Nosy Be, Madagascar: soleado 35 grados

En nuestro largo viaje, en Madagascar fue la última vez que usamos el tender. Realmente es una pena, siempre hemos disfrutado de estas travesías.

Esta excursión combinó la visita al parque Lemuria Land con el descubrimiento de la pequeña capital Hell-Ville. Lemuria Land es una reserva natural y botánica situada en medio de antiguas plantaciones de Ylang-Ylang. Caminamos por senderos rodeados de una vegetación fragante de plantas raras y endémicas de Madagascar, así como de una variedad de palmas y espectaculares cañas de bambú que alcanzan hasta 25 metros de altura. Los padres misioneros fundaron aquí la destilería de Ylang-Ylang, donde se produce la mayor cantidad de aceite esencial de Ylang-Ylang del mundo. Después, volvimos a subirnos al autobús y nos dirigimos al centro de la ciudad, donde visitamos el mercado que ofrecía productos locales de todo tipo. Era una mezcla de olores muy diferentes, desde

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...

Después de nuestro emocionante viaje era hora de sacar el máximo provecho de la situación y descubrir Nosy Komba.

Sin embargo, primero tuvimos que lidiar con una conversación incómoda. Dado que esta isla tenía aproximadamente tantas atracciones como Siefersheim, queríamos evitar a toda costa quedarnos aquí 10 días. Afortunadamente, aún no habíamos pagado nada y pudimos comunicar esta mala noticia a nuestro anfitrión. Él no estaba muy contento, pero no pudo hacer mucho contra nuestra decisión. Así que nuestra estancia se redujo de diez a tres noches.

Planeábamos, en realidad, hacer una caminata el 17, pero luego encontramos a otros turistas (hasta ese momento éramos los únicos aquí, ya que realmente no hay mucho que hacer), quienes nos hablaron de un parque de lemures. Además, parecía que habían hecho un tour en kayak el día anterior y nos dijeron de dónde habían conseguido los kayaks.

Así que abandonamos nuestros planes de senderismo y nos pusimos en marcha para encontrar el parque de lemures, y lo encontramos bastante rápido. Tuvimos que atravesar el pequeño pueblo (que, por cierto, es el más grande de la isla - 4000 habitantes). Al llegar al parque, un guía nos adoptó y nos puso en marcha. Después de solo unos 10 minutos, llegamos a los lemures. Lo que ni Laura ni yo esperábamos era que ellos treparían sobre nosotros. Esto fue realmente el absoluto punto culminante, eran tan suaves y también realmente tiernos, pero muy fuertes y firmes en su agarre.

Aparte de los lemures, también tuvimos la oportunidad de interactuar con una serpiente constrictora y tres tortugas (una de ellas llamada Pablo Escobar).

El cuello de la tortuga se siente más o menos como yo imagino que podría sentirse el pene de un elefante. En cualquier caso, estaba contento de que pudiéramos dejar de acariciarlos.

Cuando Laura tenía la serpiente constrictora alrededor del cuello, ocurrió la siguiente conversación:

Laura: ¿Cuándo fue la última vez que comió?

Guía: Hace una semana.

Laura: ¿Con qué frecuencia comen?

Guía: Una vez por semana.

Afortunadamente, aún sin digerir, salimos del parque después de aproximadamente una hora y estábamos realmente felices.

Luego, comimos un pequeño refrigerio y nos pusimos en búsqueda de kayaks. Las instrucciones eran bastante escasas, pero después de un tiempo tuvimos éxito en nuestra búsqueda.

Así que nos subimos juntos a un kayak de una persona y comenzamos a remar con entusiasmo. El primer objetivo era una mini isla, justo enfrente.

En esta isla, después de algunos problemas de dirección y un gran pánico por ser atropellados por un crucero, finalmente llegamos. Allí había muchas conchas, un poco de arena y nada más. Nadamos un poco y recogimos nuestras conchas favoritas, de las cuales planeamos hacer un collar más tarde, y luego regresamos a nuestro inestable platillo. Esta vez íbamos - ¡sorpresa! - a otra isla. Pensamos que aquí nos esperaría lo mismo que siempre, es decir, nada. Pero estábamos equivocados: ya en los primeros metros de la isla, nos encontramos con huesos humanos. Y a unos metros más encontré un antiguo cementerio.

Sinceramente, da un poco de miedo encontrarse con restos humanos en una isla desierta en medio del océano Índico. Pero, por supuesto, nos quedamos y exploramos un poco más, hasta que también descubrimos dos tumbas de niños. Decidimos que era mejor dar la vuelta y regresar antes de tener que estar aquí de noche.

Después de una exitosa y emocionante aventura en kayak, regresamos al restaurante y luego a descansar.

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Como ya se mencionó, las actividades recreativas en Nosy Komba son bastante limitadas. Así que decidimos pasar el día en el kayak. Sin embargo, antes, hicimos una rápida visita al pueblo, pues allí se estaba llevando a cabo el evento más grande del año en Nosy Komba: el Maki Run. Es una carrera de 10 km o 24 km y, aparentemente, un evento ultra para todos en la isla. Por todas partes había música, bailarines y corredores. Algunos de ellos cruzaban la meta con chanclas, Crocs o incluso descalzos, y colapsaban absolutamente después de la línea de meta. Pero también se les celebraba como héroes.

Después de haber observado un poco este espectáculo, alquilamos un bote nuevamente y salimos al mar abierto. O mejor dicho, intentamos rodear la isla. Durante esta circunnavegación, nos dimos cuenta de que fuera de nuestro hotel, donde no había nada, en el resto de la isla realmente no había absolutamente nada. Solo agua, playa y vegetación. Ninguna casa, ninguna gente, nada.

Después de algunas horas, tuvimos que darnos cuenta de que 1,5 litros de agua y un desayuno no son buenas condiciones para un recorrido en kayak de aproximadamente 8 horas para dos personas a 32°C. Afortunadamente, nos encontramos con el que probablemente sea el único hotel que puedes encontrar en el este de la isla, el Komba on the rocks.

Dicho y hecho, y después de unas 4-5 horas de kayak, regresamos a nuestro hotel. Como planeábamos salir al día siguiente, cenamos en nuestro hotel y preguntamos cómo podríamos salir de aquí. La amable camarera nos informó que a las 6:30 saldría un bateau commun, un tipo de barco-bus. Este costaría 20.000 Ariary, mientras que el hotel había querido cobrar 160.000 Ariary por nuestro viaje en barco. Así que le agradecimos por el consejo, empaquetamos nuestras maletas y nos fuimos a dormir.

