Hotel Mangily Ifaty

Slept late (nice with the air conditioning and all) then went for a swim in the hotel pool. At 11am Lisa and I took a taxi into downtown Tulear to go to the bank (ATM) and market to buy some vanilla bean pods. Lisa said the vanilla beans pods are very expensive back in S. Africa and I've never seen them in the states. We walked around the centra...

It gets very hot and humid here in Isalo at night especially with the windows closed because there's no window screen (or air conditioning). Lisa and I headed on the road with Babba driving our green Peugeot heading southwest towards Tulear on the coast. This part of the country is starting to look a lot like Zion National Park in Utah, except i...

I have been having a great time here. The diving has been fantastic with loads of really cool fish and pristine reef. I have been working ******* getting my divemaster and am nearly finished now (yay!!) - It has been a real challenge but good fun (except for the evil stamina tests which I have been practising like crazy for - I still can't swim ...

Hello all, This will only be a short entry as this I am on the only computer at the hotel. We are in Tulear on the west coast of Madagascar. Gina and I both survived the treking and are doing well. We have seen many animals and are on our way to the beach tomorrow to relax. I will write more when we get to Tana on Monday. This is the first inter...

We had breakfast of bread and jam this morning at 4:00 so that we could be ready to leave at 4:30. I was expecting to see huge boabab trees, sapphire mining towns and elaborate stone tombs of the Mahafaly and Antandroy tribes but at that time in the morning I struggled to stay awake. We arrived in Tulear on the South West coast at around 8:30 to...

We retraced our route back to Ambalavao and after a quick photo stop at the market we continued our journey south on Route Nationale 7. We passed many impressive rock formations, including the 'Bonnet de l'Eveque' (Bishops hat). Lunch was in Ihosy (pronounced Ee-oosh), capital of the Bara, people. The Bara are nomads who make their living from r...

It has been awhile since we have been close to internet so there is a lot of updating to do but unfortunately a horrible French keyboard {not just because it is french] and not much time. Matt and I made it back from the beach in Ambalavao and stayed in Tulear one night, which ended up being a big one since we decided to go to a local bar [read:...

Yesterday Matt and I got up bright and early to catch our early morning pirogue ride to Anakao, a beach town south of Tulear. Or so we thought. We had arranged with a piroguier the night before to meet at 7 am at the pirogue port for departure. Since the guy who helped us organize it had said to arrive around seven, give or take 20 minutes and s...

Saurday 3rd June Isalo NP- Ifaty Early start in the morning as we have to break camp, but not impressed by a light patter on the tent which turns into a real downpour of rain. Fortunately it tapers off by the time we have to get up and pack, and we are able to breakfast alfresco as usual, with bananas and the last of the papaya. Not too long a w...

I started my hike in Isalo National Park at 7:45am, and already the sun was scorching. The park is open and desolate, a grassland abutted by eroded sandstone cliffs and canyons. After two hours of shadeless walking, my guide and I came to our first stop: The Piscine Naturelle. This natural swimming pool is a perfect oasis, a crystal-clear blue p...