Category Archives: Madagascar

Climbing up the 18meter Baobab Tree

Posted on August 23, 2010 by ihavetravellust| 1 Comment

Climbing up the Baobab TreeMidway up the Baobab climb.

One of the highlights of my Madagascar visit would definately be Morondava’s Avenue de Baobab. These thousand year old giant trees strangely look like it has roots growing from its top. According to the Madagascans legend, they believe that God in creating the first trees, made the mistake and created these trees upside down.

Climbing up the Baobab TreeView from top of the Baobab tree

The Baobab tree is extremely drought resistant and has the capability of going years without water, its hollowed trunk and spongy bark is able to absorb water. This ability had saved the Baobab from mass deforestation as the locals were unable to use the tree for its wood, creating what we see today as the Avenue of Baobabs, with highest concentration of trees around the Morondava area.

Climbing up the Baobab TreeThe village kids gathering below the Baobab trees before they return home.

The increased rice paddyfields activities around this once dry and desert area is endangering the Baobab trees which are drowning from wet agricultural lands. These thousand year old gigantic trees which evolved dealing with low rainfalls faces rapid endangerment from the locals.There have been talks to create a protected area for these trees but there is the challenge of balancing the local’s agricultural needs and the survival of these endangered trees.

Climbing the tree

Climbing up the Baobab TreeClimbing up the Baobab TreeThe climb up the tree was surprisingly easy and takes only 10-15mins

I met two volunteers from non-profit Association of Mad’Arbres while exploring the area. Haja and Ioby were volunteering their time in setting up the tree climbing activity and were camping around Avenue de Baobab. There were not many tourists visiting and climbing the trees, in the 2 months that they were volunteering in the area, Haja mentioned he only set up 8 climbs up the trees.

I did what any other tourists would do, climb up the highest tree for the sunset experience. Climbing up this 18 meter tree might seem be daunting at first, but it proved easy with the pulley system, took me only 10-15mins up the tree with some leg effort and little arm strength. It did get a little tiring midway and I rest for a few seconds to admire the whole scene while a bunch of other tourists were watching us.

Climbing up the Baobab Tree
Mad’Arbre volunteers setting up the tree for my climb in the afternoon

We waited until the late afternoon and went up the Baobab waiting for the sunset and the full moonrise. The view from the top was amazing, looking over the wide fields with scattered Baobabs surrounded by the flooded rice paddyfields.

Preparing for the climb

Haja, the volunteer suggest I should stay in the Baobab until it turned dark. It was his favorite part of the evening just as it turn to dusk, the skies turn pink for that few minutes. I agree that this was the most beautiful time, dusky pink and orange glow with the Baobabs in the foreground. There was a sense of calm serene feeling when most of all the tourists buses have left, the villagers return home, leaving only me and the volunteers hanging around.

Moonrise came a little later than I had estimated, it came up 20mins later than what I had timed from the previous night. Was disappointed I didn’t get a good image of the magical purple hour along with the full moon compared to the previous night. A heavenly sight nonetheless with these ancient tree of life against the full moon backdrop.

Climbing up the Baobab Tree

Haja mentioned while we were up in the tree that they organise overnight stays in the trees in another area. Had I know earlier that I was able to spend a night up in the Baobab tree, I would have organised my stay a little longer.

It would take me another 1hour to head back to Morondava town as the roads were bad. I was the last tourist to leave this beautiful area.

Climbing up the Baobab Tree

Where to climb the Baobab
Situated at the Avenue of Baobab, Mad’arbres Association has a small hut near the carpark. It is a non-profit organisation in support for tree conservation around Madagascar. They conduct these short sessions up the Baobab during sunrise and sunset.

For more information : http://www.madarbres.org/
Facebook : http://www.facebook.com/pages/Madarbres/219887700015

Cost: 40,000 aviary per climb
Overnight stays for sunrise cost 60,000-80,000 aviary
arrange with Mad’arbres volunteer for location and logistics.

Getting to Avenue of Baobab
The roads from Morondava town to the village is broken and takes 30mins -1 hour drive by private car, the local taxi-bousse, ox cart. It is recommended to hire a 4wd vehicle to save travel time. The 4wd vehicle gives you more access to the nearby beaches as well as the other popular Baobab trees around the area such as the Lover’s Baobab and the Twisted twins. All the roads are mostly sand tracks.