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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.

El miércoles continuamos hacia Tsaranoro. El viaje fue relativamente agotador, ya que aún no me encontraba del todo bien, y los últimos aproximadamente 45 minutos hasta el hotel eran un camino nada agradable.

Sin embargo, finalmente llegamos y quedé inmediatamente impresionado por el paisaje y el alojamiento.

El hotel es la única civilización en el área, alrededor solo hay impresionantes rocas y hermosas plantas. El hotel era enorme, incluso había una mesa de billar, una biblioteca, etc.

Nuestra habitación parecía una cueva de hobbit con ángulos y formas muy locos, ¡me sentí de inmediato como en casa! Pero definitivamente lo más divertido fue la construcción de la puerta del baño:

Después de instalarnos un poco, vimos la puesta de sol y luego nos sentamos un rato con Michel y jugamos a las cartas. En algún momento decidimos jugar a la petanca. ¡Fue muy divertido y también un verdadero 'momento de unión' entre nosotros y Michel, ya que fue la primera actividad que hicimos juntos que no era parte del viaje planeado! Además, ¡mi equipo ganó! :P

Después de la cena, fue hora de ir a la cama, al siguiente día teníamos una larga caminata al Pic Caméléon (el nombre se explica bastante claramente por su forma).

Para evitar el intenso calor, comenzamos bastante temprano (alrededor de las 06:30) desde el hotel con dos guías. Primero, durante aproximadamente 1,5 horas subimos bastante empinados. Estaba completamente agotado porque aún tenía dolor de estómago y además había comido y bebido muy poco en los últimos dos días, así que estaba completamente deshidratado y sin energía. Sin embargo, el esfuerzo valió la pena, ¡porque la vista era increíble!

Arriba en la montaña tomamos una pausa prolongada, hasta que comenzamos el descenso a un valle seco actualmente. Este fue realmente extremadamente hermoso, porque las piedras brillaban en todos los colores posibles y eran simplemente hermosas de ver. Lo mejor fue que vimos makis, un tipo diferente de lémur.

A la sombra de los árboles de mango, comimos nuestro paquete de almuerzo (todos menos yo, al menos) y luego caminamos a un pequeño pueblo que visitamos. Me pareció bastante impresionante.

Después de unas siete u ocho horas, regresamos al hotel, nos refrescamos y luego pudimos disfrutar de un masaje. La masajista era ciega, lo que hizo que toda la experiencia fuera muy interesante, ¡y realmente era muy buena en lo que hacía!

Después, jugamos un poco a las cartas y charlamos con dos turistas estadounidenses, hasta que después de la cena, nos fuimos directamente a dormir.

Julia, Nina y yo nos levantamos alrededor de las 04:30 para la siguiente caminata, para admirar el amanecer. Desafortunadamente, tuve que detenerme después de un tiempo y quedarme un poco más abajo que los demás, ¡pero aun así fue muy bonito! Especialmente porque en Madagascar en la naturaleza es realmente tranquilo. No se oye ningún coche, ningún tractor, nada.

Así que disfruté de la calma y la vista, hasta que los demás regresaron.

Después de ducharme y con hambre, fui al desayuno, luego a empacar las maletas y luego avanzar rumbo a Isalo - cuatro horas de viaje en coche.

De domingo a lunes estuvimos en Ranomafana para visitar el parque nacional (y sobre todo a los lémures). Para ello, salimos por la mañana de Antsirabé y en el trayecto de cuatro horas en coche visitamos un taller de trabajos en madera. Fue realmente hermoso. Me gustaron especialmente las «cajas secretas», que tienen un cierre oculto. Sin embargo, solo tomé fotos de las siguientes y similares obras de arte :D

Ranomafana está en medio del bosque, por lo que pudimos disfrutar de algunas bonitas vistas durante el trayecto.

Sin perder tiempo, entramos directamente al bosque, ¡ya que teníamos mucho por descubrir! Honestamente, no tomé muchas fotos porque estaba demasiado fascinada por todo. Sin embargo, el día fue realmente emocionante, ya que tuvimos una increíble suerte y pudimos ver cuatro especies diferentes de lémures en muy poco tiempo.

¡Esos animales son realmente adorables! Sin embargo, se mueven rápidamente de un lugar a otro, por lo que tuvimos que acelerar atravesando la maleza :D Pero valió la pena, ¡porque estos animales se encuentran exclusivamente en Madagascar!

Este animal también me pareció muy interesante, ¡buena suerte buscándolo! 😉

La visita al parque terminó con una «excursión» (aproximadamente 1 hora de caminata) a una cascada y a una piscina natural. Aunque fue realmente hermosa, lamentablemente no pude disfrutarla debido a que me sentía con fuertes dolores de estómago. [Las próximas líneas pueden contener descripciones demasiado detalladas sobre la actividad de mi tracto gastrointestinal, pero este es mi blog y cuento lo que quiero :D] Hay que saber que el inodoro no me había visto en aproximadamente ocho días y ya parecía estar en el séptimo mes de embarazo. Después de salir del parque, realmente estaba agotada por el dolor y Michel amablemente me recogió y me llevó al hotel, mientras los demás todavía nadaban. Allí, me preparó un jugo de piña con frutas de un puesto callejero, ya que los europeos suelen tener tantos problemas con eso que todo sale de inmediato. ¿Qué puedo decir? Funcionó…

Luego viajamos alrededor de 1-2 horas más hasta Fianarantsoa, una hermosa ciudad antigua. Llegamos alrededor de las 17:00 y pasamos la noche con locales. Fue bastante genial, dormimos prácticamente en el segundo piso, al que se accedía por una escalera. La letrina y la ducha estaban abajo en el patio (un poco incómodo, porque de aquí en adelante debería enfrentar la diarrea, y de noche en la oscuridad la escalera era un poco complicada). Además, nos cocinaron frescos, ¡muy delicioso!

Al día siguiente hicimos un recorrido por la ciudad, es realmente una ciudad de ensueño, ya que fue casi completamente restaurada.

Aquí sucede tanto y es algo agotador percibir y procesar todas las impresiones, pero es tan maravilloso. Lo que no es tan maravilloso son mis calambres estomacales…

Después del tercer día en Madagascar, me pongo en contacto nuevamente, aunque con retraso debido a la falta de Internet.

