages and no shops and you would see a lone bike rider or a walker, it reminds me of the Masai we saw when we were driving to the Serengeti.  Same thing, where are they going, how long have they been walking for.  They are literally in the middle of nowhere, nothing as far as the eye can see anyway. 

They have a lot of roadside police checks through the whole country.  Mainly checking paper work for the trucks and taxi’s and I have seen them looking at the 20 people jammed into the local buses ( that should really hold 10) but that doesn’t seem to worry the police here or the passengers getting crammed in like sardines.  I guess the other option is to walk and we could be talking 20-30km, so I guess I would take the cram as well.  Not once have we been stopped.  I guess they see the vazzar (white person) in the front and assume that all the paper work would be in order.  I rekon we probably pass through minimum 5 a day, so over the week that is 35 checks passed through.  We always hope they pull up the trucks, so it gives us an opportunity to get past the slow buggers, and we got waved through each time!

Alan met one of his colleagues at the last hotel with her group and she gave him her transmitter for the radio, so we could plug in a USB stick loaded with songs and have that playing and not having to rely on my IPod or the reception of the radio stations when we are in whoop whoop.  I used to have one for my car back in the ‘old’ days, but it was cassette based (yes that long ago).  This one you just plugged into the lighter it plays out of your car speakers.  So all afternoon we had The Best of Mariah Carey and The Best of Shania Twain playing for the 4 hours.  Better than nothing or French love songs right!?     

So we got into Fianarantsoa at 4.45pm and there was an old town city tour that was on the itinerary to be done this afternoon.  F#*k that.  I have walked for nearly 4 hours thins morning, sat in the car for nearly 5 hours, it was getting cold and it was starting to rain, I think I will forget the walking tour if that’s okay Alan.  The look of relief on his face was evident, but I just couldn’t. 

The guest house where I was staying the night was really sweet.  It was set up cottage style with the main house at the front, with a beautiful garden with tables and garden chairs and lanterns you had to walk past to get to the rooms.  My room was on the second level and it looked like an attic room.  It was massive with large bay windows and a conch, a writing desk and a TV!!!!  IT has been months since I have had a TV in my room and guess what?  I didn’t even turn it on.  I know right, it normally would be the first thing I would have done pre Africa I guess.  It was actually nice to know I didn’t need it on, but in saying that I still had my IPod playing for some noise as I got my blog updated.  Something’s won’t change, I always have music playing, I’m a music gal.

After dinner I found out that the accommodations had Wi-Fi, so I jumped on and loaded the last 9 entries of Madagascar, so it was good knowing that they were now up.  I am nearly up to the 18,000 hits on the blog, so that is pretty cool and it certainly keeps me encouraged to keep writing.  Thanks to all of you who keep coming back – it makes me feel great to know people are taking the time to read my entries.

Well we have a MASSIVE travel day tomorrow – so I will say goodnight. 

Goodnight. 

ON DAY 180 SHE RESTED – MALAGASY STYLE

WEATHER: Warm temperatures today.  At 8am it was 24C and at midday it was 31C

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: Not having anything on

BUMMER OF THE DAY: Tired

BUYS OF THE DAY: Haven’t bought a thing

WORD OF THE DAY: Welcome back reception

I’m tired.  I am not really sure why, I got another great 9 hours sleep last night.  That’s what happens when you’re in camp and the generator is switched off at 9.30pm. But that’s okay as I had a big day yesterday, so going back to my A-frame at 8.30pm to read for an hour was fine by me.  Maybe it’s the heat that is zapping my energy?  It really has warmed up here the last 4 days – maybe.

Well today was just a travel day thank goodness with 135km to cover today.  As we left Camp Cata, the clouds were pretty low this morning and as we drove off Alan says ‘the mountains are touching the clouds today’ and how true.  I couldn’t help it and took yet another photo of the same beautiful mountain that featured in 90% of my photos yesterday.  It truly is a magic spot here.  So we had to travel the 25km back to National Highway 7 that took us 90 minutes and then it was pretty much plain sailing.  The roads are in better condition on this section and they are straighter as well, so we got to sit on 90km today all the way.

