Madagascar countryside

Although we spent only hours in Madagascar we learned a lot about it from our excellent guides. We docked at a port built by a mining company which is apparently very helpful to the people of this very poor country and they praised it continually. The port was very small and simple and reminded us of just how isolated this country is — no easy way to ever get off of the island for the majority of its inhabitants. The “city” near the port was very small and simple as well and the “suburbs”, as the guide referred to them, were simply where the people built houses in small clusters or even all by themselves.

Coming into port in the morning we watched the fishermen on the beach.

The above two pictures are in the city right in front of City Hall. That’s our yellow bus with windows open for the breeze. And all the better for taking pictures out of the window. Below are views of the market street.

Since there is no refrigeration the chickens are all sold alive.

We were told that even the poorest of the people have enough to eat and basic health care and education (surely a relative evaluation) and almost everyone we saw appeared to be happy. According to the guides, some of whom live in the suburbs themselves, the people live fairly self sufficiently and take a job or sell something when they need some money. The guides had learned English by their association with foreign agencies working to help the country in various ways and although some of them had been educated abroad in that context they had returned to their country. We didn’t get the impression of hopelessness or frustration at all but rather of contentment with the way things are. It reminded us that it is not necessary to have “things” to be happy.

I hope in our pictures you’ll see the inventiveness that characterizes the people and the beauty of the country and that maybe you’ll see someone happily wearing something that you donated to the Salvation Army. All of the clothing shops in the market were selling used clothes and I enjoyed seeing how the women used them to dress  very “stylishly”.

From the city we drove into the suburbs where rice grew in lovely fields and little children smiled and danced for the tourists. But underneath this seemingly idyllic facade the harsh realities of life were also evident. People were breaking rocks with hammers and carrying water from the communal source and despite the “healthcare” it was evident that not all were being cared for.

These men were carrying dinner and the ones below were carrying their friend to the cemetery.

Way out in the bush was a botanical garden unlike any we had ever seen. It was essentially a plot of jungle-like vegetation with wide paths through it. Our guide was very knowledgable, pointing out some of the country’s unique species, and we thoroughly enjoyed the vegetation as well as the lemurs for which Madagascar is famous.

                                                     This pitcher plant is about to have lunch.

                      We didn’t see the bird who made this enormous nest of twigs but we admired her skill.

I recognized this stag horn fern because my mother used to have them in her greenhouse — but none this large!

                    If the guide hadn’t pointed them out we would never have seen these small shy geckos.

The guide took a small stick and pierced this palm and assured us that its water was a tasty and refreshing drink.

                       Although I’ve never seen jack fruit growing before I have cooked it and I don’t like it.

Many species of bamboo grow here and the people use them for seemingly everything. The pink coverings fall off in large sheets.

The lemurs were a highlight of the garden. Since they can’t swim they can be kept easily on small islands where they are easy to see but they are also in the trees wherever there is fruit to steal. We saw the brown lemur and the ringtail lemur.

From the garden we went to the beach where we were entertained and offered a snack of fruit. Most people wouldn’t touch it but I tried a couple of new things and enjoyed them. It was hard to enjoy the beach because of the people trying to sell us trinkets. We didn’t want to buy from them because we knew that the children were just being used/ abused by ruthless adults and the guides told us that even if we gave them money one of them would take it all and not share it. It is a sad situation which we know we will encounter over and over in the next few weeks.

                                                            Benda and Dale relaxing at the beach

We liked Madagascar and its people.