El viernes nos reunimos para desayunar con nuestro guía Michel. No solo el desayuno estuvo bastante delicioso, sino que, por suerte, nuestro guía también es increíblemente amable.

Lleva haciendo este trabajo desde hace aproximadamente 20 años y realmente sabe mucho sobre el país. Además, es muy abierto, honesto y flexible, lo que nos permite personalizar el viaje tal y como nos gustaría (dentro de lo posible, por supuesto).

Hacia las 09:00 nos despedimos de la habitación del hotel y subimos al coche para llegar a la siguiente etapa. No me sentía bien, luchaba contra las náuseas. No puedo decir exactamente a qué se debía, tal vez una reacción del medicamento contra la malaria o quizás el aire, que está contaminado por los gases de escape de los coches, etc.

De todos modos, recorrimos una carretera que no estaba muy bien asfaltada y tenía la sensación de que había bebido más de lo que debía el día anterior. (Nota para todos los preocupados: ¡Aparte de un ron, no he tomado nada!)
La primera parada fue en una gasolinera, donde nos encontramos con un hombre que no conocíamos para cambiar un total de 600€ en Ariary – algo extraño, pero exitoso.

Durante las siguientes aproximadamente 6 horas de viaje en coche (ufff) aprendimos increíblemente mucho sobre Madagascar y su cultura, Michel habla mucho y le gusta compartir. Sin embargo, lo hace principalmente sobre cosas interesantes, así que tant mieux 😌

Aparte de algunas paradas paisajísticas, hicimos una pausa para comer en un restaurante (¡una hamburguesa por aproximadamente 2€!) y visitamos una «fábrica de aluminio». Entre comillas, porque la palabra fábrica definitivamente da una impresión equivocada. Era simplemente una especie de patio trasero donde se fundía el aluminio y se vertía en cacerolas. Completamente sin ropa de protección, etc. El aire estaba lleno de humo, polvo y ceniza, y justo al lado, unos niños pequeños jugaban. Eso fue realmente impresionante, especialmente cuando me di cuenta de que tengo exactamente una de esas cacerolas en mi departamento en La Réunion...

Hacia las 18:00 llegamos al siguiente hotel y salimos casi de inmediato a cenar a un restaurante malgache-chino, donde varios huéspedes estaban cantando canciones tradicionales durante todo el tiempo. Fue un cierre muy bonito. Y luego, a dormir.

A las 07:15 del día siguiente, nos sentamos en una mesa de desayuno realmente muy bien preparada – huevos, baguette, yogur, fruta, jugo, crêpes, pain au chocolat, café…

Bien llenos, volvimos a subir al coche, pero antes Michel nos presentó a dos adorables amigos en el hermoso jardín del hotel:

Nuestra primera parada del día fue en un taller de piedra, donde aprendimos mucho sobre las (semi) preciosas piedras de Madagascar y hasta nos regalaron cinco piedras.

Luego visitamos una fábrica de caramelos, donde una abuelita muy dulce nos mostró cómo se hacían los caramelos antes y cómo se hacen hoy (a mano). Por supuesto, también pudimos probar los caramelos y ¡eran super deliciosos!

Para poder estirar un poco las piernas, fuimos después al Lac Tritriva. Para llegar allí, tuvimos que dejar la ruta nacional, lo que ya fue otra aventura. El camino no estaba asfaltado y estaba lleno de baches; nos sacudió bastante y, sinceramente, estaba feliz de no haber comido nada antes :D Sin embargo, valió la pena el viaje, porque el lago era realmente hermoso y también nadamos en él.

Después de un recorrido a pie alrededor del lago, continuamos hacia el siguiente lago: el Lac Andra Ikiba. Nuestro guía se tomó un pequeño descanso allí, mientras nosotros una vez más caminábamos alrededor de un lago :D Pero fue realmente agradable y cómodo no estar solo sentados en el coche.

Desafortunadamente, comenzó a llover con bastante fuerza, por lo que tuvimos que seguir adelante rápidamente (¡finalmente de nuevo en carretera asfaltada!). Nuestra penúltima parada del día fue un atelier artisanal, es decir, un taller de artesanía. Primero tuvimos una pequeña demostración sobre cómo se hace una cuchara de cuerno, y luego otra demostración sobre cómo se puede hacer una bicicleta en miniatura a partir de diferentes materiales (por ejemplo, una lata y un tubo de infusión). ¡Eso realmente me impresionó!

Después de una breve parada en una chocolatería (Madagascar es bastante conocido por su chocolate), finalmente salimos a comer – el desayuno había pasado ya más de 9 horas. Dado que el restaurante estaba muy cerca del hotel, nos permitimos la

Finalmente ha llegado el momento: La aventura comienza, nos dirigimos a Madagascar *-*

Después de pasar todo el día de ayer empacando, hoy llegué al aeropuerto a la 1:00 PM. Ahí conocí a Julia y Nina, dos de mis tres compañeras de viaje. Después del check-in, ya estábamos listos para abordar el avión. Como siempre, hice un buen uso del tiempo (tos, tos), así que entre el embarque y el despegue, rápidamente escribí un examen en línea, pero lamentablemente no me dio tiempo de enviarlo.

El vuelo duró 90 minutos y hasta nos dieron un pequeño almuerzo. Eso fue muy conveniente, ya que no había comido nada desde el mediodía y mi estómago rugía – y aún faltaban unas horas para la cena.

Al aterrizar, en los últimos 10 minutos, rápidamente envié mi examen – un poco apurado, pero al menos a tiempo. Estoy realmente curioso por la calificación :D Pero también tengo la culpa: vuelo de 15:40-17:10, examen de 15:30-17:00…

En el aeropuerto compramos nuestro visado y llenamos algunos documentos para la entrada. Se los entregamos a los agentes de aduanas, que estaban muy habladores y de buen ánimo – tal vez un poco demasiado animados. Porque después de preguntarme cuántos años tenía, de inmediato me preguntó si había tenido una relación y/o mi primera vez… bueno :D

Después de esta conversación algo divertida, pero bizarra, recogimos nuestras maletas de la cinta y afuera nos encontramos con Edi, nuestro cuarto miembro del grupo. Él había llegado de Mauricio y nos había estado esperando un tiempo, el cual había pasado cambiando dinero (¡Los billetes aquí son tanoooo bonitos! En una publicación posterior les mostraré fotos 😊). Un euro equivale a aproximadamente 4900 Ariary.