The scenery has changed again and we are now on flat plains with massive mountains now in the distance.  With the dried yellow grass still a feature, it is really dry out here.  The villages are poorer as they don’t have the water / river to sustain rice crops, so they can only really grow kasava (which is like a kind of potato) and sugar cane.  Their houses are smaller and there are more of them dotted on the landscape.

With one scenery stop and another one to help a fellow tour guide whose car had broken down, we made it to Isalo National Park and the beautiful resort of Satrana.  It was only mid-day and we have decided to jig the itinerary so we had no plans for this afternoon and have a rest.  The resort is based at the base of a granite mountain and it reminds me of Latitude 99 in the Northern Territory.  The accommodation is all self-standing tent bungalows.  It is kinda cool as the tent section is made out of the same tent material as the ones I just spent 60 days in, but it is 6 times bigger and it is joined to a massive bathroom with two marble sinks and an outdoor private shower as well.  All very posh.  The bed is a KING with a desk and massive tent windows facing out to a wonderful view of a smaller mountain range.  I am in the last row of bungalows so I have no other bungalows obstructing my view.  Amazing.  The swimming pool looks fantastic and it has those awesome moon shape chairs around the pool, with deck chairs and tables also facing an amazing view.

Lunch was from 12 till 2pm, so I decided to drop all my stuff at the bungalow and head to the restaurant.  The service here is 5 star and the food was amazing.  Not sure how much the lunch is going to cost me.  It was just a set 3 course menu, which you got to choose off.  Oh well how much could it actually be?  The generator had just been switched off and doesn’t get turned back on till 7.30pm, which is a little strange as it gets dark here at 6.30pm, so that will be interesting.

After lunch I wanted to make the most of my bungalow.  When there aren’t too many people around the resort you don’t want to be the only one around, I just feel bad.  So I headed way down the back of the resort and decided to make the most of the harsh sun and get some stuff washed.  I know it will dry within an hour, I had a shower had some SMS conversations and then sat on my deck in these snazzy deck chairs that also rocked like a rocking chair but not as awkward.  Now this is the way to spend an afternoon with the Malagasy sun beating down, a cool breeze blowing and a view to die for.  I am glad we had no plans today and this was a good stop to relax at.  As it happens it sounds like tomorrow is going to be another energetic one.  We are, well I am, going on my own with a guide tomorrow into Isalo National Park and the hike is a 4 hour journey.  Talk about all this hiking business makes me tired but I am up for the challenge and if I see Lemurs then it is definitely worth it.  So it’s an early start tomorrow with us leaving at 7.15am, the earliest start I have had all trip.  But it makes sense firstly to beat as much as the sun as we can and we also have a fairly large drive tomorrow to get us to Fianarantsoa.

Well as it started to get dark at 6.15pm the power came back on early which was good.  I have a wad of appliances to charge and it would stay on till 11.30pm and then off again till 6am in the morning.  I set off for dinner at 7pm and had a cute little table to myself next to the open French doors that faced onto the pool.  It really is a nice resort, considering we are in the middle of nowhere and the local village and the national park entrance was 15 minutes up the road.  As there is just me, I sometimes feel I scoff dinner.  As soon as you finish a course they bring out the next one straight away, I could be done and dusted with 3 courses in 25 minutes I rekon.  But I bring my book and I am able to string it out for at least 45 minutes if I’m lucky.  The restaurant was full; they had 2 massive groups of over 20 in each and a couple tables of 4’s around the place, so they must have come in later.  Alan’s brother is here tonight with his oldie French group and every time he saw me he was nice and stopped to chat.  I also had my mobile phone last night, so I was keeping busy keeping in touch with people.  I have worked out not all my Malagasy messages have been getting through, but they are happy to charge me for them, the buggers.  So I am back on my UK sim card as I know they get through and I am currently in touch with my mate Rach in the UK to see if we can get some credit added to my account.  They won’t let you use a foreign credit card for a top up and I currently don’t have an account, so thanks Rach for doing some running around for me – it is appreciated.  Hopefully we can get something to work.

