Radama Hotel Antananarivo

There is a great little bungalow on the beach in Fort Dauphin owned by Brett (telephone 0330 221 265 or email dadamanga@live.com), which is amazing. It's teh guest house of a private home of an Australian who has lived in Madagascar for ten years and can advise you on all your tours), right on the beach (with private stairs ...

... time were the only remaining two making the lonely trip around the conveyor belt. Our trolley is finally pointed in the direction of customs hall! Now please remember if you will that we had our luggage plastic wrapped in South Africa. The Malagasy official at customs, found this highly suspicious - we obviously had something to declare: he fired at me: "Are you carrying drugs?" And without hesitation to my partner "A pistol?" !! With barely time to draw ...

... whether that is so good. Child abuse is of course no-no. A pity: the colorful flower market, we saw here yesterday, is not on Monday. We walk to the island with the 'monument aux mort' dedicated to the victims of the second world war. By then, the sun goes down, so we go back to our hotel for a meal. It is NOT recommended to walk around in the city after dark. Tomorrow is check out time for Nosy Be: new adventures, I am sure! We booked ...

... carts, women carrying children on their backs held in place with a sarong or threadbare blanket. Then all of a sudden a very modern, western style, clean, Total fuel garage would appear like a bright iceberg amongst the chaos.

Tana, as Madagascar's capital city is known straddles 12 hills on a high plateau in the heart of the island. Antananarivo means 'City of the Thousand' supposedly because a thousand warriors protected it.

We ...

... slogans sometimes don't translate quite the same. In China, Pepsi's 2000 slogan, "Pepsi- The choice of a new generation" directly translated into Cantonese as "Pepsi- Brings back your dead ancestors." The word Pinto, as in the Ford brand car, is Brazilian slang for "tiny male genitals", and Frank Perdue's slogan "It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken" got translated into Spanish as "It takes a hard ...

... We made it safely to Sakamanga, the guesthouse/hotel in Tana where we made our base. Very nice place, with a range of rooms and prices. Nice little cafe/pub, very good restaurant, and plenty of character, with little passages and steps and returns all over the place. Bit confusing to find your way around at first! There are lots of pictures, displays, artifacts and memorabilia from Madagascar along the corridors and in the rooms ...

... heavy wooden poles while turkeys eat up the chaff. Did my impression of Lenin{NOT John) so the kids would stop staring at me inside the tent. ; nbsp; On the 3rd day on the riiver we paddled for 4 hours, thus ending the river portion of the trip on the tsingy and Tsiribanha rivers. Oh my aching derriere. Then began a mini-adventure with me ...

... say "May I have a peach, please." Smart girl that one...;) We also received the memory card from Amy's camera in the mail, which is very exciting and has provided us a glimpse into what her daily life must be like. Pictures have been added to previous entries and will be updated within the coming weeks, so check back often! All our love, Merry Christmas, The VanC's bizjvc@hotmail.com (630) 209 - 4389

... town, the road becomes steep and we go through a reforested area of eucalyptus & pine. We lock our bikes to a nearby tree, out of breath from the ascent, and walk down the other side of the hill (it is too steep even for a bicycle) to a small footpath that takes us to the site of the tree nursery. The landscape here is amazing (except for the one hillside cut and burned to grow cassava). The only house in view is on the opposite hillside, a small wooden hut that Maxim's ...

... here!) 25th September 2006 I'm off to work for Feedback ..... www.feedbackmadagascar.com This is my first blog... ever!!! I'm on the plane to Antananarivo from Paris. I hope my battery lasts long enough for me to come up with something good. I wasted lots at Chez Ma Belle Elyse playing with my camera uploading photos and now I'm down to about 40% which has to be rationed between the blog and most necessary i tunes. I rationalised in Paris that ...