Los empleados del hotel nos recogieron en un auto bastante interesante (con dos palancas de cambios, algo que nunca había visto :D) y nos llevaron al hotel, que no estaba lejos del aeropuerto. Al llegar, quedamos absolutamente sorprendidos y realmente impresionados. ¡Era tan moderno, bonito y grande, que no lo esperaba en absoluto!

Así que nos acomodamos y decidimos aprovechar el poco sol que quedaba para comprar agua (y cuatro cervezas) - ya que el agua del grifo aquí no es potable.

Fue impactante ver la diferencia entre nuestro lujoso hotel y la calle empobrecida en la que se encuentra... Eso realmente abre los ojos...

En la noche, cenamos en el restaurante del hotel. Cada uno pidió una bebida, un plato principal, algunos incluso un acompañamiento y luego también un ron. En total pagamos apenas 30€, lo cual fue increíble.

Ahora me desplomo agotado en la cama y espero con ansias mañana, cuando conoceremos a nuestro guía Michel alrededor de las 08:00, ¡estoy muy emocionado!

Esta mañana tuvimos por última vez un delicioso desayuno con tortilla y ensalada de frutas, antes de ponernos en camino. Antes de tomar la pista de arena hacia Manja, aprovechamos la civilización una vez más para sacar dinero, comprar plátanos y naranjas y llenar el tanque. Luego salimos de Morondava y giramos a la derecha después de unos metros. "Di adiós, civilización", dice Manantsoa riendo. Pasamos por un puente muy improvisado, hecho de tablones, y ya estamos en la nada. Durante un largo tiempo solo vemos paisaje interior, pequeños pueblos y de vez en cuando un río que hay que cruzar. En cada río más grande hay una pequeña barrera y el padre de familia del pueblo cobra una pequeña propina, de 2000 a 5000 Ariary, dependiendo del ancho del río y su habilidad de persuasión. A menudo, 10-20 niños bailan a su alrededor pidiendo dulces o regalos. Sí, aquí las familias tienen muchos niños. Ellos ríen, saludan, gritan y corren detrás de nuestro auto. Generalmente gritan hasta que les saludamos desde el coche, entonces ellos saludan riendo y siguen jugando. Pero ay de nosotros si no les saludamos. Raramente se acercan a los coches niños que realmente piden algo, generalmente son aldeas que se encuentran en medio de la nada y que a menudo no tienen ni un río o agua cerca. Rápidamente se nota: cuanto más cerca hay un río, más satisfechas y, digamos, "adineradas" son las personas, al menos son capaces de cultivar algunos alimentos. Ante los ríos, Manantsoa cierra las tapas de las ruedas, activa la tracción en las cuatro ruedas, respira hondo, sonríe y ya estamos cruzando el río, a veces más profundo, a veces menos profundo, pero nunca se sabe antes. Por suerte, sin más incidentes. Hace muchísimo calor y está polvoriento, y hay casi nada de sombra. Viajamos entre montículos de termitas y carros de cebra a través del paisaje. En algún momento, hacemos una parada en un pueblo: ¡pausa para el almuerzo! Manantsoa se acerca a una familia que vende comida y come arroz con pollo. Para un Vazaha, eso ni pensarlo. "Eso nunca lo tolerarían". Una de las primeras reglas que uno debe tener en cuenta en Madagascar: no comer comida callejera si no deseas tener grandes problemas estomacales. Así que comemos nuestras mandarinas y plátanos y esperamos en la sombra. ¡Continuamos! Aún queda un buen trecho hasta Manja y hace calor y polvo. En algún momento solo queda una hora. Entonces, Manantsoa de repente se abrocha el cinturón y enciende las luces. ¿Eh? Tadaaa: al otro extremo del mundo hay de nuevo una carretera. Así, de repente, una ciudad y una carretera asfaltada. Llegamos a Manja. Una ciudad dulce que parece muy simpática. Ahora estamos ansiosos por ver el hotel mencionado desde tantos puntos de vista y famoso por su fealdad. El único en millas a la redonda, así que no hay muchas opciones aquí. Esperamos lo peor. Así, solo se puede estar positivamente sorprendido. Y de hecho, no es tan horrible. Detrás de las puertas nos espera una pequeña oasis de palmeras de coco y loros. Las habitaciones no son lujosas y en lugar de agua corriente tenemos dos cubos. Pero aun así, es un alojamiento bonito. Y supuestamente famoso por su delicioso bistec de cebra. Realmente la comida es bastante sabrosa y hay incluso un ventilador para la noche. Podría ser mucho peor. El desayuno de la mañana siguiente es muy petit-dejeuner, aunque la énfasis está más en el petit, pero está bien.

Después de una noche en la que siempre estuve atento a mosquitos y cucarachas, estoy muy feliz de que finalmente sea relativamente soportable levantarse a las 05:30 para huir afuera, lejos de los mosquitos y las cucarachas. Suena peor de lo que fue, pero de alguna manera no tenía muchas ganas de aplastar una cucaracha en la cama por accidente durante la noche. Hace un agradable frescor y desayunamos con algunos otros huéspedes, todos ansiosos por visitar el parque Kirindy a la luz del día. Volvemos rápidamente a la entrada del parque y Alfred ya nos está esperando. Vamos hacia la maleza. Afortunadamente, a las 07:30 aún se puede soportar y está agradablemente fresco. Pronto vemos a los sifakas, los lémures danzantes, en lo alto de los árboles. Los lémures de frente roja, los Red-fronted brown lemurs, incluso vienen a nosotros al suelo y son súper curiosos. Frente a una cueva de árbol, hay un Fork-Lemur que no ve durante el día y nos mira con ojos muy abiertos en la nada. No se mueve durante el día, a menos que escuche peligros, entonces se escabulle rápidamente a su cueva de árbol. En el camino nos encontramos con hermosos pájaros del paraíso y el Blue Drongo, un típico pájaro malgache. Incluso podemos ver una lechuza dormilona en una cueva de árbol. Después de la caminata, regresamos a nuestro alojamiento y nos relajamos un poco en la piscina, antes de que por la tarde tomemos la polvorienta carretera de regreso hacia la civilización. Hacemos una parada en un pequeño pueblo, donde se encuentran los mayores "Baobab-Lovers" de la región, y charlamos un poco con los niños. Luego continuamos hacia el atardecer y la Avenida de los Baobabs. Cuando llegamos, aún hay mucho tiempo hasta el atardecer y pasamos el tiempo con el delicioso helado que se elabora directamente de las frutas de baobab. También hay un par de otros sabores y yo como de coco, baobab y guayaba, muy sabroso. En algún momento llega la hora del mejor lugar para ver el atardecer y tomo algunas fotos, esta vez con algunas nubes en el horizonte. Después, continuamos hacia Morondava a nuestro alojamiento. Esta vez hay una habitación diferente y vamos a cenar también aquí en el restaurante. Aparentemente, demasiado temprano para nuestros compañeros españoles e italianos, ya que tenemos el restaurante solo para nosotros, incluyendo a dos muy amables y divertidos camareros y un documental privado sobre los ecosistemas de Madagascar. Para cenar, hubo raviolis y verduras muy deliciosos, y de postre un ron de pauta casero con vainilla y guayaba, después de eso la noche también terminó y me fui a la cama.

