Nosy Be, Madagascar: sunny 35 degrees

On our long journey, Madagascar was the last stop for tendering. It's rather unfortunate because we always enjoyed these crossings.

This excursion combined a visit to Lemuria Land Park with the discovery of the small capital, Hell-Ville. Lemuria Land is a natural and botanical reserve located amidst ancient Ylang-Ylang plantations. We walked along paths surrounded by fragrant vegetation of rare and endemic Malagasy plants, as well as a variety of palms and spectacular bamboo tubes that reach up to 25 meters high. Missionary fathers established the Ylang-Ylang distillery here, where the largest production of essential Ylang-Ylang oil in the world takes place. Afterwards, we boarded the bus again and headed to the city center, where we visited the market that offered local products of all kinds. It was a mix of very different aromas ranging from ‘that smells good’ to ‘let's move on quickly.’ We strolled further through the city and experienced a little of the life in Madagascar, such as laughing children in front of the school or women sleeping by the roadside or sharing the latest stories. Madagascar is the 5th poorest country in the world, yet we encountered many cheerful people. An unforgettably beautiful experience in Madagascar. Now there are 4 days at sea before we dock in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

Since we obviously still hadn't had enough of lemurs, today's program included a visit to Lemurialand . It's a kind of animal park/zoo near Hellville . I think we got ripped off a lot when it came to the tuk-tuk prices to get there, but since the village is so small, there are only two drivers, and you have to rely on them and can't say no. So we drove there for about 30 minutes for half a fortune and then paid the entrance fee.

But our guide was really cool and knew a lot, so the tour was really fun. First we saw or rather looked for the " roi du camouflage ", a gecko that could adapt its color to its surroundings exactly.

Secondly, we were once again amazed by lemurs, but this time we saw different species than before on Nosy Komba, including King Julien :D However, these were "locked up" (aka they were surrounded by a moat because they don't like water). Later, however, we would see wild lemurs :)

Before that, we visited snapping turtles, which can easily bite off your finger, which is why we weren't allowed to pet them. Our guide told us that they even kill crocodiles. If they are eaten by a crocodile, they hide in their shell and later eat the crocodile from the inside out - scary!

Luckily, the wild lemurs came straight towards us and we were able to feed them with bananas and pet them for a good twenty minutes, while our guide showed off his cinematic talent and constantly filmed and photographed us :D He said exactly three things, each time in a different order: “ Maaaaaki, maki maki ”, “ Voilà ”, and “Banana? ”.

After this furry pleasure, we stopped by to see the two giant tortoises Napoleon and Bonaparte, who I think were 150 and 170 years old - and really huge!

To top it all off, we saw crocodiles, which to be honest, really scared me. A crocodile eats 5kg of meat a week and can run at up to 40km/h - I can't do that, so I was glad there was a wall between us. When I saw these animals, I was honestly glad that we hadn't seen any at Mont Passot :D

The last stop on the program in Lemurialand was the Ylang-Ylang distillery. Nosy Be means “Island of Perfume” because these Ylang-Ylang plants smell incredibly good and are a main ingredient in Chanel n°5, for example.

We were told that a container like this (see picture below) contains 500kg of petals - just imagine that, flowers weigh absolutely nothing!! According to my calculations, that would be around 300,000 flowers. You have to find them first :D This then produces around 12l of essential oil, which is sent directly to Paris.

After this lovely visit of about 2 hours, we took the TukTuk back to Hellville because we wanted to use the rest of the day to withdraw some money and take a closer look at the capital. So we dropped ourselves off at the ATM and told our driver to pick us up again at around 2pm.

A little richer than before, we strolled through the streets and looked into a few shops. There was really a lot going on in this city and I found it to be a total sensory overload. But it was very interesting, especially the big contrast to our tiny village and this city. We walked around here for about 4 hours and also visited the Bazar Antranomanogny , a kind of market.

After a while we sat down in a really cute restaurant and shared a meal again before we got to the last stop, the supermarket. Here we stocked up on water, peanuts and baguette (as always :D) and then waited for our driver. Funnily enough we met the two English guys who had also stayed with us on Nosy Iranja - so Nosy Be is kind of small. We chatted a bit, the two of them were flying home today and passed the time until the flight.

When we got back to our accommodation, we freshened up (aka tried to shower ourselves with water from the canister) and then walked around our village a bit. It was really nice and we met a lot of nice people. We also saw this building, a cold storage room for fish, which didn't fit into the landscape at all. Of course, it was a project of the corrupt president, who would have thought...

Laura and I then wanted to sit down in a small bar and have a drink when we were approached by a boy who was learning English with an organization and wanted to chat a bit to improve his English. So the three of us sat down in the bar, bought him a large beer and talked to him in English for quite a while.

I found his story quite sad. He left his family because they were too poor to give him a life. Now he's 18 and lives alone in this small village and is trying to get his English certificate so he can become a guide and get out of Madagascar one day. It's a crazy story, but he seemed really happy to be able to talk to us and have a beer. At least something. After a while we said goodbye and went to our room to eat something.

Our feast consisted of baguette with freshly bought bananas from the village and peanuts. Don't judge before you try, it was really delicious :D Necessity is the mother of invention, I've heard.

After that we went to sleep.

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Today we did the activity that made us move to this village in the first place: a visit to the Lokobe nature reserve.

But the day started again with the awesome breakfast, we even asked for more of these rice cakes - so delicious!

At around 8:30 we got into a pirogue with our guide and his cousin. Luckily, this one was much more stable and had fewer holes than the one on Nosy Iranja . We didn't even need a bucket to empty the boat :D

We paddled for about 20 minutes and then arrived at a beach where we moored. The nature reserve is only accessible by sea, so of course our boat was not the only one there.

We were greeted by a few souvenir stands, some of which I thought were really cool. However, we hadn't brought any extra money with us (probably fortunately) and so couldn't buy anything anyway. But it was nice to look around :)

After I had bathed myself in sunscreen, we started walking and first came across a rice field. It reminded me of my first trip to Madagascar, because there were these fields everywhere. The green of a rice field is a beautiful color and I'm really happy to see it again.

What I saw next made me really happy: Lemurs (yes, again :D). We were told how the baby lemurs are raised and that the females always have the say. #GoLemurs

We stuffed the cute fur balls full of bananas again and continued walking after a few minutes. During the entire walk through the forest, our guide explained to us various plants and animals and also how he had learned all of them. His father is also a guide and had accompanied him on his tours since he was a small child.

The next animal we encountered was a boa constrictor. We learned that they sometimes eat lemurs, for example if they fall from a tree at night. Lemurs are almost blind at night and therefore cannot see the impending danger. However, a lemur like this probably stays full for a long time, which is why such an incident does not happen every week.

Next, we were treated to something that really showed off our guide's observation skills: He showed us the smallest species of chameleon in the world. At some point, he suddenly reached into a tree trunk and said, "Here, put your hand up." However he found these little worms, they were definitely smaller than I expected.

Since we had been on the road for some time, it was time for a short break at a waterfall. I used this to make up for the lack of showering over the last few days and tried to remove the sunscreen residue from the last week from my skin while I bathed. I really felt like a new person afterwards and the cool water felt really good. Afterwards I sunbathed a little and enjoyed the beautiful place.

After a break of about an hour, we went on to see a type of lemur that we hadn't seen before: a nocturnal lemur that is completely blind during the day. Unfortunately, I couldn't take a photo of it, but for those of you who know the animated films Madagascar, it's King Julien's little friend.

Towards the end of the tour, the guides once again demonstrated their powers of observation by showing us the king of camouflage in the wild. It took me a while to see him, but maybe you're better than me :D

On the way back to the beach we said goodbye to the lemurs again because we would see them for the last time today.

When we got back to the starting point we sat down at a table, we were starving. The hour-long wait for the food was really long, but it was worth it: the food was super delicious, there was a kind of potato salad, bread, rice, zebu and I even ate a fish (thanks to Laura's coaching). There were oranges for dessert.

With full stomachs, we hit the beach one last time to take a maximum tan with us to La Réunion.

An hour later, around 2 p.m., we paddled back towards the village. We docked somewhere else because our guide wanted to show us the mangroves, a type of tree that only grows in salt water.

Once we got back to our accommodation, we freshened up as best we could and started packing up everything we no longer needed.

Then we went out into the village and met our guide, with whom we spent the evening. First he bought bananas for us, because they are so incredibly delicious here, completely different to Germany and even to La Réunion. The people here in this small village haven't yet discovered the art of ripping off tourists, which is why we paid practically nothing for the bananas. Afterwards we went for a drink and our guide even invited us in, which was really nice. We tried the vanilla rum, which was really delicious and relatively smooth to drink.

After 1-2 hours of chatting with our new friend, we said goodbye and went to our room to have dinner. Today we had bananas, cookies and peanuts on the menu. Yummy! :D

After this luxurious meal it was time to go to bed.

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The very last day had arrived and we had mixed feelings about it. It was really nice here and I would have liked to stay longer, but I did miss my normal standard of living a little.

For breakfast, we stuffed ourselves with all the rice cakes we could get our hands on and then packed the last things into our backpacks.

Then we waited for our tuk tuk, which arrived promptly at 9am and took us to the airport. Before that, we took a final selfie with our guide friend and exchanged contact details.

Once we arrived at the airport, everything went smoothly and we quickly got through all the checks etc. Apparently everything went smoothly for everyone else too, because we took off almost 30 minutes early - Deutsche Bahn could never.

After about 1.5 hours of flying we arrived back home and I was actually quite happy about it.

