Mud, Muck and lots of Fun in Madagascar - by Zeke

As we sailed into Honey River we were immediately greeted by the site of our good friends on Emily Grace.  Once our anchor was down we were hailed by VHF, “Mojombo, Mojombo, this is Emily Grace”.  We replied and Tom suggested we go with them up a river for half an hour in a dinghy, then on a four hour walk through some villages.

 Next morning at 7 o’clock Nina, Dad and I piled into the dingy.  Mum was not coming because she had not been too well.  We motored over in the dingy to Emily Grace where we had decided to meet.  At Emily Grace we suggested that Emily ride with us in our dinghy.  We formed up a convoy of three dinghies.

Poling over a sandbar.

The first stage of our trip was easy.

With everyone now ready we were off up the river.  The first ten minutes of the trip was nice as we semi-planed along.  Then our guide told us to slow down as we needed to avoid sand bars.  As we made our way further up river we were continuously lifting up the outboard to avoid rocks.  At one stage we had to man handle the dinghies over a bar of rocks.  As the river got smaller we had to just stop motoring and paddle.  Eventually the dinghies would go no further and our guide told us that we would have to walk the rest of the way.  Later someone from the village would bring the dinghies up to the town when the tide came in.

But then the mud! River bank ascending.

The thing we did not realize was that we had to wade straight up the river bed itself.  At one stage the mud was so thick that I could not move my feet, so I pulled my feet out of my shoes and made some head way in bare feet.  Several times I all most toppled side ways and the others were not having much luck either.  After ten minutes in the river we got to climb up a river bank which made lovely fart like noises. From there it was on to a track, but that was not the last of it.  Five minutes later we had to re-cross the river to the village.  After trying various techniques when climbing the river banks the most successful one was to run up the slope and believe me it works.

 Click above to see my developed technique

Our guide for the trip.

As we set off on our walk our guide asked us in broken English how long we would like to walk for.  We replied that four hours would be good, so off we went.  On this walk we crossed three rivers twice. The wildlife consisted of six zebu, one snake and a couple of kingfishers.  We saw many houses and one village that had no one living there - our guide explained that these houses were occupied in the wet season when they grew rice.  The one ‘lived in’ village where we went to was our turning point.  At that village our friends gave out some clothes they had brought to give away.  We too had brought some clothes but Nina had failed to screw on the water bottle lid properly.  We could not bring ourselves to give away wet, soggy clothes.  We arrived back at the first village hot, tired and sweaty as there had been no clouds and hardly a breath of wind.  One of the villagers showed us to the dinghies.

A bus stop??

Two of the six zebu we saw.

We were not surprised at first to see water in our dinghy as we had climbed in and out many times.  Now that the tide was in we were able to set a good steady pace down river.  It soon became obvious that the water in the dinghy was getting in through a hole.  As it was only a slow leak we were not in any danger it was simply annoying.  As we were arriving back at the boat heavy clouds started to move in and it looked like rain.  It did rain and thunder and lightning joined the equation.

Me at the helm of our slowly sinking dinghy.

What a fun and adventurous life!

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A Malagassy Granite Quarry - by Gary

 Accounts of early pioneering life in Tasmania sometimes make reference to the high value placed on those convicts who possessed skills in quarrying and dressing stone, rendering it suitable for use in construction.  I reckon the present day granite quarry we saw in Nosy Komba must utilize very similar techniques to those employed by some of Australia’s earliest pioneers.

The Blacksmith Shop: the guy in the red shirt is turning up the heat in
this fire with a little hand driven air pump, getting blunt chisel tips red hot.

The Anvil:  when the chisels are hot enough they are worked
with a hammer and handy ‘anvil’ to reestablish a good point.

The Quarry Face:  This guy is using a chisel to make small holes in the rock
about 35mm in diameter and about 75mm deep and at about 250mm centres.

The Machine:  this guy is driving wedges down a line of holes (as created in the previous photo) to fracture this rock.

 Bang!

In the vertical rock face above you can see a line of wedge holes
 that have already been worked to fracture the rock.  A line of holes
in the horizontal face contain wedges that were being driven.

This is the guy working the line of wedges in the previous photo – in between sledge hammer blows he would carefully study the rock face and ‘sound’ it with light hammer taps.  He would also put a bit of water in each wedge hole (not sure why). You can see (in section) an older line of wedge holes at the top of the vertical face behind him.

This is the result they are looking for – a nice clean, even fracture .

Amazing work.

 Finished Product: roughly dressed building blocks 

Boys about Zeke’s age are hefting the finished blocks from the quarry down to the waterfront. 

Here blocks are being stockpiled on the beach for shipment across to Nosy Be (by sailboat of course).

Some of the work crew badly wanted me to take this group shot – as you can see, they are pretty fit and healthy specimens.