Esta mañana hay desayuno nuevamente en el hotel con vista al río. Esta vez solo tomo una ensalada de frutas y unos crepes. Después del desayuno, empacamos nuestras cosas con calma y nos dirigimos hacia el bosque seco de Kirindy. En el pueblo hay bastante actividad y también se está celebrando un ritual de recordatorio de los muertos, aquí sin embargo es un poco diferente, con mucha música, un colorido desfile y sin que los restos sean llevados por la ciudad. Compramos un poco de agua y luego partimos hacia la pista de arena. Pasamos una vez más por la impresionante avenida de baobabs y luego seguimos hacia el norte. Está seco, polvoriento y bastante caliente. Manantsoa conduce como si se divirtiera. Y en realidad, no se necesita una montaña rusa si se puede conducir por estas calles. Mi sentido del equilibrio se siente regular y estoy contento de que no tengamos que viajar eternamente por esta carretera. Nos encontramos con un rebaño de cebús, que naturalmente se da la prioridad en el camino y caminan tranquilamente por la senda. Después de unas 2 horas, hacemos una parada en una acogedora cabaña donde trabaja un amigo de Manantsoa y hacemos una excursión con él por la cabaña y por el bosque. Hace un calor tremendo y hay mucha humedad. Él nos muestra a los sifacas, los lémures danzarines, que simplemente tienen una forma de andar muy divertida. Luego vemos un pequeño insecto bailarín en el tronco de un árbol y dos camaleones medianos en el árbol. Salimos de la cabaña y vamos al bosque contiguo. En el camino vemos un pequeño y lindo lémur ratón y a los lémures marrón de frente roja. Son bastante dóciles y casi no se escapan cuando nos acercamos. Para finalizar, un lémur fork, el lémur nocturno más grande, nos observa desde un hueco en un árbol. Luego comenzamos el camino de regreso a la cabaña. Hace un calor increíble y realmente no podría soportar aquí mucho más tiempo. Unos minutos después, ya estamos en el pueblo de Kirindy, que consiste principalmente en un hotel con bungalows y algunos habitantes. Almorzamos y pasamos la tarde relajados en la piscina, el fresco se siente bastante bien. Pregunto por agua para una ducha, ya que no salió mucha del grifo, y me traen dos enormes cubos a la puerta, con agua hirviendo. Bueno, eso no me sirve para ducharme, además ya me he duchado con un poco de agua fría. Así que rápidamente lavé mi ropa, lo cual también está muy bien. A las 16:00 partimos al parque Kirindy para una caminata nocturna. Llevamos linternas frontales y spray contra mosquitos y allí vamos, nuevamente a la pista de arena. A la entrada del parque también está la estación de investigación del DPZ, pero en este momento no hay investigadores aquí. Esperamos un poco a que oscurezca y luego partimos con Alfred, nuestro guía, al bosque. El ambiente es muy bonito y el cielo estrellado es impresionante. Vemos un lémur ratón que corretea por los árboles, un lémur fork que lame la savia de los árboles y algunos geckos, hormigas e incluso aves durmiendo, lo cual es muy impresionante. Definitivamente no soy nocturno, más bien estoy bastante cansado. Al final de la excursión incluso vemos una fossa, muy impresionante y definitivamente un punto destacado. Está masticando algunos huesos. De regreso en el hotel hay espaguetis para la cena e incluso electricidad en la cabaña a petición. Hay muchos mosquitos en la habitación, pero con la red se puede manejar de alguna manera.

Después de que mamá y papá me llevaran al aeropuerto, la primera dificultad en la gran ciudad (o mejor dicho, en el aeropuerto) fue encontrar aparcamiento. Una vez logrado, papá volvió a aparecer y pude disfrutar de un viaje en avión sin complicaciones. Después del check-in del equipaje, hay una última ensalada y luego comienza el gran viaje. Control de seguridad - verificado, control de pasaporte - verificado, caminata hacia la puerta - verificado y ¡zas!: ya estoy en el avión y camino a la lejana Etiopía. Durante el trayecto a bordo, charlé con un colega que, lidiando con increíbles cantidades de maletas en el check-in, se identificó como un miembro de ecología tropical, asegurando un tema de conversación. Resultó que es prácticamente vecino de iDiv en Leipzig, trabaja en el Instituto Max Planck de Antropología Evolutiva y está en camino a Gabón. En el avión, volé muy tranquilo con un asiento vacío al lado hacia Etiopía. Allí aterricé a las 6 de la mañana y, tras un breve control de seguridad y un respiro en la puerta, volé de nuevo a las 9, ya con 1 hora de diferencia horaria. En medio de una familia noruega, no hubo lugar para el aburrimiento, y tras algunas emocionantes documentales sobre Etiopía y un par de siestas, ya era hora de llenar los confusos formularios de entrada. Se solicitaban diversas informaciones, desde planes de viaje y números de teléfonos locales hasta vacunaciones contra el COVID y números de vuelo. Bueno, escribir algo es siempre una buena idea, en caso de duda, mejor la número de teléfono alemán. Unos confusos minutos después ya estaba saliendo, y un país montañoso de color marrón se veía a la vista. Un último respiro... ¡zas - y ¡bum! landed... no de la manera más elegante, pero sí de manera exitosa. En medio de hermosos campos de arroz y un paisaje lacustre de Antananarivo!