Since we had basically spent the last two weeks fasting, we went straight from the airport to a burger restaurant that Laura and I had been wanting to try for a while. We took our food with us and sat down by the sea. It was super delicious and a great end to the vacation :)

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Overall, this trip to Madagascar was completely different from my first one.

Firstly, the islands are very different from Grande Terre in terms of landscape and culture. Secondly, my first experience was of course much more luxurious and therefore full of contrasts. During the day you saw the poverty and in the evening you sat in luxurious accommodation drinking cocktails. This time we saw the poverty during the day and in the evening we sat in a house without electricity or water. I liked the whole thing because we actually lived like the people there and got a good idea of how they were doing. This time I also had more contact with the locals and talked to them a lot. That was very exciting and I missed it a bit last time. In terms of landscape I think I still prefer mainland Madagascar (apart from Nosy Iranja).

I am grateful to have had this experience and hope to forever cherish having electricity coming out of the socket and water coming out of the tap!

We had booked an overnight stay on Nosy Iranja for this weekend . It was an absolute must-see for us, even though it was really expensive. But up until now we had really vacationed in anti-luxurious conditions (frequent power outages, no doors, only one breakfast and half a pizza a day), so we treated ourselves. We paid €135 per person, but that included the three-hour boat ride, meals, drinks and some activities as well as accommodation.

We packed our things in the morning and waited for a tuk-tuk that the provider would send to pick us up. At around 7:45 a.m. we got in and drove off towards fun&boat . For reasons that were still unclear to us, they had even sent two tuk-tuks, but that would become clear later.
When we arrived at the agency, we met our fellow travelers, but only we and a mother-son team were staying overnight; the rest would return to Nosy Be by boat in the afternoon. We left our suitcase at the agency and went to the harbor with two backpacks, where the boat was already waiting for us.

We were given life jackets on board and the 1.5 hour boat trip began. Nosy Be quickly disappeared almost completely from sight, but Grande Terre , the "mainland" of Madagascar, came ever closer. The closer we got to our destination island, the clearer and more turquoise the water became. It looked really surreal in places, it was so beautiful.

A few meters before Nosy Iranja we unpacked our snorkeling gear and I was so happy because the water was crystal clear and the color was indescribably beautiful. We could already see the white sandbank of the island in front of us and it was like paradise. In addition, we could see lots of turtles in the water from the boat. So we got off the boat with diving masks, snorkels and fins and swam with turtles and fish. It was somehow magical because the water didn't offer any visual barrier between us and the fish, it was far too clear for that. This place definitely deserved the name "Island of Turtles".

After a while we were called back on the boat and we moored at the sandbank. From there we only took a water bottle and flip-flops and went to the left. The island is split in two at high tide, but at low tide you can walk across a white sandbank from the right to the left part of the island. On the left part there was an abandoned hotel that was closed when the president changed to protect the turtles. They had buried their eggs everywhere in the sand, which we were later able to see first hand. The hotel was super luxurious and even after so many years of being empty it still looked really good, almost better than our current accommodation :D

After we had looked around, the guide left us alone and we were able to enjoy the stunning beach for about 30 minutes. It is difficult to describe how beautiful it was and photos don't even begin to convey it. We stood on a white sandbank with the finest sand I have ever felt. In front of and behind us was the sea, but it was as calm as a small lake. And the water was like air, so clear you could see through it. If you looked further into the distance you could see all kinds of turquoise, dark blue and light blue, it was really too beautiful to be true. I felt like I was sitting in a photoshopped reality.

After half an hour we walked all the way across the sandbank to a house where our guide picked us up to go and eat. To get to the dining area, which consisted of several tables set for the whole tour group, we had to walk a little further through the village, which was also interesting.

For lunch we had rice, pasta salad, fish, shrimps, zébu (a type of beef), chicken and bread, so we couldn't complain :D It tasted really delicious and was our first proper meal in a few days.

We tucked in and were more than full afterwards. For dessert we had pineapple and oranges.
After dinner we were shown our tent, which was actually just a small room with a roof down to the ground, really cozy and beautiful (and right by the sea!). We put down our luggage and spent the next few hours digesting and getting a tan by lying on the beach.

At 5 p.m. we met up with our guide and the other two people who had stayed overnight in front of the sandbank, which had since been flooded by the sea. He was waiting for us there at a table made of sand that he had dug into the beach. I was more impressed by this than I perhaps should have been, but it was really, really cool.

We snacked on peanuts and banana chips, the other two drank juice and Laura, I and the guide drank a lot of rum in the form of mojitos. They were really delicious, with cane sugar and limes straight from Nosy Be. The evening progressed slowly and we had a really good chat, it was really nice.
At some point I had to go to the toilet so badly that Laura and I moved a little away from the table so we could pee in the dark. But just as we got far enough away, a strange woman ran up to us and informed us that a turtle was laying its eggs on the beach. So of course the toilet plans were immediately abandoned and we gathered around a turtle with everyone else.

We watched her as she scratched the sand over her eggs and then headed back towards the sea. The turtles always dig and bury two such holes to confuse any predators of the eggs. After 45-60 days, the little babies hatch at night.
It was really exciting to watch and I was really glad that the woman had called us. We all then returned to our sand table for a short while and then made our way back to the dining area. Here we had dinner, which was really delicious.

We were very lucky later and were able to watch two more turtles laying their eggs. Unfortunately, you can't upload videos here, but it was really cool to see.

After this spectacle, our other two overnight friends said goodbye and went to bed, while Laura, Constantin (our guide) and I opened the bottle of rum again. Unfortunately, Laura was no longer so enthusiastic about the idea of alcohol, which is why Constantin and I drank the liter of rum almost alone. But it was delicious and a really fun evening!

At around 11 p.m. we lay down in the luxury tent and I fell asleep immediately.

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Waking up was very nice and very unpleasant at the same time. The view from the bed was unbelievably beautiful, it was a gentle sunrise over the soft, clear water.

Unfortunately, I had to swap the view from the bed for the view from the toilet, because I had a bad case of food poisoning. And I was also sick from the alcohol, a dream. In retrospect, I think that the ice cubes in the mojito were probably made with tap water rather than drinking water. I hadn't expected that, since we were traveling with a real agency, but oh well, that's how it is :D So I struggled a bit on the toilet (with many flashbacks to the first Madagascar vacation), took 2-3 activated charcoal tablets and sat down with the others at the breakfast table. I had been going through coffee withdrawal for a few days now thanks to not eating breakfast, but I really didn't want to add that to my gut. So I ate a crêpe and an orange and left it at that. I couldn't sit still any longer anyway, because the toilet was calling.

The next item on the agenda was a pirogue trip to go snorkeling, which scared me on the one hand because I would be away from my toilet for at least 3 hours, and on the other hand because the pirogue really looked like a complete nutshell. Unfortunately I wasn't able to take a photo, but it was honestly 6 wooden slats that had been poorly shaped into the shape of a boat. And there was even a bucket on board to scoop the water out of the boat during the trip. My kayak trauma made itself known, but I ignored it.

So six of us set off, four paddled and two emptied the boat. We made good progress and arrived at our snorkeling location after about 30 minutes. The water was once again incredibly clear, and you had the feeling you could stand upright the whole time because you could see the bottom so clearly.

Unfortunately, we didn't see any turtles this time, but we did see a lot of fish and very beautiful corals. After about an hour of snorkeling, I gave up my snorkeling gear and just swam around a bit. When you swam out to the open sea, you felt like you were in a video game or virtual reality, because it was too good to be true. You swam and only saw transparent waves lapping towards you, with the shallow light blue of the sea in the background. It's hard to describe, but I just hope that these images will stay in my head forever. After a while, we set off back home in our floating saucer and managed to get all six people back to land safely.

We then had a short time to get ready (or rather, time for me to use the toilet) before we continued on with a tour of the village. We actually just walked up the stairs, past souvenir stands, to an old lighthouse that unfortunately no longer worked. Past the lighthouse we came to a really beautiful viewpoint, because you could see the contrast between the white sandbank and the light blue of the sea, the color of the clayey earth and the green of the trees and bushes. A really great sight!

We use the chic backdrop for a selfie with the other two and Constantin.

After the return journey, I had lunch, the last meal on this beautiful island. I ate despite the discomfort (don't worry, I will refrain from any further explanations of the inner workings of my intestines from now on) and the upcoming 1.5 hour boat ride, because I had paid for it and besides, it was sooo delicious again *-*
Luckily, we had about an hour left after lunch to spend on the beach before we had to head back to the boat. During this time, we tanned a bit and enjoyed the incredible view and the magical water one last time. Unfortunately, it went by far too quickly and we were already back on a boat heading for Nosy Be .
Everyone we asked here what the most beautiful place on Nosy Be or even all of Madagascar was answered with " Nosy Iranja ". And they were all so right. I'm not a huge beach person, but that was a really amazing sight. I've never seen anything like it and I probably won't find it anywhere else. I'm really glad we treated ourselves to this trip, it was worth every cent. Constantin, our guide, was also just a sweetheart and really really pleasant, as were the mother-son team who stayed with us.

Back on Nosy Be and at the agency, we asked Constantin if he could get us a tuk-tuk to take us to our next accommodation in Ambatoxavavy . His boss should have organized this for us a long time ago, but he had forgotten. And it's not easy to find someone who wants to drive the long distance (45 minutes) on a rather bad road at night, because he has to drive it back alone and is unlikely to find any clients on the way home. Fortunately, Constantin was able to convince the driver who had also taken us from the port to the agency. The price was steep, but what could we do, we just had to go :D Constantin was then nice enough to accompany us to the AirBnB and then let us drop him off at his place on the way back, so the poor guy was still in the tuk-tuk for 90 minutes after work.
When we arrived in the village of Abatoxavavy , all the residents already knew that we were coming. We didn't have a specific address, but as soon as they saw us they guided us in the right direction and we arrived safely.

