MIVOAKA: 16.08.2023
Plan for the day: Relax and have breakfast. Boat trip to the fishing village of Betania. Free time until 4 o'clock. Drive to the Baobab Avenue.
Facts of the day: The thickest Baobab tree has a trunk circumference of 28.88m - but I think the .88 is a bit too precise. As a woman walking alone through the streets, you get approached much more often.
It was pretty cold last night, since it was so warm yesterday, I only wore short clothes to sleep and there's only a fairly thin blanket. That's why I voluntarily got up in the morning and quickly got dressed and sat in the sun. It was very nice to have a relaxed morning and I sat on the terrace and read. At 8 o'clock we had breakfast, with an omelette, fruit salad and bread and Baobab juice, but it was too sweet for me. After breakfast, we relaxed on the terrace for a while, then at 10 o'clock we went on a boat trip to the mangroves and the fishing village of Betania. First, we got into the boat and drove a bit down the river towards the sea and saw many birds and mudskippers. Something similar to a kingfisher and a stork-like bird. Then we stopped at a sandbank and walked through a channel. We saw many fishermen who were knitting nets and catching fish, crabs, and even starfish and seahorses. We crossed another channel and reached the peninsula and the fishing village of Betania. There, a resident was waiting for us and showed us his little village, where about 200 people live. It was super impressive to see how the people live autonomously on a sandy peninsula and how happy they are with it. Our guide happily pointed at everything and told me to take photos. The boats, the houses. They get water from a deep well. Coconut palms grow everywhere and he asked if we wanted to try one. Definitely! So he climbed one of the palm trees and picked two coconuts. He opened them for us and we drank the juice. Quite a lot of juice. And then we ate the flesh. Really delicious. We continue to walk through the village and meet laughing children who happily shout "Salama" to us and show us their caught fishes and starfish. We say goodbye to our guide and take the small boat back. We pass by a few fishermen through the channel and return to the mainland, from where we walk back to our hotel. After a short break and extensive foot washing, we set off to the town to have lunch. It's quite hot, but it's really nice to be by the sea again. I definitely soak up a lot of sun. We have lunch at the restaurant on the beach and I have a very tasty Riz Cantonais. Accidentally with vegetables, so I'm definitely full. We continue to walk through the city streets. I buy toothpaste and then I make my way back to the hotel by myself. Short break to rest and then it's time for the trip to Baobab Avenue with Manatsoa! Very exciting. The drive only takes half an hour and the first Baobabs are the impressive harbingers. But when we arrive at the avenue, it is very impressive to see these tree giants. I take a few photos and we eat Baobab ice cream. Very delicious and somehow it's okay that it's sweet, unlike the juice, which is more like jam. The sun is slowly setting and we go to the perfect spot for sunset pictures, which we naturally share with others. After a sunset and hundreds of photos, we are happy and satisfied and return to the car. On the way back, we see three chameleons on the road, beautiful. Back in Morondava, we go to the same restaurant as yesterday, but I only have a vegetable soup, I'm still so full from lunch. Then we go to the hotel, somehow the path is much darker than yesterday, but there shouldn't be a power outage.