Hotel Manoir Rouge Antananarivo

"Comment c'est la Chine" - Pierre Perret Comment c'est la Chine C'est plein de chinois Je les imagine serrés comme des petits pois C'est pas ça Ginette ils sont pas serrés Ils ont même un sacré de planète pour respirer De la vallée du fleuve Jaune Jusqu'à la route de la soie Sur la muraille qui moutonne Y a rien que des chinois J'ai vu les collines multicolores L'armée ...

... entry. My first excitement was becoming a millionaire within minutes of landing (the Ariary is a whopping 2800 to the pound). My second was finding out my taxi was a cute if aged citreon 2CV (like most of the taxis here). At this rate i am likely to be excited a scary amount of the time..... The 15km drive into town took me past rice paddys and flowering ...

... and would not be running until Wednesday. Ahhhh! After enquiring about a taxi at yes, you have guessed it some ridiculous rate we thought we would bite the bullet, take our life in their hands and actually take our first taxi brousse. Scary music please........... So down the road we silently trundled (not sure what fate lay ahead of us)! to the taxi brousse station. Now when I say 'station' it's a rather loose description for what can ...

... I am sure Tilly is grateful. I have been a dog mummy and a cat mummy and had to give them away too. So, I understand the suffering of her family. So, this is a special entrance, just for Tilly. The best dog in the whole world, ask Annick, Kris and Elise.

2 foto's van containers in Madagascar en een paar foto's van mijn hotel in Mauritius. Uiteraard was ik mijn fototoestel vergeten, en zijn alle foto's met de gsm genomen, inclusief die foto's genomen tijdens een feestje georganiseerd door de Britse Ministery Of Sound (on tour in Mauritius)....nice....

... different birds, plants, insects and lizards (snakes and scorpions are hibernating!). After a while we had a call from one of the spotters. Immediately we turned off the main path and began crashing through the forest. We climbed uphill and slid down again along a 'shortcut' until we suddenly sensed that we should be as quite as possible. Looking up we spotted some lemurs. Red-fronted brown lemurs we were told.<br><br>When we had been helped into the best ...

... Mamy, Roger our driver and Eric, Roger's helper, are keen to move beggars away from the van. The guide book too discourages us from giving anything away as it simply encourages begging. We are recommended to support one of the local charities that works to improve the lives of the poorest communities instead. It is still uncomfortable though. The area where we stopped for lunch is known for its ...

... Peace Corps landrovers with all our luggage and went to the PC medical office for a quick language lesson and some more shots! Next we drove about an hour (40 km) to a town called Sambaina where we have been staying with a wonderful host family. We have electricity at their house, but no water or indoor plumbing. A typical day is waking with the rooster crow around 5:45, walking to the water pump to get water for our ...

... tile-roofed buildings in the city. Very worthwhile as they are beautiful! Fianarantsoa is like a baby Tana, very similar but smaller. I immediately warmed to the place. It has a wonderful friendly atmosphere. The highlight of our stay here was a pirogue trip. A pirogue is a dug out canoe used by Madagascan locals for fishing and transportation (not all that well engineered for Fat Fazhar - they were tiny!!) I have to admit the first few minutes ...

We were very lucky to find space at our next stop over, the paper making capital of Madagascar. We definitely loved that paper, so pretty! Early the next morning our clever friends had arranged a real special treat for us. A genuine and close-up lemur encounter. We drove up to lots of rocks armed with bananas and then appeared lots of lovely cuddly, absolutely gorgeous ring-tailed lemurs. They took the bananas from our hands and jumped onto our backs, snuggling around our necks. They ...