The room we had was actually really nice, I had expected worse. The bathroom was pretty bad, especially because there was no running water. And yes, I didn't want to talk about it anymore, but I would like to point out the need for a flush toilet. And we hadn't had the opportunity to shower on Nosy Iranja, so it would have been really necessary. But hey, what can you do.

The rest of the village was really small and there was nothing, but it was kind of cute. The people were very nice and open and our host, who lived a little further away, was really nice too.

After the long drive we went to sleep pretty quickly.

On Sunday morning we got ready, packed up the last of our things and went looking for the bus boat. This turned out to be easier than we thought, because a man came up to us right outside the door of our hotel and led us to the boat. There we went on board and drove from right to left for about half an hour to pick up other people. Then we finally headed towards Nosy Be , with beer crates under our feet and chickens on the roof.

[Picture coming soon]

When we arrived at the port of Nosy Be, we were surrounded by tuktuk drivers and had to hold on to our suitcase because they all wanted to take us to the AirBnB.

We then decided on one of the many based on our gut feeling and set off in the direction of " Croisière Coco, Espace la Banane ", which was what our host had told us. From there we followed his instructions and walked along a long dirt road and across the beach until we arrived at around 8am.

We spoke briefly with Franck, our host, and then decided to go on a discovery tour after checking into our room and sharing breakfast. We first went to the Scuba Nosy Be diving school and arranged two dives for the following day. Then we took a tuk-tuk to a waterfall. The driver also became our guide and accompanied us to the waterfall and back again.

In the evening we ate a very tasty and very expensive fish at Franck's, our host's, and then went to sleep.

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The next day was all about diving. After breakfast we went straight to the diving school and met lots of nice people, including several from La Réunion. We took a boat to the island of Nosy Tanikely and did our first dive in this national park.

It looked completely different to La Réunion, more fish and really huge mussels covering the ground. After about 70 minutes we got back on the boat and drove to the island. There we went on a little tour of the island with our diving instructor (who is only a diving instructor because he smoked weed and lost his license and consequently his job). We saw lemurs and climbed an old lighthouse.

After about an hour we went back on the boat and the second dive began. This one was even better than the first and it was unbelievably fun. We arrived back on Nosy Be around 2 p.m. We were pretty tired from the long dives so we just ate pizza and then went to bed.

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We spent Tuesday evening at the beach and shopping and got a good tan. On the way to the Big Bazar supermarket we met a parrot.

At around 5pm we went out for pizza (it's the cheapest thing you can get here and we always share one anyway :D), because we were meeting at the diving club for a night dive at 6pm. We arrived there and met the first German since we'd been in Madagascar. Laura and I wanted to do the night dive with special goggles and UV lamps to see the corals glow, which Michel had recommended to us at the diving camp on La Réunion. We paid the extra 10€ and were looking forward to it.

The dive was actually incredibly chaotic and I was soooo glad that I had some experience. It started with our diving instructor being a total slob and everything started off a bit chaotic. Then, just before we went into the water, I noticed that my barometer was losing air. So we quickly swapped it and jumped into the dark water. Things continued to be chaotic there: We were actually all supposed to dive together at the buoy, but only Laura and I were there and the rest were about 3 meters away from us, which is not a small distance in the dark.

Once underwater, everything was in disarray again. There were far too many divers (6 divers, a diving instructor and an assistant), which meant that I couldn't find Laura at first and started to panic a bit. But when we found our way back, it was a case of just avoiding all the fins and hands that were scurrying around us. And to top it all off, I noticed that my new barometer was also losing air, and not a little. I was really glad that I could now estimate these risks and knew exactly when it could become dangerous and what to do. Despite the hustle and bustle and the stress, it was a really nice dive and the effect of the corals and the light was pretty cool. But when we were out of the water again, I wasn't angry either :D

In the evening, as always, I went to bed completely exhausted.

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On Wednesday we finally went on a hike, which I had been missing a bit from La Réunion. The most famous (and perhaps highest) mountain on Nosy Be is Mont Passot . It is surrounded by 9 lakes that you can see. It wasn't that far from our accommodation, about 45 minutes by tuk-tuk heading north. Our plan was to combine the three possible tours, each lasting 1-3 hours, into one big one. Unfortunately, when we arrived we discovered that a guide was obligatory (and expensive) and that you had to pay per tour. We therefore decided to only do one of the tours, namely the one where there was a chance of seeing crocodiles.

While we waited for our forced guide from the village to drive up the mountain to us, we went to the lookout point and ate some baguette and jam that we had brought with us. We didn't have breakfast at the accommodation because it was incredibly expensive (25,000 Ariary, instead of 15,000 Ariary on Nosy Komba).

When our guide arrived, we were delighted to find that he was really super nice and knew his way around really well. During the "hike", which was more of a walk, he showed us a variety of plants. For example, a leaf whose juice could be used to dye furniture (or our hands, for example) red and at the same time protect them from ants. But also a plant that you could use to get a small tattoo.

Otherwise, we were shown plants and roots for diarrhea, fever and even Covid-19, it was really exciting and I wish I could have remembered everything. Even though La Réunion is known for sugar cane, I have never eaten it there just like that. During the tour, our guide gave us a cane of sugar cane and showed us how to "eat" it. It was really delicious, you basically suck the juice out and it tastes like very sweet lemonade or something. Very exciting and a great snack for on the go.

Unfortunately, when we arrived at the lake, we didn't see any crocodiles, but I was kind of glad about that, because I don't think I would have felt so safe without a barrier between me and them. There's a legend behind the many crocodiles on Mont Passot: A witch who came to the village and asked for water was refused it. She then put a curse on the whole village. A week later, the villagers started to cry bitterly and flooded their village. Then they turned into crocodiles, which is why it is said that some of them still wear bracelets.

Well, we only came across chameleons and snakes, but that's enough :D

We arrived back at our accommodation in the afternoon and spent the rest of the day at the beach. In the evening we went out for another pizza (again we shared one, because saving money is everything).

Slightly weakened by the lack of nutrients of the last few days, we went back to bed.

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Thursday started out quite comfortably and ended in a near-death experience. An adventure holiday, after all. In the morning we went shopping for our breakfast again, namely baguette, jam and, for once, pakopako, which are super tasty flatbreads that you can buy in the local supermarket bakery.

Afterwards we wanted to withdraw money because we wanted to go to Nosy Iranja at the weekend and it's really expensive. We went to the ATM and found out that it wasn't working. Apparently it was supposed to be repaired in 30 minutes, so we sat next to the machine and had breakfast (more or less leisurely). At some point some men actually came and did something to the machine so that it worked again. In the meantime, however, a tourist informed us that the machine had swallowed his credit card and that he had been trying to get it back for three weeks.

Since we needed the money, we put my credit card in the slot despite the warning and were lucky: both the money and my card found their way out of the machine!

Back at our AirBnB, we borrowed our host's kayak and decided to paddle to Nosy Sakatia , an island that we could see from our accommodation. It didn't look that far away and it was only 10 o'clock, so we had 7.5 hours until it would be dark. We packed our belongings, including cell phones and snacks, into two garbage bags and put on plenty of sunscreen.

We happily set off paddling shortly afterwards and, thanks to the low tide, were able to navigate through fairly calm waters. The water was super clear and you could see corals, fish and even turtles - beautiful! After about 2 hours I noticed that our kayak was bubbling. After about 2 hours and a few seconds I noticed that a bubbling kayak is also a sinking kayak. Unfortunately the island was still quite far away, which meant that speed paddling was suddenly the order of the day. Despite the kayak sinking deeper and deeper, we reached our destination after about 3 hours. First we ate and then sunbathed for a while, leaving the kayak upside down on the beach in the hope that the water would find its way out of the hole.

The island was really beautiful, there was very little on it, I think only 2-3 houses. According to Google Maps there were a few hotels on the other side, but we didn't see any. The water was totally clear, the sandy beach was deserted and fine-grained and there was even a small forest on the edge of the water. So far the trip had been really worth it, even if the last hour was a bit stressful.

Unfortunately, we couldn't stay as long as we would have liked because the tide was starting to make the beach disappear. So when we had no more room for the towels on the beach, we decided to paddle home. This time, however, we didn't just paddle across the open sea, but along the coast so that we could stop and empty the kayak if necessary. So we headed more or less at a right angle towards the beach of Nosy Be, where we noticed that the waves had gotten much stronger and the tide was no fun. After a while, we reached the beach anyway and took another short break, but only for about 30 minutes. Since we hadn't checked the distance to the island, the weather, the position of the sun or the tides, we didn't know that every minute of rest would be our downfall.

We continued along the beach towards AirBnB, and it became increasingly difficult to fight against the strong waves, especially since our kayak was so deep in the water due to the leak. The closer we were to the beach, the worse it got, but the further away we were, the more the waves pulled us out into the open sea. We struggled forward for about 2.5 hours, constantly afraid that we would capsize or lose our sacred garbage bag.