So I did ask when I checked in if they had internet to which there was a yes!  OMG, I haven’t been on Facebook for a whole WEEK!!!  So after dinner I was let into the manager’s office and logged on.  It wasn’t the fastest connection, but who am I to complain it was free, and I got a solid 30 minutes on there, didn’t get to do too much as it was slow, but I have 45 notifications to look at, photo tags, 5 new messages and 3 new friend requests.  I can see I will be busy on my speedy internet connection tomorrow back at my Tanna Hotel, as well as updating my blog with 8 entries and loading more Africa pictures up, I will be a busy little bee tomorrow.

So a late night for me.  In bed at 9.30pm and reading for an hour before turning off my light.  The staff had come and closed all the tent windows and pulled out the massive doona for the bed, hmmm I’m thinking it may get a little cold here tonight.  Goodnight from my luxury tent.

I HIKED IN THE ADRINGITRA NATIONAL PARK – BELIEVE IT

WEATHER: Low of 15C and hot tops of 37C

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: Making it back to camp in one piece

BUMMER OF THE DAY: Not seeing any lemurs when the other group did

BUYS OF THE DAY: Didn’t buy a thing all day – this budget thing is great when there isn’t anything to spend it on!

WORD OF THE DAY: Ununa vow vow – what’s new?

ANIMALS SEEN TODAY: Beautiful crickets (wait till you see the photos). A small snake, lizards, iguanas, birds whose names I was only told in French and Chameleons.

Yes you read the title right. I hiked and I actually liked it!  Now pick yourself up off the ground and let me tell you about my day.

I set my alarm for 6.45am, but after getting nearly 10 hours sleep last night I was awake just after 6am and drifting in and out till my alarm went off, I did then proceed to hit snooze twice, but I made breakfast on time at 7.30am and then I met my guide for the day Jean Paul at 8am.  I am not sure if Alan normally comes on these hikes or not, but he was there all ready to go for mine.  I didn’t bring my little backpack, I left that in Tanna, so I gave my bottle of water, spare camera battery and purse to Jean Paul and I only had to carry my camera, sweet deal.  One thing I did notice was JP had a walking stick; you know the kind that serious hikers have when they are going to climb mountains!!  So I knew some effort was going to be involved.  Lucky I got 10 hours sleep last night!

JP explained that his English wasn’t the best, so he was going to French it and then Alan was going to translate.  Okay, so not the best way to get a guided tour of the national park.  JP would talk for like 10 minutes and then poor Alan would give me a 2 minute spiel, full well knowing that I wasn’t getting everything.  I did get the general gist of everything, if not in full detail and I made sure that I just enjoyed the scenery and listened to them banter on all day.  After all we don’t need a translator to enjoy the view right!?

So off we set, and a few minutes in we had an extra companion Lulu – one of the dogs that belongs to the camp.  I wonder how far she will follow us – but welcome to the posse Lulu.  We headed through the forest and this was where we hoped to see some ring-tailed lemurs that live here.  As we hiked UP, through the long dry yellow grass, the scenery then changed to rocks and granite and further UP, we trekked into massive boulder territory and tall trees and vines.  JP was using a harmonica to try and drum up some lemurs; he would play a note and wait for a response.  We trekked around the forest for 2 hours and didn’t see one lemur.  It was a little disappointing, but they are wild animals after all, so we then hiked over streams, through canyons, over ravines, rockeries, rock faces, ditches, dirt tracks, rocky tracks, grass tracks and around mountains with a few stops in between for rest stops.  The sun was high in the sky and it was a hot day, I guess with the reflection of the granite as well helped keep things a toasty 37C.  I did remember to put on sunscreen on my nose, so hopefully that puppy doesn’t get too burnt today.  It has copped a flogging the last week sitting in the front of the car. 