 Al llegar al acogedor aeropuerto, primero está el control de pasaportes. Como me senté bastante adelante, era optimista de que sería muy rápido - tengo visa, pensé... Bueno, ¿pero se puede hacer fila con una visa entre la mayoría de los locales? 'C'est seulement pour les passeports malgaches'. Vale, entonces dejaré que todos pasen delante y me pondré en la fila de 'Visa'. Pero, ¿no tengo visa? No, de hecho me coloco en la fila de los locales y de aquellos que quieren serlo. Cierto que ahora toda la gente del avión está en la fila. Entonces, detrás de todos los demás. 'Moro moro', pensé, siempre con calma. Finalmente: ¡tadaa!, ningún problema, y mi visa fue aceptada. Solo después de que me hicieran algunas preguntas inciertas (¿residencia en Madagascar?), pero parece que no responder también es una respuesta. Rápidamente me encerré en el baño y recogí los billetes correctos que debía cambiar de mis rincones secretos. Luego estoy lista para enfrentar la posible opción de que partes de mi equipaje estén perdidas entre Frankfurt y África... pero no! Todo llegó perfectamente. Tuve suerte. Casi resulta aterrador lo bien que salió todo.

Próximo paso: Llegar - emocionante: '¿Realmente alguien del otro extremo del mundo vendrá a recogerme? Un último paso por la aduana, que parecía ser solo para locales y ya hay 50 personas agitadas, gritando, con carteles, saludando o en silencio frente a mí. Con advertencias sobre tasas altas de fraude y crimen en aeropuertos dándome vueltas en la cabeza, escondí todas mis cosas valiosas y mantuve la mirada sobre ellas. Ahora el arte: tratar de no parecer indefensa, sino segura, no demasiado interesada y en absoluto buscando, dejando mi mirada vagar por los carteles. No mirar a nadie demasiado tiempo; si no, mi transporte personal estará casi reservado. Al principio no vi a nadie - levantando mi nombre. Pero también quiero salir de la fila primaria. No, no hay manera: Apenas doy un paso, tres malgaches se colocan frente a mí, uno ya se hace cargo del carrito de equipaje, los otros dos me preguntan algo con curiosidad. Según yo, el diálogo era algo así: '¿Cuál hotel?' - 'Te llevaremos' - luego algo de 'A l'Hotel' - después MICET (mi organización) y luego: '¿Franka'? ... ¿Ehmmm: Sí?! ¡Y zas, ya me llevaron a David, que sonríe amablemente y sostiene un cartel: 'Franka Meyer'. Vaya, impresionante. Hicieron todo eso en 12 segundos sin que yo dijera nada que me delatara. Eso lo llevan en la sangre... Aunque estaba un poco confundida, el hombre que se apoderó de mi carrito de equipaje ya estaba casi afuera. David, el chico de MICET, parecía de confianza. Le dije rápidamente que primero quería cambiar dinero y segundo, necesitaba una tarjeta SIM. Así pudo detener mi equipaje antes de un rápido transporte afuera y el equipaje y el conductor se colocaron con David junto a los mostradores, de modo que pudiera mantener un ojo en mi equipaje. Tal vez como una madre leona cuida a sus cachorros... Ellos me sonríen animadamente y yo me ocupo de la ciencia de cambiar dinero. Le entrego mis ahorrados 250 euros a través de un cristal. En la calculadora aparece un número que no podía identificar tan rápidamente y ¡zas! - ya tengo un montón de billetes de papel de 10 cm en la mano, todos con el número 10,000 impreso. Vale, ahora con medio kilo de papel un paso más a la derecha para la tarjeta SIM. Una vez que entrego el pasaporte, elijo una tarifa, entrego algunos billetes de dinero y: 'Portable, s'il vous plait'. Ah, ahí ya me toman el móvil, teclean un par de veces en las teclas alemanas como si hubiera algo en francés, colocan la SIM, presionan algunas teclas más por 5 minutos y ¡tadaa! La nueva SIM ya funciona. Mil gracias y Au revoir. Guardo mis billetes en la mochila, me despido con un gesto de cabeza a David y ¡sorpresa!: mi equipaje ya está prácticamente en el coche al otro lado del aparcamiento. Bueno, David parece relajado y pienso que este hombre no me robará el equipaje. Y claro que no lo hizo. Amablemente ya había puesto todo en el coche y me sonríe. Ah, sí... propina. Muy torpe, bajo de nuevo la mochila, rebusco entre mis montones de dinero y le doy algunos miles de Ariary. Él parece satisfecho y nos despide con la mano. Partimos rumbo a la metrópoli de millones. Resulta que David es un gran fan de Alemania y aprendió mucho alemán durante la escuela. Cuenta muchas cosas y explica por dónde vamos mientras yo admiro las coloridas calles, el tráfico caótico, los campos de arroz y los coloridos puestos de frutas. Me lleva a A l'Hotel y quedamos para el día siguiente a las 6:00 a.m. Hago el check-in, disfruto de un jugo de papaya y me dirijo a mi habitación - puerta cerrada, respiro hondo. Silencio. He llegado. Más fácil de lo pensado. Bueno, pero aún quiero vivir algo. Rápidamente me cambio, intercambiando las botas de senderismo por chanclas y blusa. Guardo un poco de dinero y me pongo una chaqueta y me dispongo a salir a las calles de Antananarivo. El lugar más ruidoso, colorido y lleno que he visto jamás. Gente por todas partes, niños, coches, motos, perros, gallinas, frutas, puestos y mucho más. Y hay rostros curiosos que me miran, sonríen o miran con escepticismo. Caminar decididamente, sonreír amablemente y saludar es una gran estrategia, incluso para rechazar educadamente a posibles taxistas. En realidad, no es tan difícil. Camino por las calles, esforzándome por mantener mi orientación y permitiendo que todas las impresiones me impacten.

Después de un vuelo de 7 horas a Addis y otras 5 horas de vuelo a Antananarivo, llegamos bien al hostel.

Todo salió según lo planeado.

Las precauciones por el coronavirus se notan aquí también. Todo el personal del aeropuerto lleva mascarilla. En el avión, el asiento del medio estaba desocupado en un 90% (distancia). Muchos pasajeros llevaban mascarilla. Formulario adicional al ingresar, ver foto, y control de fiebre en la frontera.

(@ Hannah, qué bueno que no nos vimos en el último momento.)

La aduana, afortunadamente, se conformó con la respuesta: No tengo nada que declarar.

Luego, en el aeropuerto, 2 muy amables empleados del proyecto Manda nos recogieron y nos llevaron al hostel.

Desafortunadamente, mi francés aún no era suficiente para una buena conversación, pero con manos y pies y un inglés-francés mezclado, funcionó.

