Madagascar 2014

There I was, in Andasibe, Madagascar with no money, no airtime and a dodgy tour company. But let me not get ahead of myself. Here’s how it all began…

Madagascar has never crossed my mind as a place I would visit for a holiday but as it turned out I was roped in on a crazy adventure and two weeks later I was on a flight to Madda. I’m the type of person who gets motion sickness on everything that moves and the two flights to Madda left me clutching my stomach. The airport left me feeling like a sheep in a kraal being herded from one passport check to the next. Once they assessed I was not a terrorist after smiling every time my passport got stamped, I exited the building to see a normal city, not the jungle I expected from the animation, Madagascar. And yes, little things like my passport getting stamped still excite me.

I ended up in Antananarivo, the capital city of Madagascar as part of a volunteer mission for Operation Smile to help under privileged families affected with cleft lips and pallets. I was overwhelmed by the hundreds of people who traveled from all over Madagascar in need of surgery and touched by the gratefulness of the families upon seeing their child smile for the first time. 793 people were screened for surgery over two days and 151 lucky patients got the operation.

Just a little background about me before you continue reading: as you might have noticed from my grammar and clichés, I’m no writer. My name is Laurenda van Breda, I’m 30yrs old, studied Nature Conservation and I’m from South Africa. This was not my first solo travel in Africa, but I will admit, it was the most interesting in terms of adventure. My story is not that of the typical tourist as my budget limited my tour to slightly less leisure than I’m used to. I’m definitely not the roughing it up kind of person for long periods of time and completely OCD about germs and creepy crawlies on me, despite my choice of career. 

The insanely busy city of Tana reminded me of one giant taxi rank. Cars and taxis hooting at every turn, no seriously, at every turn to warn an oncoming driver they were approaching. Everyone chancing a gap with no traffic lights or stop streets to calm the chaos, my public transport experience left my nerves shot. As a pedestrian I was convinced I nearly died at least five times a day because the cars drove on the “wrong side of the road”. 

One of our taxi experiences left us shocked, angry and worried about the life of a friend. After a fun night out we were all laughing on the trip back when all of a sudden my hair was pulled so hard I thought I had a bald patch. I turned to see my friend loosen her grip on my hair while being flung out the moving taxi as it screeched around a corner. Her tiny body was not moving. She lay curled in a ball on the filthy streets of Tana. All that went through my mind was how was I going to tell her parents the news, but too our relief she started moving. The evening left us with a battered and bruised friend and a story to tell.

After the mission I was on my own for 8 days to explore the eastern part of the island which was my main reason for joining the trip, to build my portfolio as a future wildlife photographer. I was going to photograph everything that moved. It was two days before the mission ended that I realized I still haven’t booked anywhere to stay or explore and that’s when I found what I thought seemed like the perfect tour company…

I received my eight day itinerary and my program looked exciting. I was off to find King Julian, from the animation Madagascar, and the rest of he’s lemur friends in the rain forests of Andasibe. Oblivious to the fact that my itinerary did not include food or entrance fees or that I had to walk everywhere and be snuck through back entrances into the National Park even though I paid entrance and transport costs for an eight day trip only to be taken back after five and left stranded back in Tana. 

I was collected at my hotel in an official company vehicle and my holiday had finally begun. The four hour drive along a steep winding road left me hanging out the window like a dog from motion sickness. The scenic drive took me through rural villages, rice paddies and lush forested areas with friendly local greetings of “Salama” at every village and colorful fruit stalls at every turn. The clean air and homely smell of cooking fires at each village was welcomed in comparison to the smell of urine on the streets of Tana. I watched kids playing in the rice paddies while the adults caught fish to sell at their stalls. I was relaxed and finally started soaking up the Malagasy culture.

I was booked into my accommodation and was very grateful to have a proper toilet and not a local Malagasy toilet, ie. a long drop. I was also the only person there for the next few days. Every morning I was woken by the eerie sounds of the Indri Indri (biggest lemur) travelling from the forest. Their calls reminded me of whale sounds so I referred to them as forest whales. Their call can be heard up to three km away so you can imagine how deafening it sounded when we found them in the forest. It was day two when I discovered that my itinerary did not include any meals and I had already withdrawn every Ariary, their local currency, I had to pay for this trip and the closest ATM was an hour away. I had enough money for food for three days. I wanted to ask a friend to transfer money but had no wifi, no airtime and no one who spoke English to understand my predicament. There was a day where I had to decide on either lunch or dinner because I couldn’t afford both. Thank god for the packets of travel biscuits and energy bars I packed for my day trips that were now left crushed and melted from the traveling. The company neglected to give me bottled water so I was forced to brush my teeth with tap water which resulted in, you guessed it, diarrhea, but being as OCD as I am, my first aid kit was stocked with all sorts of tablets so I was back to my old self the next day for my five hour hike into the rain forest to photograph lemurs and any other creature that moved. I did find it strange that my tour started with a walk along the road from the hotel and that we never once entered at a proper entrance. We just hopped onto a path from the roadside. I even had to do a five hour hike through the rice paddies and banana plantations to get to the National Park. I saw a no entry sign with some French writing but was told it was only for people without permits. At that point I prayed that we had a permit and that we did not get stopped and have my passport checked which I did not have on me. I was paranoid it would be taken and I would be stuck in the country. The language barrier made it difficult to ask questions. Through the broken English I told that every animal we came across was “endemic” including a guinea fowl. At that point I gave up and just nodded and took photos instead. It was not the most informative tour I’ve been on. 