We got to a small village that has this magnificent view of the mountains in the background.  The kids here were trying to sell you necklaces made from seeds of the local plants.  They had them hanging off branches and there would have been some as young as 3 holding out the sticks with their wares on them.  I am still in the habit after Africa of asking people if I can take a photo of them, but I think it’s just courteous now to do it and the good thing is the kids just LOVE having their pictures taken, as they love to see themselves on the little screen in playback mode.  Emily and Christina would love it here, the kids are just beautiful, and not just in looks but in temperament as well.  Their smiles would light up a small city, I tell you it is just a ray of sunshine and they haven’t yet learned that awful habit of asking for money for photos, so it is awesome to be able to snap away and both parties get something out of it.  I spent around 20 minutes just taking pictures of the kids, they all wanted to be in them so they could look at themselves and in the end we had to keep moving with them all shouting out photo, photo take my photo!  I did get another opportunity to get a Bernstar jump with the village kids, so I have around 15 of them all jumping with me, they love it and to see the 15 frames all play backed like a mini movie, makes them all laugh and smile to see the sequence, its priceless.

Our next stop was the small local hospital about a 30 minute walk on.  This is where we saw the French group that is also staying at my hotel and they SAW LEMURS!!!  WTF.  I don’t mind not seeing them if they are not around, but their guide got them to a family and I didn’t believe them till one of the French guys showed me some photos on his camera.  Dang it.  It just goes to show it is the luck of the draw.  I did get to see 3 chameleons on this section of the walk though, so small consolation, they aren’t lemurs.  So 3 hours in and we still have Lulu with us, so the French don’t have her, but I think I would still take a lemur sighting, sorry Lulu.

The walking is now a lot easier.  We are on dirt tracks and not too steep.  We climbed over some massive granite rocks to get us to the top of a smaller mountain, crossing a few streams and having to rock jump to get to the other side and no-one fell in (namely me), we were on the home stretch to the cascades, a long rest and some lunch.  We had to scramble down some granite rock faces to get us to the bottom of a watering hole that had a small waterfall coming down the rock face.  It was beautiful and we set up lunch here.  JP had a picnic blanket, but I told him not to worry, there was just a bunch of rocks with a small patch where he could have put it anyway, so we just pulled up a rock and I was given my foot long chicken baguette, a popper and some sweet biscuits for sweets after.  So we started eating and then the French group arrived and joined us.  Well their lunch was a little more spekky with cous cous (sauce also provided in a separate jar), baguettes, laughing cow cheese, bread and their sweets was pureed apple bought in 2 tins that had to be opened along with 2 cartons of apple juice.  What a spread and what a load for the guide to have had carried for the last 4 hours!  There are 12 of them in his group.  OMG what a champion including cups, forks and plates!  Yikes.  My foot-long was too much and after sharing a little with Lulu, I gave the rest back to JP for him to take home.  I was full and I had to decline the apple puree offered from the other group, I just couldn’t fit it in. 

So from here JP said we had one more hour to go.  Cool I could handle that, I was tired but knowing we were just walking back now I could handle that, if we were to be hiking, I would have had to have a good talk to myself to keep me motivated.  So back up the granite slopes, walking across a dam wall and through forgotten dried up rice fields we started to make our way home.  We did stop at another camp restaurant for a hit of coca cola, at this point it was 1pm (the hottest part of the day) and we needed a sugar hit, so I bought a round and we rested for 10 minutes before getting back on the road again.  Okay so now I am starting to feel tired and the sun was relentless.  We stopped one last time at a tiny village we drove through yesterday to get to the camp and they were preparing the rice for consumption.  After the rice is dried, they need to bash the hell out of the rice to remove the outside husks revealing the actual rice grain, and then the grain needs to be separated from the removed husks through a sieve to get the actual grain all good to go for the cooking.  There were about 6 girls all pounding away in what looks like an oversized mortar, some sharing the same one, some doing it on their own, and these girls would have been 8 or 9 years old and what a tough job.  I guess if they don’t do it they don’t get to eat?