El viaje a través de la ciudad fue muy impresionante. Madagascar es montañoso alrededor de la capital y en este momento muy verde. Hay arrozales por todas partes, vacas y cabras sueltas, incluso en los campos de arroz, minibuses abarrotados, motos con familias (4 personas en una moto), puestos de venta... etc. la típica imagen africana.

Nuestro hostel: Maison du Pyla está un poco fuera del centro. Es una casa antigua, con escaleras, techos altos y pisos de madera antiguos. Las habitaciones son agradables, incluso con baño privado. No está lejos del hogar infantil Manda (aproximadamente 5 minutos).

Tengo curiosidad, mañana puede comenzar la aventura.

Durante la última semana del trabajo voluntario, reparábamos bancos y puertas en la escuela o trabajábamos en Lemurialand. Como en la escuela hasta 4 niños se sientan en un pequeño escritorio, a menudo se desarma durante la clase. En Lemurialand, además de limpiar las islas de lémures y preparar la comida, había tortugas que necesitaban que se les cepillara el caparazón, así como cocodrilos que de vez en cuando querían un baño fresco.

El fin de semana pasado lo pasamos en 'la grande terre', la isla principal de Madagascar. Viajamos en Taxi-Brousse (mucha gente, poco espacio) al Parque Nacional Ankarana, donde pasamos dos noches en un bungalow junto a algunas ratas. En el parque nacional nos encontramos con algunas serpientes, lémures (también dos nocturnos durmiendo), murciélagos, lagartijas, geckos y mariposas. Dado que la temporada de lluvias apenas comienza, pudimos visitar también una cueva de murciélagos, que no es accesible después de las lluvias.

Ahora pasamos algunos días más en Scuba Nosy Be y disfrutamos del mundo submarino, antes de continuar el sábado hacia Nueva Zelanda.

Lo más importante primero: Hace una semana nacieron 6 cachorros más, ahora hay 12 adorables pelotitas suaves aquí.

El lunes comenzamos con los proyectos. Como el proyecto de construcción no se llevó a cabo esta semana, ambos estuvimos enseñando en la escuela o en el jardín de infantes. El proyecto fue divertido, aunque no fue tan fácil enseñar gramática inglesa en francés (la canción del alfabeto fue un poco más sencilla :P).

El viernes solo hubo una clase de 07:30 a 08:30. Luego alquilamos un scooter y recorrimos un poco la isla, visitando también el Parque Nacional Lokobe. El sábado y el domingo, después de dos semanas de pausa, volvimos a hacer buceo. El domingo por la tarde también asistimos a las peleas de boxeo en el pueblo vecino Dzamandzar. El boxeo es similar al boxeo tailandés, solo que con menos reglas.

Después de más de 2 semanas de buceo, el lunes pasado comenzó la semana de introducción del trabajo voluntario. Al llegar al alojamiento, nos recibieron 6 cachorros recién nacidos (bueno, en realidad solo están durmiendo).

Finalmente vimos algo del mundo por encima del nivel del mar. Visitamos un árbol sagrado, una casa de fantasmas, playas, miradores y hicimos esnórquel con enormes tortugas en Nosy Sakatia. Este fin de semana lo pasamos en Nosy Komba, una hermosa isla al sur de Nosy Be. Al llegar, caminamos hasta el punto más alto de la isla, lo cual fue un desafío debido al clima aquí. Pero valió la pena por la vista. Además, nos acercamos a varios lémures curiosos y vimos diversas serpientes y lagartijas.

Mañana comienza el trabajo voluntario real con la escuela primaria y las obras de construcción.

Después de nuestra estancia en el sur de África, llegamos a Nosy Be el 16 de octubre, una pequeña isla en el noreste de Madagascar. Aquí primero completaremos el curso de Divemaster y luego participaremos en proyectos de trabajo voluntario.

El esquema diario típico en la escuela de buceo es el siguiente: 07:00 desayuno. 07:30 revisión del material en el barco de buceo. 08:00 salida y luego dos inmersiones. Alrededor de las 13:30, los barcos de buceo regresan y luego hay un almuerzo conjunto para el personal, que normalmente también marca el final de la jornada laboral.

'¡Hola! Eres nueva, ¿verdad?' 'Sí, correcto. Hola, soy Anna.' 'Hola, soy XYZ. ¿En qué proyecto trabajas? ... ¿Dónde trabajabas antes? ... Y, ¿por qué elegiste Madagascar?'

Así o de manera similar, casi todas mis conversaciones de los primeros días comenzaron. La pregunta sobre el proyecto era bastante fácil de responder. 'El de la acuicultura, del que recientemente se fue la jefa.' 'Ah sí, tú eres la mujer de los peces. De eso he oído.' Aparentemente, los rumores de pasillo aquí también funcionaban maravillosamente. La siguiente pregunta era un poco más difícil. Con las 7 semanas de tiempo de preparación en Alemania, ya estaba algo sensibilizada y sabía que los cooperantes de desarrollo normalmente deberían tener al menos 2 años de experiencia laboral y que mis viajes de investigación y trabajos de ayudante no contaban. Hasta ahora no he encontrado una formulación que me evite las miradas de sorpresa y confusión. Al menos en la última pregunta, las miradas se vuelven algo compasivas. No lo entiendo del todo (aún). No elegí el país, sino el trabajo. No sabía mucho sobre el país y quizás eso también fue mejor. Aunque todos los datos y hechos probablemente tampoco me habrían servido de nada. No podría haber imaginado cómo es vivir en uno de los países más pobres y corruptos del mundo. Quizás en tres años podré decir algo más sobre eso.

Bueno, aquí estoy. Madagascar. Una isla de la que todo el mundo ha oído hablar, pero casi nadie sabe nada, excepto que la naturaleza supuestamente es tan hermosa.

El 03.03. a las 15 horas, unos días antes de mi cumpleaños número 30, llegué a Antananarivo con 3 grandes maletas. Mi estado de ánimo era un poco sombrío. Mi francés, después de 4 semanas de curso intensivo, seguía siendo bastante mediocre, no tenía idea de lo que me esperaba y unos días antes me habían informado que se separarían de mi superior. Como si todo el proyecto no fuera ya suficientemente desafiante. Afortunadamente, mi superior interina resultó ser muy amable y competente. Me recogieron en el aeropuerto y mis primeros días estaban bien planificados. Debido al cambio de liderazgo relativamente espontáneo, hubo algunas confusiones administrativas, pero por lo demás, todo iba bastante bien. Mi pasaporte fue enviado al ministerio para que mi visa de turista se convirtiera en una visa de larga duración. En pocos días debería tenerlo de vuelta y continuar mi viaje a Antsirabe. Para no adelantarme, de los pocos días se convirtieron en más de tres semanas.