The rain forest was humid with towering vegetation which made me feel like an ant and true to its name it was raining…all the time. I enjoyed every bit of it for the first two days. We spent hours looking for lemurs, chameleons, geckos and anything else that moved in the rain. My poncho was ripped to shreds on every branch so it served no purpose to keep me dry anymore except as a plastic covering for my camera. After two days in the forest, drenched from sweat and rain, not mention the blood sucking leaches that was found stuck to my body every five minutes, I was over it. I’m still cringing just thinking about those vampire leaches stealing my blood. I was hoping for a little bit more variety from my excursion considering the amount of money I paid the company. I was not planning on doing a five hour hike into the same forest every day for the next week in the hope of seeing something, and the chances of seeing something was slim as it rained 90% of the time. I was on a mission to photograph wildlife and this was not working for me. I quickly changed my itinerary to visit the very touristy lemur island. The company refused to pay for my transport and due to my budget constraints; we traveled on a borrowed scooter along a bumpy, pothole strewn road with potholes that could swallow cars, in the rain to our destination. At the park, we took a canoe to the lemur island which was definitely more to my liking than the five hour hike that was planned. Every kind of lemur came down from the treetops when the canoe pulled up to the bank. These lemurs have been fed by humans since they were little and expected food when they saw people. On this awesome island with lemurs crawling all over me, I did not expect to be marked with the stench of lemur urine. I could just imagine what I looked like, hair frizzed from the humidity, drenched like a dog left out in the rain and smelling of lemur pee. We came across a boa was sunning itself on the river bank but the guide refused to go anywhere close to it while I photographed every inch of it. I was officially feeling like a proper tourist again, visiting lemur islands and crocodile parks. It was a good day. I was even brave enough to try out a local lunch in the village, use a Malagasy toilet and then, you guessed it, diarrhea…again. On the positive side: I had lost quite a few kilos from being sick.

While exploring on my own after my very lonely dinner, I noticed other tourists with torches and headlamps wandering the street. I quickly discovered they were doing a night tour. They didn’t mind me being there and so I got a free night tour and the excitement of finding nocturnal lemurs, chameleons and another boa. I was physically on my stomach trying to get “the perfect shot” of this beautiful snake.

By day four I was finally enjoying my trip to the fullest after photographing so many animals. All thoughts of the company being dodgy went out the window. However, on day five the company arrived to take me back to Tana in a tiny Kia (gold with flowers). My suitcase could not even fit in the boot. I couldn’t understand why I was leaving two days earlier than scheduled but I assumed my programme would continue in Tana. During this time I managed, with lots of hand signals, to borrow a cellphone to sms back home to borrow money so I wouldn’t go hungry for the next few days. On our trip back I wanted to withdraw the money but to my horror, the card did not work. The bank had blocked the card because of my many withdrawals a few days prior. They were waiting on confirmation that my card had not been stolen. Being without internet, I was unaware of this major detail. Thank god I remembered the spare card. 

They booked me into my hotel and asked what time im leaving for the airport the following day. I was only to leave in two days. After they saw me withdrawing cash, I had to pay for my own accommodation because it was not in the itinerary. I could not argue my point that I paid for eight days and they brought me back after five. They refused to understand English. I gave up and paid for my accommodation. At least I had wifi, but only on the third floor and in my room on a certain spot if I didn’t move. 

The next two days I arranged my own day trips and enjoyed a day of haggling at the market for souvenirs made of silver and zebu horn. I have never experienced where the souvenirs came to you before; they would leave their stalls and hunt you down for that sale. I also did a historical tour of the King’s Palace which was well worth the travel. To the Queens Palace I struggled up 420 stairs built for the furniture trade which still gets used to this day. I was so embarrassed when two locals breezed past me with furniture. The 360 degree view from the top was amazing and watching the sunset was so special. 

But I soon realized that sunset is mosquito time and yes they have malaria mozzies, so I’m writing this article still paranoid about getting malaria because I am not the most diligent person when it comes to taking my tablets.

After my adventure travelling solo, would I visit Madagascar again? Yes. There’s still plenty to see and lots more adventures to be had. If all travels went smoothly, there would never be a story to tell. My advice; think like a Girl Guide, use their motto: BE PREPARED.