7.24.2015

Salama from Madagascar!


Beautiful Rivers in Andasibe National Park
I am currently reading a book from a fellow Peace Corps Volunteer that served in Lesotho in the early 2000s and I feel compelled to share a quote he states, originally written by Mark Jenkins: “To travel is to expect much of the places you visit; to move to one of those places is to expect much of yourself.” This was first read to me by my mother (she started to read to this book before me, so now I naturally feel motivated to read it) while we were traveling in Madagascar last week; we agreed to the undeniable truth behind these words. The experiences I am gifted in Lesotho have come because I live here, because I am with time and much effort, assimilating into a culture and discovering things on a level that traveling alone does not allow. However, we all need breaks and I got the best Peace Corps vaca ever with two very cool traveling companions!

Our Madagascar trip started off a lil bumpy (Dad got his passport stolen and flights in MAD were canceled due to an unexpected strike-T.I.A!), but low and behold it turned out to be part of the adventure to create the trip of a lifetime. Firstly, it was SO amazing to see my mom and dad after quite some time..to just feel their parental love! From Johannesburg, South Africa we flew into the capital of Madagascar, Anatananavario, where we first were acquainted with Malagasy people, their native language, Malagas, and their second spoken language being French. Ohhh the challenges of communication! We got to our hotel and figured out how to get to our destination of Ill Aux Nattes, a small island off an even smaller island, Ill Saint Marie, off of the big island of Madagascar provided that our flight was canceled. Yay public transportation! One and half days later and 2 buses, 3 taxis, 1 boat ride, and a ride in a traditional Malagasy pirogue- we arrived to our rustically perfect bungalow on Ill Aux Nattes. Let me just say some of the most beautiful places are the hardest to get to. An undiscovered, lushly vegetated tropical island whose native people still run the place was worth it. Provided that it was a center for piracy back in the late 1600s, supports my thoughts that is might just be the coolest place to choose hang, scuba, hike, fish, and explore! I’ll let the photos do the talking..
Beautiful view from the tallest point on Ill Aux Nattes, Madagascar
Oops, it inked! We caught a cuddle fish while fishing off Flourio‘s pirogue!   

Got two dives in. Highlights: loads of lion fish, giant octopus, colorful schooling fish, spiney-blue lobster, and interesting disk coral. Plus humpbacks!


After the island we packed up and got to fly into Tana, spent a day walkin around local markets smelling all the locally grown vanilla, sampling all the bizarre luscious fruits, and gawking at the beautiful handicrafts. We also went to the Digue Market where we got to see some immaculate crystals, giant fossils of ammonites and loads of other marine critters, and petrified wood. From here we changed gears and took a trip into the Malagasy rainforest. We hunkered down at a nice lodge in the Parc National Andasibe Mantadia, a park who is home of the Indri indri, the world’s largest lemur! You could hear these guys hollering before you saw them. We had time to explore many parks in this region, seeing six different species of lemur, chameleons and geckos galore, as well as have time to just chill with the locals, play ball games with the kids, and go on some rejuvenating runs with local dogs and a nose full of the scent of fresh cut lemon grass.  The trails through the rainforest were tourist-less (so nice) and truly humbling. One could feel how after we humans leave this planet, Mother Nature will just swallow everything up and grow over it. Bizzare lil creatures-insects, fungi, and primates will take control. Seriously, the forests were so lush and full of life I felt like I was experiencing A Land Before Time. And promisingly enough, efforts to conserve the rainforest in Madagascar are there and in action (with only 10% of it’s rainforest remaining), however, the scars of slash and burn are very prevalent. Economically it is a struggling country, but it is rich in beautifully hard working cultured people, natural resources, and rice. Water-filled rice patties are everywhere, quite the difference from dry abandoned cornfields of Lesotho…
 Right before she said “I just peed in the sacred pools-is that bad juju?”
Exploring Andasibe National Park
The smallest chameleon full size..cutest lil creature alive
A common brown lemur befriended my dad on Lemur Island
But these bone-dry fields compose the land where I now live in and the land my parents flew across to the world to finally see and experience. Our long border crossing and taxi ride from Johannesburg got us to my village of Ha Khoro just as night fell, arriving just in time for a mixed bicultural family dinner around a fire in my Basotho family’s kitchen..it was awesome. So surreal to see my mom and dad hug my host mother, her daughter in law, and her children. We were awoken the next morning by my Mme with a silver trey of lesheleysheley (traditional Basotho sorghum porridge) served to us in her best-never-used-before-china. They got to meet the chief of my village, see my school, meet my collogues, and were embraced by many more. Everyone was so pleased to have met them and I was beyond words.
One big colorful family. So much love!

It was such an unforgettable experience to travel with my mom and dad through an unreal island and have the stay at my place in Lesotho. I am thankful to have their support and won’t forget it as I have to buckle up for a new quarter of teaching. Staff meetings have been held and it looks like I’ll be teaching maths and biology for the rest of year because one of our teachers unexpectedly quit..If I have learned one thing in Lesotho, it has been to just go with flow. And with fond memories of funny lemurs, exploring underwater pinnacles with my mom and dad in the Indian Ocean, runs through the jungle, and an encouraging circle of friends, family, and colleagues in Lesotho- I think I can do anything!

No comments :

Post a Comment