Así que, inicialmente, me quedé en la capital, Antananarivo (abreviado: Tana). Tana es ruidosa, llena, sucia, contaminada, como suelen ser las grandes ciudades, y muy confusa por las numerosas montañas. Pero de alguna manera todo no es tan malo. El tráfico casi se detiene durante la hora pico y el camino a casa de 4 km puede, en el peor de los casos, tardar hasta cuatro horas, pero aun así todos son bastante civilizados. La bocina se utiliza principalmente como señal de adelantamiento o como advertencia en curvas y cruces; en algunas ciudades (del sur) europeas, el nivel de ruido es significativamente más alto. Aquí, no se puede ir rápido debido a las calles estrechas y los innumerables baches. Por la noche, el mayor ruido proviene de los perros de la calle y del gallo que canta al lado. Lo que para mí era/es lo más agotador de Tana es la increíblemente difícil de evaluar situación de seguridad. Hablar con un malgache puede ser increíblemente peligroso, tanto de día como de noche, y normalmente uno es asaltado en casi cada esquina. Hablar con otros expatriados, durante el día hay que ser cauteloso y confiar en el sentido común, pero de noche sería de hecho mejor no caminar. Después de que oscurece a las 18 horas, uno viaja en taxi. Los taxis son generalmente vehículos en muy mal estado que han sido revividos con mucho ingenio y un poco de magia. A mí me parecen muy simpáticos, pero seguir encontrando que todos los consideran más seguros que caminar me sigue fascinando. Se da con bastante frecuencia que el motor se detiene a mitad de camino y mejor no hablemos de los frenos. Pero simplemente no hay alternativa. Después de una semana, me mudé a un hotel en el centro de la ciudad y caminaba todos los días sin problemas a la oficina. La única experiencia realmente desagradable la tuve con la policía. A menudo, sobre todo de noche, les gusta detener los taxis, revisar documentos y esperar poder cobrar alguna

Para finalizar nuestro viaje, nuestro guía nos ofreció algo muy especial. Como era capitán de un equipo de rodeo, podía organizar un Zibu-rodeo en su aldea. La aldea, de todos modos, estaba en nuestro camino de regreso a Tana. No queríamos perdernos esta oportunidad. Por un lado, no podía imaginarme mucho al respecto y, por otro lado, estos rodeos tienen una gran tradición en Madagascar.

Así que, después de que nuestro automóvil se detuvo una vez más, tomamos un taxi-bus a Ambositra, la aldea donde vive nuestro guía. El viaje en sí ya fue toda una experiencia. Aunque no realmente el viaje, sino la "estación" si se le puede llamar así. Tuvimos que cambiar de autobús para llegar a nuestro destino. Esto sucedió en la mencionada estación. Había un gran revuelo. Cada conductor quería atraer al próximo cliente para su autobús. Era difícil bajar adecuadamente, ya que ya había un grupo alrededor de uno queriendo saber a dónde quería ir. Apenas mencionabas el destino, ya te estaban tirando en todas direcciones, ya que cada conductor parecía ir a cualquier lugar. Y quien piensa que, al sentarse en un autobús, tiene tranquilidad, se equivoca gravemente. Aunque ya has pagado por un autobús, los conductores quieren convencerte de que su autobús es mucho mejor y que deberías viajar con ellos. La lucha por el favor del viajero no solo se dirigía a los turistas blancos, sino a cualquiera que pusiera un pie en esta estación. Mientras esperas a que el autobús parta, puedes comprar de todo a los comerciantes ambulantes. Desde alimentos, como sándwiches, rollos de primavera, samosas, pasteles y pan, hasta auriculares, unidades USB, etc., así como cestas y cubiertas. Observar todo este bullicio fue divertido.

Después de 4 horas de viaje, finalmente llegamos a la aldea a última hora de la tarde. Primero se nos presentó la arena antes de que el presidente de la aldea nos recibiera personalmente. Nos invitó a su sala de estar donde nos ofreció ron local y comidas locales. Hablamos un poco en francés antes de que nos acompañara a la arena. En un breve discurso, ya que toda la aldea estaba reunida, nos agradecieron y anunciaron que el rodeo se celebraría en honor a Berni y a mí. Así que nos convertimos en los organizadores de la diversión posterior.

Y entonces comenzó. Se introducía un Zibu en la arena donde se le daban un par de vueltas.

Los hombres intentaban agarrar los Zibus de diferentes tamaños por los cuernos y mantenerse agarrados. A los Zibus no les gustaba en absoluto y se resistían contra el atacante.

Fue un enorme placer ver.

Todo el pueblo compartió este entusiasmo

Cuando el sol se puso, los juegos terminaron. Volvimos a ser invitados por el presidente de la aldea a su sala de estar. Esta vez no estábamos solos. Los ancianos de la aldea y los valientes jinetes de rodeo también se reunieron. Se llevó a cabo un ritual, o más bien una oración, que siempre acompaña a tales eventos. Estos juegos se llevan a cabo para orar por suerte y salud. Y dado que éramos los organizadores, se oró por nosotros para que pudiéramos viajar de forma segura y sin incidentes, y que la suerte nos acompañara en nuestro camino. El ritual se completó con una botella de ron casero, que se distribuyó generosamente entre los presentes.

Luego se nos pidió que habláramos sobre nuestro viaje, lo cual hicimos con gusto. Nuestro guía, amablemente, tradujo al malgache.

Un poco más tarde, después de que mostramos nuestras fotos y videos del rodeo, nos despidieron amablemente.

Así terminó nuestro viaje en Madagascar con un recuerdo perdurable.

Después de las exigencias de las últimas semanas, ahora disfrutamos de dos días en la playa haciendo nada.

Tenemos un agradable bungalow justo en la playa, donde disfrutamos de la vista al mar mientras nos relajamos.

Para que no se nos haga aburrido hacer nada, decidimos dar un pequeño paseo por la playa

o ir a hacer esnórquel.

Nuestro guía no nadador también está en la excursión de esnórquel y nos muestra cómo se puede hacer esnórquel incluso si no se sabe nadar.

También podemos disfrutar de hermosos atardeceres, que podemos admirar directamente desde la veranda de nuestro bungalow.

A partir de mañana, comenzaremos a regresar lentamente hacia Antananarivo y la aventura en Madagascar se está acercando a su fin.