  

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Ankarana National Park - by Gary

While in Nosy Be’s Crater Bay we tagged along with the crew of Emily Grace on a four-day visit to Ankarana National Park.  Ankarana’s 18 thousand hectares encompasses the Ankarana Massif, a high ridge of exposed limestone cut by forested gorges, canyons, caves and underground rivers and surrounded by lower lying areas of light scrub and forest.  With such a range of habitats it provides refuge for a wide variety of flora and fauna.  We particularly wanted to see lemurs, chameleons and baobabs, and we got ticks on all three, but got to see and learn about much, much more.

Getting there was half the fun, and involved a 6:30 am dinghy trip ashore, a walk into the nearest village, a taxi to the port at Hellville, a power boat ride to the mainland at Ankify, then a 3.5 hr van ride to the park boundary.

At the boundary we walked to our accommodation at Goulam Lodge, and there met our guide Joachim.  Joachim assisted us pay our park fees and, as required by law, accompanied us for each of our three day-walks within the park.  His wit, intelligence, excellent grasp of English and in-depth knowledge of the park ensured we had a great visit.

We were off!  In Madagascar you can have a taxi to yourself (expensive) – or go ‘collective’ – the cheaper option.  No prizes for guessing which way we went.  There were ten of us in this tiny car to Hellville!

Then we took a high speed ferry (the expensive option this time!) to the
mainland town of Ankify.  You can see a man boarding the slow boat carrying
a headboard for a bed – very slow boat when you need to take a bed huh?

At Ankify we boarded one of these vans – normally designed to carry 12 people (4 rows of three) we had 21 of us aboard – but I think that was a pretty light load out of consideration for us foreigners.  Luggage, as you can see, goes on top.

We stopped for many roadside vendors selling all kinds of regional
specialties including these platters, roasted cashews, dried banana etc, etc.

A river bridge had washed out – and while a new one was under construction
traffic was diverted over on this temporary ford.  Everybody had to get out
and walk (except us foreigners!).

Villages along the way are meager.  They earn some cash by breaking up rock (with a hammer!) to make aggregate for concrete and road construction (see pile of unprocessed rock centre and finished aggregate under tree).

Finally in the early afternoon we arrived at the park boundary and our
accommodation for three nights.  With Zeke and Nina is Emily – she is
eleven, from Massachusetts, and is a really “neat, swell” kid.

Our bungalow!  It had a toilet and shower, but no running water (supplied in
 buckets from an adjacent well), and had electricity for a couple of hours each night.

Some of the staff, preparing our evening meal on these ubiquitous little steel fabricated fireplaces. 

Our first foray into the park was made in the late afternoon/early evening of the day of our arrival.  Here Joachim (red shirt) is explaining a karst feature – a large sinkhole.

 As the evening gathered around us we saw our first lemurs.  This is the 
Crowned Lemur, one of at least 10 species found in the park.

In the twilight we descended into this sinkhole, partially climbing out the other side to enter a bat infested cave with stored human remains (this picture was taken at the cave’s entrance).  Included on our ticket was a specific prohibition (a ‘fady’) against engaging in sex in the cave – so we didn’t!

On the walk back to the lodge we saw this chameleon fast asleep.  
By this time we were feeling pretty tired ourselves. 

The next day we saw lots of chameleons (their skin has three separate layers that can be turned ‘on’ or ‘off’, allowing them to assume a wide range of colours). 

Madagascar also has many species of geckos.  Here are a male and female of ...hmmm the green stripey kind.  

This was a beauty! – a Leaf Gecko.

We walked up a hill and gazed over the surrounding scrub and forest towards the Ankarana Massif.  The areas of bare limestone are known in Madagascar as ‘tsingy’.  You can see gorges slicing through the tsingy.

We had an excellent picnic lunch next to this freshwater lake. Lakes are a rare occurrence in this country, this one has crocodiles in it – but we didn’t see any.  Otherwise we might have provided them with an excellent picnic lunch.  The park is reputed to contain the world’s only cave dwelling crocodiles – but we didn’t see them either.  In the background are Tom and Kim (Emily’s parents) along with Simon (our assistant guide).

 

On our last day in the park we walked to this amazing sinkhole... 

... in the wet season three separate rivers plunge their raging waters into it, to travel underground and reemerge on the surface about thirty kilometres away.

 Then we left the forest and walked out onto the tsingy. 

It is an amazing landscape, dry, waterless, and full of not dead but 
deciduous trees and shrubs.  Highly adapted to this environment, 
they lose their leaves in the dry season. 

 Just to assure us they weren’t dead, some of the trees were in blossom. 

There were fascinating smaller plants like this miniature baobab looking thing (although Kim was informed it was something entirely different).

 It is a rather inhospitable looking place...

 ... but cut by deep, cool, shady gorges.

We crossed one on this bridge!

 It was scary (looks terrified doesn’t he?).

Each and every rock of the tsingy has been delicately sculpted. 

On the way back we passed ‘The Big Baobab’, the largest in the park. 

... and finished the day with a picnic, surrounded by lemurs. 

Go away!

This is Vicki’s favourite – just check out that magnificent feather boa of a tail! 

We really want to thank the crew of Emily Grace for having us along – we had a fabulous time!

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