And then at some point we realised that we would never, ever arrive. The sunset had started, the waves were high and the water was very rough. We didn't know exactly how far we were, but getting to our AirBnB before dark was out of the question. And we really didn't want to paddle in the dark in the rough sea. So we went back into speed mode and hoped to at least get to the beach of our AirBnB so that we could pull the boat home if necessary. The sun was getting lower and lower, we were still a long way away. The sun was setting and we paddled with the last of our strength and with the last rays of light. Actually, we just wanted to dock at the next beach, but the tide was too high, there was no beach. There were just walls everywhere that the waves were crashing against and we did everything we could to avoid being thrown into the wall with the kayak. After a total of 7-8 hours of paddling, we finally saw the beach and docked immediately. We were lucky, it was the beach where our accommodation was, but we were still at least half an hour's walk away - without a kayak. We tried to pull the boat in the water, but the waves were too strong and simply overturned the boat and Laura several times. I think we hadn't even gone five meters when the boat was overturned again. And suddenly we heard someone speaking to us and asking if we needed help. It was an employee of the AirBnB who was on his way home. What a coincidence, because he told us that he doesn't actually go home via the beach but across the street. And he was in the right place at exactly the right time. He really was our savior. He helped us empty the kayak, because it was so heavy that even the three of us could hardly set it up. Then he asked a nearby hotel if we could leave the kayak there, because it was still almost impossible to carry it to us. Fortunately, this was possible, and the three of us only carried the kayak for about 10 minutes.

I had never been so happy to have land under my feet and to see an actual man - I had already seen us smashing against walls in the pitch-black ocean.

The lovely employee then took us to the accommodation and invited us to go and celebrate with him. Laura and I were both soooo exhausted and knocked out, but we wanted to thank him somehow and so we said yes. After a fit of laughter and tears and a lot of adrenaline, we quickly showered and then met up with him at Espace La Banane. After a walk of about 30 minutes we arrived at a bar and had a beer with him. But since we were really exhausted, we headed back home at around 10:30 p.m.

The day was extremely exhausting and I was really scared at times.

We also made the whole day based on a baguette, peanuts and biscuits :D

But it's a good story nonetheless (and now that it's over, a funny one too). I swore that evening that I wouldn't go kayaking again that holiday.

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On Friday I had to break this vow again. After a lot of sleep and a hearty breakfast of biscuits and jam, we rented the kayak with a hole in it again.

This time we didn't go far, just to Nosy Tanga , an island that was directly opposite our beach and can even be reached by swimming at low tide. Laura really wanted to go there and so did I, but neither of us had much motivation to paddle again :D

We set off at low tide and I think we could have stayed there the whole time. But the water was crystal clear and there were corals and lots of fish, really fantastic. After about 30 minutes we arrived and went on a little exploration tour of the island. There wasn't much going on here either, I think there was only one house. But there were really beautiful and huge shells all along the beach. We took a closer look at some of them and then sat down on the beach to get a little tan. After 1-2 hours we started our journey home, it was still low tide so it was no problem to get back (thank God).

After we had showered, we went to another beach on Nosy Be and treated ourselves to a massage. We really needed it, because our backs and shoulders were really sore from the day before, to put it bluntly. After twenty minutes of massage per person for a total of 30,000 Ariary (about €6), we definitely felt better, I felt halfway like a human again.

We did some more shopping because we were going to Nosy Iranja at the weekend (actually all inclusive, but we don't trust anyone here and still bring water and snacks with us).

After that, we ate properly for the first and last time at our accommodation, because it was always too expensive for us and there was only fish. The food is really good though, so we wanted to treat ourselves to it once. Unfortunately, we had to enjoy it in the dark because the power had gone out again, like every evening. But no matter, here you learn to live with what you have.

In the evening we packed up for the weekend and went to sleep. Our 5 days with Franck had been really nice, but now it was over...

After our adventurous journey, it was now time to make the best of the situation and discover Nosy Komba .

First, however, we had to get through an unpleasant conversation. Since this island had about as many sights as Siefersheim, we wanted to avoid staying here for 10 days. Fortunately, nothing had been paid for yet and we were able to tell our host the unpleasant news. He was rather unamused, but could do little to change our decision. So we reduced our stay from ten to three nights.

We were planning to go hiking on the 17th, but then we met other tourists (we were the only ones there at that point, because there really isn't much to do) who told us about a lemur park. They had also apparently been on a kayaking tour the day before and told us where they had gotten the kayaks from.

So we abandoned our hiking plans and went looking for the lemur park and found it relatively quickly. To do this we had to walk through the small village (the largest on the island, by the way - 4000 inhabitants). When we arrived at the park, we were immediately adopted by a guide and set off. After only about 10 minutes we arrived at the lemurs. What neither Laura nor I had expected was that they would climb all over us. But that was really the absolute highlight, they were sooo fluffy and really delicate, but super strong and grippy.

In addition to the lemurs, we were also able to get up close and personal with a constrictor snake and three turtles (one of which was named Pablo Escobar).

The turtle's neck feels a bit like what I imagine an elephant's penis would feel. I was glad when we were allowed to stop petting her.

When Laura had the boa constrictor around her neck, the following conversation took place:

Laura: When did she last eat?

Guide: A week ago.

Laura: How often do they eat like that?

Guide: Once a week.

Luckily, we came out of the park about an hour later, still undigested, and we were really happy.

Afterwards we had a small snack and then went looking for kayaks. The directions were rather sparse, but after a while our search was successful.

So the two of us got into a one-man kayak and started paddling eagerly. Our first destination was a mini island directly opposite.

After a few steering problems and a great panic about being run over by a cruise ship, we finally arrived there. There were lots of shells, a bit of sand and nothing else. We went swimming a bit and collected our favourite shells, which we want to use to make a necklace later, and then put them back in our wobbly saucer. This time we went - surprise - to an island. We thought that the same thing would await us here as always, namely nothing. But we were wrong: within the first few metres of the island we came across human bones. And a few metres further on we came across an old cemetery.

To be honest, it's a little scary when you come across human remains on a deserted island in the middle of the Indian Ocean. But of course we stayed and walked around a bit until we discovered two children's graves. We decided to turn around and drive back before we had to be there in the dark.

After a successful and exciting kayak tour, we went back to the restaurant and went to bed.

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As already mentioned, leisure activities on Nosy Komba are rather limited. So we decided to spend the day kayaking. Before that, however, we stopped by the village, because the biggest event of the whole year on Nosy Komba was taking place here: the Maki Run. This is a run of either 10km or 24km and apparently an ultra event for everyone on the island. There was music, dancers and runners everywhere. Some of them arrived at the finish line in flip-flops, Crocs or even barefoot and literally collapsed after the finish line. But they were also celebrated like heroes.

After watching this spectacle for a while, we rented another boat and headed out into the open sea. Or rather, we tried to go around the island. During this trip, we realized that outside of our hotel, where there was nothing, there was really nothing on the rest of the island. There was just water, beach and greenery. No houses, no people, nada.

After a few hours we realized that 1.5 liters of water and breakfast are not good conditions for an 8-hour kayak tour for two at 32°C. Luckily we came across what is probably the only hotel left in the east of the island, the Komba on the Rocks .

So we went ashore and asked if we could get something to eat and drink. The hotel was actually closed to non-guests, but we looked so exhausted that the lovely lady brought us a Sprite, water and a hamburger anyway. She charged us a lot for that, but to be honest we had no other choice. We then asked her if we would see anything else nice if we continued to drive around the island. She advised us to turn around and drive back.

No sooner said than done, and after about 4-5 hours of kayaking we arrived back at our hotel. Since we were leaving the next day, we had dinner at our hotel and asked how we would get out of here. The friendly waitress told us that a bateau commun , a kind of bus boat, would be leaving at 6:30. This would cost 20,000 Ariary, while the hotel had charged 160,000 Ariary for our trip by boat. We thanked her for the tip, packed our bags and went to sleep.

On May 16th, Laura and I set off for the island of Nosy Be, Madagascar (at least that was the plan).

Checking in at the airport and the whole flight went absolutely smoothly and we even got lunch, which was pretty tasty. The problems started as soon as we landed on Nosy Be : I lost money on the tarmac because I had forgotten to leave my phone's airplane mode off the whole time, and in the 5 minutes before I noticed it, messages worth €50 had apparently arrived :D Oh well, that was a shame, I thought to myself, my fault. Let's move on.

When we arrived at the tiny airport, we discovered that you couldn't buy a SIM card and there was no WiFi, so internet or calls were impossible. We were the last ones at the immigration desk because we hadn't filled out our entry forms because we didn't have a pen. But then things suddenly got crazy: We filled out the form and were suddenly put in the fast lane by the two employees (presumably they were worried about two young white girls who couldn't even pack a pen). We were put in front of everyone at our visas, our luggage and the border police and were waved through first. Then we walked briskly following the nice lady who took us to a really filthy car with a man in it. At this point, we weren't sure whether this was the fast lane to the hotel or to the human trafficking facility. Then an old woman in a hat appeared out of nowhere, opened her handbag full of Ariary notes and exchanged euros for Ariary in front of the employee. The whole thing happened so quickly that I didn't even count.

So, 30 seconds after filling out the immigration papers, we found ourselves sitting in a rickety car with a stranger, pepper spray safely in hand. We sped off towards the capital, Hellville, to buy a SIM card. Unfortunately, it was lunchtime and everything was closed, so we went to a restaurant with our unknown taxi driver to wait. We ate a little something there and had him call our hotel to find out when we could arrive. Answer: Not at all, the hotel hasn't existed for years.

So it happened that we found ourselves sitting in a restaurant on a Madagascan island with a stranger and were homeless.

We then booked the first hotel that had WiFi and was affordable. That was great, except that it was unfortunately on the wrong island. We then had Mister Taxi drive us to the harbor (if you can call this place that) and waited for the second unknown man, who would probably arrive in the next 30 minutes on a green boat. Unfortunately, our driver left us alone, which made the wait pretty scary.