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Posted in 1. Countries, Madagascar, West - Morondava

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Getting to Madagascar, cost and itinerary

Posted on July 26, 2010 by ihavetravellust| Leave a comment

Madagascar requires a tourist visa, but can be easily obtained at the airport via Visa on Arrival
I got mine at the Madagascar Consulate in Singapore for sg$85.

Visa
Madagascar Consulate
1003, #04-24, Technopreneur Center, Bukit Merah Central Singapore 159836
Tel:  62231316
Call prior application as person in charge may not be at the office
Tourist Visa given for 3 months and starts on the date of application
Application requires one passport photo, flight itinerary, passport and sg$85, processing time 1-2 day. My visa was given on spot without the additional sg$50 for same day processing. The office was closed the next day for some official matters. Yippee for me.

International flight
Flights were booked via Air Madagascar local agent in Singapore. International flight transfers via Bangkok, a short 1 hour stopover in La Reunion to Antananarivo, Madagascar.

WORLD EXPRESS
114 Middle Road #05-01 Singapore 188971, Tel (65) 6336 3877

Domestic Flights
Air Madagascar has the monopoly within Madagascar, so flights can get expensive. Best to pre-book all your domestic flights when making your international flight. 50% discount is given if you have a international flight ticket and quoted in US dollars instead of Euros if you book in Madagascar. Due to the limited flights within the country, suggest that you book your domestic flights prior.
All flights depart and return to Antananarivo, so it can be quite a hassle to waste a night or a day in Antananarivo to transfer from different cities. Domestic flights often experience delays and may take up to a whole 5-6hours just waiting about.

Flight cost
Singapore to Madagascar via Bangkok and La Reunion : sg$1650
Antananarivo to Tulear : Euro $225 return (50% discount if you have Air Madagascar international flight)
Antananarivo to Moroansetra : Euro$225 return
Antananarivo to Morondava : euro $220 return

Most Domestic flights were unavailable within my dates given, so I only managed my flight to Moroansetra

Total Cost
International Airtickets : sg1642.60 /Euro 963.70
Domestic Airticket : Euro 225
Food : Euro 179.80 / 459800 aviary
Water : Euro 4.97 / 12700 aviary
Hotel Accomodation : Euro 148 / 378418 aviary
Land Transport + airport transfer : Euro 29.04 /74250 aviary
Private car hire for 10 days : Euro 490
Non food items : Euro 2.74 / 7000 aviary
Activities : Euro 34.22 / 87500 aviary
Other items : Euro 137.31 / 351090 aviary
Other items : Euro 60

Total expenses (exclude gifts+international airticket) : Euro 1209.44
Total spent : Euro 2173.12
Average expenses  Euro$57.60/day
Average expenses for  include international airticket : Euro$100/day

At time of travel : 1 Euro = 2530 Aviary

(Note : Travel expenses shared by 2 persons, solo travel cost expense may differ)

Average Cost for travelling within Madagascar

Hotel average 20,000 aviary to 60,000 aviary per room

Food at Hotely are cheap, averages 2000 – 4000 aviary per dish consist of a meat + a large pile of rice + boiled rice water + soup.

Food at Hotels or Restaurants averages 3000 – 7000 aviary.
A plate of zebu steak cost average 6000 aviary, prawn dish cost average 5000-8000 aviary, chicken/fish dish cost 4000-5000 aviary comes with vegetables or french fries

Park fees : 15,000 aviary for smaller reserves, major reserves 25,000 aviary, private reserves 5000-8000 aviary

Guide fees : 25,000 – 35,000 aviary for 4 hours circuit walk

Airport Transfers : 10,000 aviary(shared shuttle) – 30,000 aviary Taxi (Anatannarivo airport)

Public Taxi Buses :
range 35000 aviary from Antisirabe to Morondava 10-12 hours
3000 aviary from Tulear to Ifalty 2 hours

My Madagascar Itinerary

Anatannarivo – capital city for travel arrangements

Private car hire with driver consist of 12 days drive from Anatannarivo down to Tulear return

Fanantenana-Andasibe National park – woolly lemurs

Antsirabe – city of crafts and major industries, great place to buy semi-precious gemstones

Ambositra – woodcrafts and precious wood

Ranomanfana National park – Sifaka lemurs

Finanarantsoa – second largest city in Madagascar, great place to stock up on water and other groceries if you are self catering.