We powered on now with the huts of the camp now in sight.  JP did ask if I wanted to head back into the forest to try our luck again with the lemurs, but now I was hot, thirsty and tired and I knew the boys were also knackered.  What guarantee did we have of seeing them anyways – so I said thanks but no I think I will give it a miss.  Soft you say?  Tough, I gave it a crack, I have just walked/hiked for 6 hours in the hot bleating sun – it was time to head home.  I don’t feel bad in the least that I didn’t give it another go.  In total we hiked around 8km in 6 hours, so it gives you an idea on how much we actually did.  We didn’t set any pace records, we kept it nice and slow (mura mura) the whole day, some-one with more experience probably could have done it in 4-5 hours, but it suited us all and JP was awesome, always checking on me and offering an arm or hand if the going got a little tricky.  Also happy to report that our extra companion for the day Lulu, stuck with us to the end as well.  There was one point when we were on the last stretch home, she knew where she was, and JP stopped to talk to some-one for 5 minutes and when we set off again she was waiting for us at the bottom of the hill looking over her shoulder to say ‘hey what’s the hold up’.  She was so cute and made me miss Scoobe’s even more.  Love ya puppy and I haven’t forgotten about ya!

So there.  I did hike and I did like it.  I’m not converted if that is what you are thinking, but I am glad that I did it and there’s a feeling of accomplishment in doing something I normally wouldn’t do and what a beautiful setting to be doing it in.  The main mountain Tsaranoro was always in sight and made for some stunning photos, so that could have been part of keeping me enthused.  I swear I have taken a gazillion photos today of that mountain and surrounds, it was just magic.  A big THANKS also to JP, Alan and Lulu who were very accommodating with the picture stops, opportunities and offering to take my picture all the time – it was weird that only I had a camera and didn’t have to worry about getting in other peoples photo’s or having to ask people to take mine.  Alan is a Bernstar convert photographer and now gets all the jumps on the first go, so that is also awesome for me.  You guys rock.

So after showering and feeling like a million bucks I headed back to the open restaurant and got blogging about today’s events.  I haven’t had internet since my second night in Madagascar, but I now have all the blogs lined up and ready to upload the second I get some Wi-Fi.  I don’t even have cell phone service out here, which can be a little frustrating when you know you have messages coming through, but what can you do?  3 days of no access hasn’t killed anyone right, I am so techno savvy and always connected it is a little disconcerting to not have any access at all, via anything!  Not even Alan’s phone works out here.  It really has only happened once in Africa, I was off the air for 2 days at the end of our Namibia stint – I hate it – call me what you want but it is my contact with my loved ones and I hate it.  Well as my itinerary says ‘back to civilization tomorrow’.  I better have some messages sitting there.

So I got a little burnt, um I mean tanned today, as you would expect spending 6 hours in the Malagasy sun.  As I was applying my ‘Dawn’ cream after my shower I was assessing my travel injuries since I have been away.  My first major was my fall in Greece.  This has scarred quite nicely and still seems to peel now and then, no matter how much dawn is applied, but it no longer hurts which is good.  My next major injury was my fall in Lake Bunyonyi.  This is still sore after nearly 8 weeks.  I don’t think this is a good sign; there is a scar the size of your hand, so it has healed, but I think there may be some internal damage for it to still be sore at this point.  I may have to get that looked at if I get a chance, even if I bang it on something it gives me a lot of pain.  The only other injury still lingering is on my third last night in Fish River Canyon I got a massive (well grain size) blood blister on my left pointer finger which is just about dried up, so in the end I didn’t have to pop it which was good.  I did get some massive bruising from my skydive on my legs where I was strapped in which is just about gone.  But for 6 months, I think that isn’t too bad at all.  Touchwood.

As I have time, I have also gone through the books to just make sure I am close / still on budget.  So after entering everything in and really sitting down and working it all out, I am over budget by only $256.  Not bad after all the optional expensive excursions I did in Swakopmund, going over budget on my MSC Cruise with ChelC (alcohol), going over budget for all of my 4 Contiki tours (alcohol) and I did go over budget for Morocco but that was due to the postage of $250.  So I am really happy with that outcome and that is also based on the $75 a day budget, that I scaled back from the usual $100, so really, technically based on my original budget I am well and truly in the clear, but using the scaled back version saves me $11,525 which at the end of the day could give me an extra 153 days away and still be within my original budget.  Have I sold it to you yet?  Sounds good though right!  Let’s just see what happens but at the end of the day, I’m looking good in the accounts department and my POA will be happy as well.