He actually came and drove us to our new hotel on Nosy Komba . The boat ride took about 15 minutes and we docked right in front of the hotel ( Chez Yolande ). We were given a friendly welcome but were urged to stay for 10 days. We agreed to do this to save a bit of money (after all, we had lost the €200 for the actual hotel). We were offered to pay the next day, which turned out to be a very good thing later on.

After a long discussion with the owner about the rooms and everything else, we set off to explore the west of the island. There we lay down on the beach and watched the sunset. On the way back to the hotel we sat down in a restaurant and had dinner.

At around 9 p.m. we fell dead into bed and were just happy to have a roof over our heads.

The last day in Mada has begun :(

We met with Michel again for breakfast and then discussed the past trip a little over dinner. At the same time we met our guide for today's old town tour of Antananarivo .

We went there straight after coffee and it was really very interesting. We were able to see the different architectural styles throughout the centuries, the Royal Palace and some other highlights. The old town is the richer part of Tana, and that was clear in my opinion.

We therefore took a detour to a somewhat poorer area so as not to take the wrong impression home with us. That was really very impressive again. After about 3 hours of guiding, we arrived back at the hotel slightly red.

There we finally packed up our things and went out for some ice cream - Nina had been craving it the whole trip. However, it's usually not that easy to get some here because the cooling would be far too expensive. The ice cream here was even better!

We then quickly went to a souvenir shop to get the last gifts for our loved ones. Then Michel suddenly disappeared there for some time and we didn't know where to go, but the secret was soon to be revealed...

We were really lucky on the way to the airport because there weren't nearly as many traffic jams as the day before. The big farewell to Michel was at the airport. But first he took a small brown box out of the car and handed it to me with a big grin. So I opened it and found: a tiny little turtle!! While we were in the gift shop, he drove to his house to pick up the little one. Of course he knows that I had developed a turtle fable and really wanted to show me this mini turtle species. Sooooo cute! Unfortunately I wasn't allowed to take them with me :D

We then all hugged each other and went to check-in. Everything went smoothly there, so we bought something to eat and waited for the flight to take off. First I had to say goodbye to Edi because he was taking a flight to Mauritius. The three of us then waited for our plane, which was unfortunately delayed by an hour due to the weather.

Of course, at some point we also took off and were expected by Tobias at the airport after a 1.5 hour flight. He was so kind and picked us up because there are no buses at that hour.

I have to be honest, it's an incredibly strange feeling to come back from vacation and somehow still not be home...

Conclusion Madagascar

I enjoyed this trip incredibly much.

It started out exciting in itself, as I didn't know much about Madagascar before, nor did I know our guide, nor did I really know my fellow travelers. Many uncertain aspects that I simply got involved in - with success!

Madagascar is a diverse and fascinating country. As the second poorest country in the world, you see a lot of suffering and poverty, la misère . That was sometimes difficult for me to bear, but there's nothing you can do. Long-term help cannot be provided by one person. I kept telling myself that. I found it very interesting that the people here seem quite happy, they help each other and respect each other. They share what little they have. And they were very open-minded and friendly towards us tourists, which made me very happy. I didn't want to be perceived as a "rich white egotist."

Nevertheless, it was sometimes very clear that completely different cultures meet here. A man traveling with three women and none of them are his girlfriend? And everyone always sleeps in the same room, sometimes in the same bed? Absolutely unthinkable here. And we heard that often. However, I was very fascinated by the culture and language of Madagascar and I would like to continue exploring it.

The landscape was also breathtaking. It was a big contrast to La Réunion , just in size. It's been a long time since I've been able to look so far without seeing the sea. It was also very varied, it felt like you were in a completely different environment every 100km. Jungle, desert, stone, beach, ... Simply fantastic!

I definitely want to go there again (or several times...) because it has a magic all of its own. I'm also still missing the north and the east, and I'd like to see that. But only when I can say more than Mora Mora , Salama and Misaotra :D Then I would like to go on less of a luxury holiday and be more with the people there, because this distance between me and them often felt a little wrong to me.

It is a land of ambivalence, diversity, discovery and life - a second Ile Intense !

Ifaty Day 1 - Sunday

After breakfast we wanted to look directly at the sea, as it was only a two-minute walk from our bungalow.

However, I was quite disappointed, because unfortunately neither the beach nor the water were particularly clean, nor was it possible to relax: as soon as you set foot on the sand, you were surrounded by children, sellers or supposed guides, all of whom wanted to sell you something could not be shaken off. So after about 30 minutes I switched from sea to pool.

After sleeping and tanning and swimming there for a long time, I quickly freshened up for the day's activity: visiting the forêt de baobab . So at 3:30 p.m. we got into a carriage with two zébu and drove about 30 minutes to the baobabs.

On the one hand, it was a cool experience and I really enjoyed it, but on the other hand, I felt very sorry for the animals and, of course, we were laughed at by all the locals. It couldn't be more touristy.

When we arrived at our destination, we took a guided tour for about an hour through the forest full of baobabs and medicinal plants, which was really incredibly interesting. Our guide's father was a village healer, which is why he was really able to show and explain a lot to us.

We then took the carriage back to the village, where we looked at a market and even bought some fruit. The prices for the locals (our guide bought for us) are incredibly cheap in some cases: 4 mangos for the equivalent of around 5ct etc.

We then took a short walk through the village, which was quite exciting as we hadn't really done anything like that before. We walked past our guide's house and he introduced us to his wife and his property. I would love to see Michel's house and get to know his wife and children!

We arrived back at the hotel just in time for sunset, sat on the beach and enjoyed the fabulous view. So the day ended in a relaxed way with card games and dinner.

Ifaty Day 2 - Monday

Today we had to get out of bed a little earlier: At 7:45 a.m. we took an old boat (" Pirogue à voile ") out to sea to snorkel. Just driving the boat was a lot of fun and it was exciting to see what a non-industrially manufactured sail (boat) could look like.

A few kilometers from our hotel, the other three were busy snorkeling while I chilled out in the water on the boat and sunbathed. Of course, I also tried snorkeling, but I quickly realized that my fear of water didn't allow me to do it stress-free. And who wants stress on vacation? I still really enjoyed the whole thing and was actually pretty happy that I was able to swim and relax in the open sea.

After about an hour we drove on to another beach, where we docked and rested. Meanwhile, our guide prepared two fresh fish as well as chicken and vegetables for us. Sooo delicious!

Afterwards we played cards again (Dad, I'm bringing a lot of new card games with me from my time here!) and then the sail was set again towards the hotel. You may be starting to see a trend, because once again we drank a cocktail and then chilled out by the pool.

For dinner we decided to try a different restaurant than the hotel's own, which brought a little variety to our currently somewhat pensioner-style vacation (just saying that is renter-style again, oh dear) :D

The day ended again with a cocktail. The cocktail counter since I've been in Ifaty has been at five. In three days. But not pensioner style.

Ifaty Day 3 - Tuesday

Unfortunately, since it's incredibly hot in our bungalow and I haven't slept much the last few nights, I decided to spend the night outside. Right in front of our door we have a kind of terrace with benches on which I made myself comfortable. I think the hotel staff found the whole thing a bit strange, but I was finally able to sleep - even if comfort is still something else :D

Anyway, today was a day of lazing around: After a late breakfast, we lounged by the sea for a few hours. By applying about half a liter of sunscreen per 10cm of skin every 20 minutes, I even managed to look like just a very pale cancer.

Afterwards we looked for a small restaurant on the beach and had a leisurely lunch there before changing locations - to the pool. That's what I call an adventure vacation in wild Africa!

In fact, there was at least one more thing on today's diary: a trip on the pirogue for the sunset. We actually thought about going by boat to look at flamingos, but that was a bit too expensive for us and we decided to do that instead. And there was actually going to be a bit of adventure on our retirement holiday: We were relaxing and going out to sea and enjoying the view when we suddenly heard strange noises from the boat, as if it was breaking apart. But our companions stayed cool and let us admire the sunset.

When this was over, however, there was no longer any delay. The sail was reset and we immediately headed towards the beach. Once we were safe, our guide showed us the problem: While we were out at sea, one of the wooden masts started to break. Not that safe, but hey: a cocktail to get you excited! ;)

While we drank it we also ate dinner and played cards, then we went to bed. The last night in Ifaty !

Ifaty Day 4 - Wednesday

After another night on the hard wooden bench, we drove towards Tulear at 10:15 a.m. There we exchanged money again and did some shopping in the supermarket and then waited at the airport for check-in to begin. That also took some time, in total we waited about an hour for check-in and then another 1.5 hours for boarding. However, we met other Germans with whom we had a good chat. In general, the airport was more of a tourist collection point, it was super tiny and somehow totally bizarre.

What really hurt my heart was that we still had too many water bottles left and somehow we weren't allowed to give them to the employees at the airport, but had to throw them away... Clean drinking water simply in the garbage can, while people were dying of thirst not far away.

Instead of 3 p.m., the plane left at 2:45 p.m. Who would have thought that an airport in the second poorest country in the world would work better than Deutsche Bahn. :D

When we arrived back at the airport in Antananarivo , we were picked up by a driver that Michel had sent. We were originally supposed to sleep in the same hotel as the first night, but we changed our minds and preferred to be in the middle of Tana, because that is the capital after all. So we drove about two hours to the city center and checked into the hotel.

What I noticed on the car ride:

1. What I had classified as poverty on my first day in Madagascar suddenly seemed luxurious to me. On the trip I saw so much worse living conditions that my perspective was completely changed.
2. Antananarivo is a real city. Because we were very out of town on the first day, Tana seemed very small to me. But now that we were right in the center, I realized: This is everything, but not a small town. Impressive!

We then had dinner and went to sleep. We would see Michel again tomorrow at 8:00 a.m. :)

However, as I said, we slept in a kind of luxury military tent and Michel didn't miss the fun of selling the hotel to us as a kind of campsite. The surprise was even bigger :D

There is also a national park in Isalo, which of course we took a look at. There we learned a lot about the burial culture of the Bara ethnic group, which I found really fascinating. This ethnic group used to live in the national park, but was then expelled because of its creation. Nevertheless, they still have the right to bury their relatives there today - in "transitional graves" from which the remains are then removed after a few years to make room for the next person to die

Otherwise we admired the interesting stone constellations as well as flora and fauna. To get a short break from the scorching heat (34°C in the shade), we bathed in a natural pool - that felt really good!

Afterwards, however, we walked for about 1.5 hours through the blazing sun without any shade to get to our picnic area. Picnic is a bit of an understatement, there was a 3 course meal prepared especially for us by a local chef. You have to imagine this! However, this is also a small problem point here (at least for me): we are constantly being pressured to eat. Be it twice a day in a restaurant or with picnics like that day. Homemade bread would have done the trick for me too. The leftovers are always eaten by the cook or others afterwards, but it still bothers me sometimes. The food still had a huge plus point: the lemurs came very close to us because they were hungry too - sooooo cute!! However, the chef wasn't so happy when I threw his laboriously prepared luxury meal on the floor to attract the little things :D

After eating we quickly went to two other piscines naturelles , which were also really nice. However, the weather changed and when it rains it is super dangerous there. Just recently, an entire family probably died there. So we turned around and were met by Michel at the parking lot.

We then drove to the Fenêtre de l'Isalo, a stone formation in the shape of a window from where you could watch the twilight - a really nice place all to ourselves. At least until the bus with 16 French people arrived and wanted to take a look. So we went to another hotel so I could play with my newly discovered friends: the turtles!

When we got back to our own hotel, I went briefly into the pool and then had a cocktail with the other three. Michel went to bed early, but we ate dinner quite late and chatted for a while, so it was after midnight when we turned off the lights.

But that wasn't a problem because we were able to get some sleep the next day. We had to drive from Isalo to Ifaty , which took a total of around 5.5 hours. We drove through many villages where emeralds are mined. The stones are really beautiful and the people there are a bit richer, but there is a completely different problem: As a result of collecting sapphires, all the rivers there have dried up and the people no longer have any water.

Michel told us beforehand that we should fill up all of our empty plastic bottles at the hotel, and sure enough: on the way we were constantly asked for water with gestures. It was very impressive to me that people here destroy vital resources in order to have more money...

On the long journey I was also supposed to see something else impressive: my first baobab. What can I say, these things are fucking enormous.

We then stopped at the Arboretum d'Antsokay, a botanical garden with 900 species of plants, 90% of which are endemic to Madagascar and 80% of which have medicinal uses. I found that really exciting.

At around 7 p.m. we arrived in Ifaty , the hotel where we would stay for four nights. There was a bit of a mess with the room, which unfortunately couldn't be resolved, but the hotel itself is still beautiful! We met our guide here and said goodbye to Michel, who we wouldn't see again until Tana . Maybe I shed a few tears... A few days of travel really brings you together.

Here too we went to the pool again and then to the bar for a cocktail - there should be a few more in the coming days.

On Wednesday we continued to Tsaranoro . The journey was relatively strenuous as I was still not feeling well, and the last 45 minutes or so to the hotel were not exactly pleasant.

Of course, we still arrived at some point and I was immediately amazed by the landscape and the accommodation.

The hotel is the only civilization in the area, outside there are only impressive rocks and beautiful plants. The hotel was huge, there was even a pool table, a library, etc.

Our room was like a hobbit cave with crazy angles and shapes, I immediately felt at home! But the funniest thing was definitely the construction of the bathroom door:

After we had settled in, we watched the sunset and then sat with Michel for a while and played cards. At some point we felt like playing boules. That was a lot of fun and was also a real "bonding moment" between us and Michel, because it was the first activity we did together without it being part of the planned trip. Plus my team won :P

After dinner we went to bed, then the next day we had a longer hike to the Pic Caméléon (the name is quite obviously explained by its shape).

In order to avoid the really intense heat, we set off from the hotel relatively early (around 6:30 a.m.) with two guides. First we went up a few meters steeply for around 1.5 hours. I was completely exhausted because I still had stomach pain and had eaten and drank very little for two days, so I was completely dehydrated and had no energy. But the effort was still worth it because the view was fantastic!

At the top of the mountain we took a longer break until we started the descent into a currently dry river valley. This was really extremely beautiful because the stones glittered in all sorts of colors and were simply beautiful to look at. The highlight: We saw lemurs, another type of lemur.

We then ate our packed lunch in the shade of the mango trees (at least everyone except me) and walked on to a small village, which we looked at. I found it pretty impressive.

After about seven or eight hours we were back at the hotel, freshened up and then enjoyed a massage. The masseuse was blind, which made the whole experience very exciting - and she was really good at what she did!

Afterwards we played a little cards and chatted with two other American tourists until we went straight back to sleep after dinner.

Julia, Nina and I then set off again at around 4:30 a.m. for the next hike to be able to admire the sunrise. Unfortunately I had to stop after a while and stayed a little further down than the others, but it was still very nice. Especially because nature is really quiet in Madagascar. No car, no tractor, no nothing can be heard.

So I enjoyed the silence and the view until the others came back.

Showered and hungry, we went to breakfast, then packed our bags and then continued on to Isalo - a four hour drive.

Ranomafana is located in the middle of the forest and so we were able to catch some beautiful views on the way there.

Without hesitation, we went straight into the forest because we had a lot to discover! I honestly didn't take many photos as I was way too fascinated by everything. But the day was also really exciting because we were incredibly lucky and were able to see four different species of lemurs within a very short space of time.

These things are really cute, but they move quickly from one place to another, which is why we sometimes had to sprint through the thicket :D But it was worth it, because these animals only exist in Madagascar!

I also found this animal very exciting, had fun looking for it 😉

The visit to the park then ended with a “detour” (approx. 1 hour walk) to a waterfall and a natural swimming pool. It was really nice, but unfortunately I couldn't enjoy it because I had severe stomach pain. [The next few lines may contain too detailed descriptions of the activity of my gastrointestinal tract, but this is my blog and I'll tell you what I want :D] You have to know that the toilet hadn't seen me for about eight days and I already looked like I was seven months pregnant. After we left the park I was really knocked out from the pain and Michel kindly picked me up and took me to the hotel while the others were still swimming. There he had me make pineapple juice with fruit from a street stand, because Europeans usually have such problems with that that everything comes out immediately. What can I say, it worked...

We then drove on for about 1-2 hours to Fianarantsoa , a beautiful old town. We arrived there around 5 p.m. and slept with locals . That was pretty cool, we basically slept on the second floor, which was accessible via a ladder. The toilet and shower were down in the yard (a bit inconvenient as I was going to have diarrhea from now on and the ladder was a bit difficult in the dark at night). In addition, freshly cooked food was cooked for us, super tasty!

The next morning we went on a city tour, it really is a wonderfully beautiful city because it has been almost completely restored.

There's so much happening here and it's a bit tiring to take in and process all the impressions, but it's soooo wonderful. What's not so great are my stomach cramps...

On Friday we met our guide Michel for breakfast. Not only was the breakfast pretty tasty, but fortunately our guide was also incredibly nice.

He has been doing the job for about 20 years and really knows a lot about the country. He is also very open-minded, honest and flexible, which allows us to really design the trip exactly how we want (within reason of course).

At around 9 a.m. we said goodbye to the hotel room and got into the car to get to the next stage. I wasn't feeling well, I was struggling with nausea. I can't say exactly what caused it, possibly a side effect of the malaria medication or perhaps the air being polluted by exhaust fumes from cars etc.

In any case, we wobbled along a road that wasn't particularly paved and I had the feeling that I had looked too deeply into the glass yesterday. (Note to anyone concerned: I didn't drink anything apart from a rum!)
The first stop was at a gas station where we met a man we didn't know to exchange a total of €600 for Ariary - a bit strange, but successful.

During the next 6 hours by car (ufff) we learned an incredible amount about Madagascar and its culture, Michel likes to talk a lot. But mainly about interesting things, so tant mieux 😊

In addition to a few scenic stops, we took a lunch break in the restaurant for lunch (a burger for around €2!) and also visited an “aluminium factory”. In quotation marks, because the word factory definitely gives the wrong impression. It was simply a kind of backyard where the aluminum was melted and then poured into pots. Completely without protective clothing etc. The air was full of smoke, dust and ash, and small children were playing right next door. That was really impressive, especially when I realized that I have exactly the same pot in my shared apartment on La Réunion ...

We arrived at the next hotel around 6 p.m. and went straight to dinner in a Malgast-Chinese restaurant, where various guests were singing traditional songs the whole time. That was a very nice ending. And then off to the Heia.

The next day at 7:15 a.m. we sat down at a really well-laid breakfast table - eggs, baguette, yoghurt, fruit, juice, crepes, pain also chocolate, coffee...

Fully full, we got back in the car, but Michel first met two sweet friends in the hotel's beautiful garden:

Our first stop of the day was in a stone studio, where we learned a lot about the (semi-)precious stones of Madagascar and were even given five stones as a gift.

Afterwards we went to a candy factory where a really sweet old lady showed us how candy used to be made and how it is done today (by hand). Of course we also got to try the candies and they were delicious!

Afterwards we went to Lac Tritriva to stretch our legs. To get there, however, we had to leave the national route, which was another adventure. The path was not paved and full of potholes, we were more than shaken up and to be honest I was glad that I hadn't eaten anything before :D Nevertheless, the ride was worth it because the lake was really beautiful and we swam in it too.

After a walking tour around the lake, we continued to the next lake: Lac Andra Ikiba . Our guide rested there a bit while we walked around a lake again :D But it was really nice and pleasant to not just sit in the car.

Unfortunately, it started to rain quite heavily, so we drove on quickly (finally on asphalt again!!). Our penultimate stop of the day was a Atelier artisanale , i.e. a handicraft workshop. First we had a small demonstration of how to make a spoon out of horn and then a demonstration of how to make a miniature one out of a variety of materials (e.g. a can and an infusion tube). Can make a bicycle. I found that really impressive!

After a short stop in a chocolate shop (Madagascar is probably very well known for its chocolate) we finally went out to eat something - breakfast was at least a good 9 hours behind us. Since the restaurant was in the immediate vicinity of the hotel, we had the “fun” of using a cyclo-pousse for the way back – i.e. a tuk-tuk.

When we got back to the hotel, we freshened up and played another round of cards - a full day with an incredible amount of impressions comes to an end.

As a conclusion to the last two days here, in Antsirabe , I can say that I have mixed feelings. The landscape is beautiful, the people here are nice, I learn a lot of new and interesting things and I'm in great company, but the living conditions still bother me a bit. Everywhere you see poverty, small children begging and simply a reality of life that is completely foreign to me. I pay money to watch people risk their health to survive. Simply because I find it interesting and am privileged enough to do it. That's pretty awesome.

Finally the time has come : the adventure begins, we're off to Madagascar *-*

After spending the whole day packing yesterday, I arrived at the airport at 1:00 p.m. today. That's when I met Julia and Nina, two of my three travel companions. After successful check-in, we boarded the plane. Since, as always, everything was on perfect time (cough cough), I quickly wrote an exam online in the time between boarding and departure, but unfortunately I didn't have time to send it off.

The flight lasted 90 minutes and we even got a small lunch. This was very convenient because I hadn't eaten anything since lunch and my stomach was growling - and it was still a few hours until dinner.

When I landed, I quickly submitted my exam in the remaining 10 minutes - at the last minute, but at least on time. I'm really looking forward to the grade :D But it's also my own fault: flight from 3:40 p.m. to 5:10 p.m., exam from 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m....

At the airport we bought our visa and filled out some documents for entry. We then gave these to the border guards, who were very talkative and in a good mood - maybe a little too in a good mood. Because after he asked me how old I was, he directly asked me if I had ever had a relationship and/or my first time... well :D

After this very amusing but bizarre conversation, we got our suitcases from the conveyor belt and then met Edi, our fourth member of the group, outside. He had traveled from Mauritius and was waiting for us for some time, which he spent changing money (The banknotes here are sooooo beautiful!! I'll show you pictures in a later post 😊). One euro is equivalent to approximately 4900 Ariary.

Hotel staff picked us up in a very interesting car (two stick shifts, I've never seen anything like that before :D) and took us to the hotel, not far from the airport. When we got there we were absolutely positively surprised and really blown away. It was so modern, beautiful and big, I didn't expect that at all!

So we made ourselves comfortable and after a short while decided to use the remaining sun to buy water (and four beers) - the tap water here is not drinkable.

It was amazing to see the difference between our luxurious hotel and the poor street it is on... That really reminds you...

In the evening we ate in the hotel restaurant. Everyone had a drink, a main course, sometimes a side dish and then also a rum. In total we only paid €30, which was quite steep.

Now I fall into bed dead tired and look forward to tomorrow, when we will meet our guide Michel at around 8:00 a.m. I'm very excited!

Arriving at the cozy airport, the first thing is passport control. Since I sat far at the front, I was optimistic that I would get through quickly - after all, I have a visa, I thought... Well, but can you stand in line with almost exclusively locals with a visa? 'C'est seulement pour les passportes malagaches'. Yeah, okay, then I'll just let everyone go ahead and line up at the 'visa' counter. But I do have a visa, don't I? Well, then I'll just join the line of locals and those who want to become locals. Stupidly enough, by now the entire contents of the plane are standing there. Well, now it's time to line up behind everyone else. 'Moro moro', I thought to myself, always stay calm. Then finally: ta-daa, no problem and my visa was waved through. Although not before I was asked some uncertain questions (residence in Madagascar?), but apparently no answer is also an answer. Quickly locked myself in the bathroom and collected the correct banknotes to be exchanged from various secret hiding places. Then I am ready to face the possible option that parts of my luggage have gone astray somewhere between Frankfurt and Africa...but no! Everything arrived perfectly. Lucky. It's almost creepy how everything works out so perfectly.

Next step: Arrival - exciting: 'Is someone really going to pick me up at the other end of the world?' Once through customs, which was only for locals somehow, 50 people are already standing there, agitated, shouting, with signs, waving or silent in front of me. Keeping in mind warnings about a high rate of fraud and crime at airports, I hide all valuable things and keep them in sight. Now the art: Trying not to appear helpless, but confident, not too interested and definitely not looking for something, I let my eyes wander over the signs. Don't look at anyone for too long, otherwise the personal shuttle is practically already booked. No one in a hurry at first - holding up my name - seen. But for now, I also want to get out of the primary target line. No, no chance: hardly do I take another step forward, and 3 locals are in front of me, one directly taking over the luggage cart, the other two asking me something. According to me, it went something like this: 'Which hotel?' - 'We will drive you' - then something about A l'Hotel - then MICET (my organization) and then: 'Franka'? ... Ummm: Yes?! And bam - they have already brought me to David, who is smiling kindly and holding a sign that says 'Franka Meyer'. Well, impressive. They managed all of this within 12 seconds, without me saying anything that would have made me recognizable. They just have it in their blood... I was still slightly confused, however, that the man who hijacked my luggage cart was already halfway out. David, the MICET guy, looked trustworthy. I quickly told him that 1. I still want to exchange money and 2. I need a SIM card. He could hold my luggage back from quick transport outside and nice David and the luggage driver stood next to the counters, so I could keep an eye on my luggage. Maybe like a lioness with her cubs... They encourage me with a smile and I turn calmly to the science of exchanging money. I hand my meager 250 euros through a glass pane. A number is displayed on the calculator that I couldn't identify quickly enough and bam - I already have a stack of paper bills in my hand, 10 cm high, each with a 10,000 printed on it. Okay, then one stop to the right with 500 grams of paper for the SIM card. Just hand over the passport once, then choose a tariff, hand over some sums of money, and say 'Portable, s'il vous plait'. Well, they just take the phone right away, type on the German keyboard a few times as if there was something written in French, insert the SIM card, press buttons for another 5 minutes, and tadaa: The new SIM card is already working! Thousand thanks and au revoir. I stow my banknotes in my backpack, nod to David, and bam: my luggage is practically already at the car on the other side of the parking lot. Well, David seems calm, and I think that the man won't kidnap my luggage now. Of course, he didn't. He has kindly already put everything in the car and is grinning at me. Oh yeah...tip. Very clumsily, I put down my backpack again, rummage through my stacks of money, and give him a few thousand ariary. He seems satisfied and waves goodbye. We drive off towards the mega metropolis. It turns out that David is the biggest fan of Germany and learned a lot of German in school. He tells me many things and explains where we are driving and we chat while I admire the colorful streets, the chaotic traffic, rice fields, and colorful fruit stands. He takes me to the A l'Hotel and we arrange to meet at 6:00 a.m. the next day. I check in, enjoy a papaya juice, and go to my room - close the door, take a deep breath. Silence. Arrived. Easier than expected. Well, but I still want to experience something. Quickly changed, exchanged hiking shoes for flip-flops, changed my top. Safely stashed away some money, put on a jacket, and off I go to the streets of Antananarivo. The loudest, most colorful, and busiest place I have ever seen. People, children, cars, scooters, dogs, chickens, fruits, stalls, and much more everywhere. And curious faces that look at me, smile at me or look skeptical. Walking purposefully and smiling friendly and saying hello is a great strategy, also for politely declining potential taxi drivers. Actually not difficult at all. I walk through the streets, make an effort to maintain my orientation, and let all the impressions sink in.

After another 7-hour flight to Addis and another 5-hour flight to Antananarivo, we arrived safely at the hostel.

Everything went according to plan.

The precautions for Corona are also noticeable here. All airport personnel are wearing masks. On the airplane, the middle seat was not occupied 90% of the time (social distancing). Many passengers were wearing masks. Extra form upon entry, see photo, and temperature check at the border.

(@ Hannah, it's good that we didn't see each other at the last minute.)

Fortunately, customs were also satisfied with the answer: I have nothing to declare.

We were then picked up at the airport by 2 very friendly Mitarbeitern from Projekt Manda and taken to the hostel.

Unfortunately, my French was not yet good enough for a nice conversation, but we managed with gestures and a mix of English and French.

The drive through the city was very impressive. Madagascar is hilly around the capital and very green at the moment. Rice fields everywhere, free-roaming cows and goats, even in the rice fields, overcrowded minibuses, scooters with families (4 people on one scooter), market stalls, etc. the typical African scene.

Our hostel: Maison du Pyla is located a bit outside the city center. It is an old, winding house with stairs, high ceilings, and old wooden floors. The rooms are nice, even with private bathrooms. It is not far from the Manda orphanage (about 5 min).

I'm excited, tomorrow it will start.

During the last week of volunteer work, we repaired benches and doors at the school or worked in Lemurialand. Since up to 4 children sit at a small desk in the school, they often fall apart during class. In Lemurialand, in addition to cleaning the lemur islands and preparing food, there were also turtles whose shells had to be scrubbed, as well as crocodiles that occasionally wanted a fresh bath.

Last weekend we spent on 'la grande terre', the main island of Madagascar. By taxi-brousse (many people, little space) we traveled to Ankarana National Park, where we spent two nights in a bungalow together with some rats. In the national park itself, we encountered some snakes, lemurs (including two nocturnal ones sleeping), bats, lizards, geckos, and butterflies. Since the rainy season has just begun, we were able to visit a bat cave in addition to the Tsingy Rary, which is not accessible after rainfall.

Now we are spending a few more days at Scuba Nosy Be, enjoying the underwater world, before continuing to New Zealand on Saturday.

First things first: a week ago, there were 6 more puppies, and now there are 12 little cute fluffballs running around here.

On Mondays, we started with the projects. Since the construction project didn't take place this week, we were both teaching at the school or kindergarten. The project was fun, even though it wasn't easy to teach English grammar in French (the alphabet song was a bit easier :P).

On Friday, there was only one school hour from 07:30 to 08:30. After that, we rented a scooter and drove around the island, visiting the Lokobe National Park. Saturday and Sunday meant diving again after two weeks off. On Sunday afternoon, we also visited the boxing matches in the neighboring village of Dzamandzar. Boxing is similar to Thai boxing, just with fewer rules.

After over 2 weeks of diving, the introduction week of volunteer work started last Monday. At the accommodation, we were greeted by 6 newly hatched puppies (well, they're actually just sleeping).

Now we finally saw something of the world above sea level. We visited a sacred tree, a haunted house, beaches, viewpoints, and snorkelled with giant turtles in Nosy Sakatia. This weekend we spent on Nosy Komba, a sweet island south of Nosy Be. When we arrived, we hiked to the highest point of the island, which was a sweaty affair in this climate. But the view was worth it. We also got very close to some curious lemurs and saw various snakes and lizards.

Tomorrow the actual volunteer work will start with a primary school and construction work.

After our stay in southern Africa, we arrived in Nosy Be on October 16th, a small island in northeastern Madagascar. Here we will first complete the Divemaster course and then participate in volunteer projects.

The typical daily schedule at the diving school is as follows: 07:00 Breakfast. 07:30 Check the dive boat equipment. 08:00 Depart and then perform two dives. The dive boats are back at around 13:30 and afterwards the staff has a shared lunch, which usually marks the end of the workday.

'Hello! You're new, aren't you?' 'Yes, exactly. Hello, I'm Anna.' 'Hi, I'm XYZ. What project are you working on? ... Where did you work before? ... And why did you choose Madagascar?'

That's how almost all of my conversations started in the first few days. The question about the project was quite easy to answer. 'The one with aquaculture, where the boss left recently.' 'Oh yes, you're the fish woman! I've heard about that.' Apparently, the grapevine worked perfectly here too. The next question was a bit more difficult. With the 7 weeks of preparation time in Germany, I was already sensitized and knew that development workers usually should have at least 2 years of professional experience and my research trips and student jobs did not count. I haven't found a formulation yet that doesn't result in astonished and confused looks. At the latest with the last question, the looks become somewhat sympathetic. I don't (yet) fully understand that. I didn't choose the country, I chose the job. I didn't know much about the country and maybe that was better. Although all the data and facts probably wouldn't have helped me either. I couldn't imagine what it's like to live in one of the poorest and most corrupt countries in the world. In three years, maybe I can say more about that.

Well, now I'm here. Madagascar. An island that everyone has heard of but hardly anyone knows anything about, except that the nature is supposed to be so beautiful.

I arrived in Antananarivo on March 3rd at 3:00 p.m., just a few days before my 30th birthday, with 3 large bags. My mood was somewhat dampened. Even after 4 weeks of intensive French course, my French was still very moderate, I had no idea what to expect, and a few days earlier I was informed that my supervisor would be leaving. As if the whole endeavor wasn't challenging enough already. Fortunately, my interim supervisor turned out to be very nice and competent. I was picked up from the airport and my first few days were scheduled. Due to the relatively spontaneous change in leadership, there were a few administrative confusions, but otherwise everything went well. My passport was forwarded to the ministry to change my tourist visa to a long-term visa. In a few days, I should have it back and continue to Antsirabe. Well, from the few days, it turned into over three weeks.

So for now, I was stuck in the capital, Antananarivo (short: Tana). Tana is noisy, crowded, dirty, polluted, like all big cities are, and super confusing due to the many hills. But somehow, it's not that bad. The traffic almost comes to a standstill during rush hour, and the way home of 4 km can take up to four hours at worst, but everyone is still quite civilized. Honking is mainly used as a signal for overtaking or as a warning at curves and intersections, the noise level is much higher in some (southern) European cities. Driving fast is not possible here because of the narrow streets and countless potholes. At night, the most noise comes from the street dogs and the crowing rooster next door. For me, the most exhausting thing about Tana was/is the incredibly difficult to assess security situation. If you talk to a Malagasy person, it's incredibly dangerous both during the day and at night, and you will be attacked almost at every corner. If you talk to other expats, you should be careful during the day and use common sense, but it would probably be better not to be on foot at night. So, once it gets dark at 6:00 p.m., you end up taking a lot of taxis. The taxis are usually dilapidated car bodies that have been brought back to life with a lot of craftsmanship and a touch of magic. I quite like the cars, but I still find it fascinating that everyone considers them safer than walking. It happens quite often that the engine dies halfway and we'd better not talk about the brakes. But there is simply no alternative. After a week, I moved to a hotel in the city center and walked to the office every day without any problems. The only really unpleasant experience I had was with the police. They like to stop taxis, check papers, and hope to collect a "fine". Unfortunately, my passport was at the ministry and I didn't have a certified copy... Now I understand why people in some countries prefer to avoid the police.

Of course, life in the capital also has its good sides. During this time, I met many expats and ate my way through all the restaurants. And you can actually buy almost everything you need. The big supermarkets are full of French and South African products.

But I was very happy when the time came shortly before Easter: I finally got to go to Antsirabe! My first impressions of that will be coming soon.

Best regards,

Anna

To end our journey, our guide offered us something very special. As the captain of a rodeo team, he could organize a Zibu Rodeo in his village for us. The village was on our way back to Tana, so we couldn't miss this opportunity. I couldn't imagine much about it, but I knew that rodeos have a great tradition in Madagascar.

After our car broke down again, we took a taxi bus to Ambositra, the village where our guide lives. The ride alone was an experience, especially the 'station' if you can call it that way. We had to transfer once to reach our destination, and at that station, it was chaotic. Every driver wanted to attract the next customer for their bus. It was hard to get off the bus without being surrounded by a crowd of drivers asking where you want to go. As soon as you mentioned your destination, you were pulled in different directions because every driver seemed to go everywhere. And if you think that once you're in the bus, there's peace, you're mistaken. Even after paying for a bus, the drivers try to convince you to ride with them because their bus is supposedly better. But this battle for the traveler's favor wasn't only for white tourists, it was for everyone who set foot in that station. While waiting for the bus to depart, you could buy all sorts of things from the vendors passing by. From food like sandwiches, spring rolls, samosas, cakes, and bread, to headphones, USB sticks, baskets, and hats. Observing all the hustle and bustle was fun.

After a 4-hour drive, we arrived at the village in the late afternoon. The first thing we saw was the arena, and then we were personally received by the village president. He invited us to his living room where he offered us local rum and local food. We had a conversation with him in French before he accompanied us to the arena. In a short speech, with the whole village assembled, they thanked us and announced that the rodeo was organized in honor of Berni and me. So we were the organizers of the upcoming fun.

And then it started. One Zibu after another was led into the arena and teased a bit.

The men then tried to grab the Zibus at the bumps of their back and hold on there. The Zibus didn't like that and fought back against the attacker.

It was a lot of fun to watch.

The whole village shared this enthusiasm.

When the sun went down, the games were over. We were invited back to the village president's living room. But this time, we weren't alone. The village elders and the brave rodeo riders gathered as well. A ritual, or rather a prayer, which is part of such an event, followed. These games are held to pray for luck and good health. And since we were the organizers, prayers were said for us, that we can continue to travel safely and without accidents, and that luck accompanies us on our further journey. The ritual was completed with a bottle of homemade rum, which was generously distributed among those present.

Then we were asked to tell something about our journey, which we gladly did. Our guide kindly translated into Malagasy.

A little later, after showing our photos and videos of the rodeo, we were kindly bid farewell.

And so our journey in Madagascar ended with a lasting memory.

After the efforts of the past weeks, we now enjoy two days at the beach doing nothing.

We have a nice little bungalow right by the beach, where we enjoy the view of the sea while lounging around.

To keep us from getting bored while doing nothing, we take a little walk on the beach

or go snorkeling.

Our non-swimmer guide is also joining us on the snorkeling trip and shows how to snorkel even if you can't swim

We also have the pleasure of enjoying beautiful sunsets again, which we can enjoy directly from the veranda of our bungalow.

From tomorrow we will slowly make our way back to Antananarivo and the Madagascan adventure is coming to an end.