Amabalavao – silk craft and the famous zebu market

Anja Private Reserve – semi tame ringtail lemurs and canyon walks

Ranohira – Isalo National Park – popular stunning landscapes, canyons and waterpools

Tulear – Tropic of Capricorn for its beaches

Mangily village at Ifalty beach

Drive Back to Amabalavao for the wednesday/thursday  zebu market

Continued back to Fianarantsoa and Antsirabe

Antsirabe to Morodava – 12hours by car

Morodava – Baobao trees for the full moon

Drive back from Morodava to Anatannarivo 13 hours by car

Fly Anantannarvio – Moroansetra

Moroansetra

Nosy Mangabe National Park

Annatannarivo – half a day at Haute Ville

- End

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Posted in 1. Getting to Madagascar, Madagascar

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1. Thoughts on Madagascar

Posted on July 23, 2010 by ihavetravellust| Leave a comment

Madagascar has been on my bucket list ever since I read Douglas Adam’s book ‘Last Chance to see’. Most people would think Madagascar is a movie animation with cutesy animals,  its one of the largest islands in the world filled with a fascinating wildlife endemic only to the island.

Part of my aim was to visit the endangered animals and trees endemic to Madagascar, Baobabs trees and the lemurs, primates that are even older than the primates in the rest of the world. Because of Madagascar isolation and its breaking off from Gondwanaland a few hundred million years ago, without competition with the newer primates, this set of older primates evolved into a wide range of lemurs from the strange and weird Aye Aye, the pygmy mouse lemur, the ringtail lemur made famous by the animated movie.

This has been a great experience and my first encounter with such beautiful animals up close. I’m bitten with exploring more wild life and have finally completed my long awaited journey to this amazing country. I climbed up a 5 storey high Baobab tree, saw the elusive Aye Aye, photographed the Zebu market, met the gorgeous locals.

Most Madagascans are so poor that even throw away plastic PET bottles and containers are so precious, many I met in the south were asking for them.  In most places I visited, infrastructure is sorely lacking, there is no sustainable energy grid and the roads are so bad that travel between different places could take much longer than we are use to. A 100km road take at least 3-4 hours of travel.

This country is changing rapidly, unfortunately not for the better, environmentally most of the land are being destroyed. A tough fight between the endemic wildlife and the growing human population.  There are plenty of wild life conservation organisations  but none that help the growing population, most are struggling to survive. Besides the basic education of wildlife conservation, there must be an effective assistance for the human population economically. Water source is limited and land is much needed for agriculture. A tough balance to feed the poor population and to keep the endangered wildlife in tact. Two third of the country have already been destroyed, exploited by mining, wood and other natural resources, only 10% of the original rainforest in the island have remained and converted to national parks.

The people of Madagascar are both warm and friendly and the environment vastly different area to area. Antannarivo the capital is more like some french town filled with colonial architecture and cobblestone streets, Tulear right at the Tropic of Capricorn feels more like a dry drought ridden dusty town, Moroansetra feels more tropical carribean rainforest.  From the cool highlands, to spiny desolate deserts to wet tropical rainforest, this big island has so many contrasts that makes a person like me want to revisit.

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Transportation around Madagascar

Posted on July 23, 2010 by ihavetravellust| Leave a comment

Land transportation around Madagascar are long and awful, most would save time by flying via the only domestic airline, Air Madagascar and private planes.

Flights

A good suggestion would be to book and pay for your domestic airticket at the time of your international ticket purchase. You would receive 50% discount on the pricey domestic ticket and quoted in US dollars instead of Euros should you buy them locally. Flights are infrequent and often fly twice or once a week, as the planes are small, they get filled up quickly especially during peak season from July – November. All the flights depart and return to Anatannarivo, the capital city which makes it a pain and a waste of a day waiting for your city to city air transfers.

Vehicles

Best to hire a private 4×4 jeep to drive around the various places. The road conditions are so bad that a short 100km could take at least 3-4 hours.  Highways and major roads are old pothole ridden and often left to break down. Private car hires are expensive and it cost me Euro700 for a 10 + 2 day trip return from Anatannarivo to Tulear return. As I only rented a regular car, was not able to visit most of the other places and reserves due to the non-existent roads accessible only via a 4×4 wheel vehicle.  From Anantannarivo/Antsirabe to Morodava cost Euro$300 (bargained down to Euro$275). Private car hires are easily available in your hotels as most have tie up with travel agents.

Public taxi buses are cheap with average of 20,000 – 40,000 aviary (8 euros – 16euros)  for a 12-15 hour ride 400-500km distance. Its a tough ride and often jam packed with people and goods piled up high in the roofs.

Aside from taxi buses, zebu carts can be hired for short distances of less than 20km, extremely slow but effective if you like the scenic view and meeting the locals.

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In search of the Aye-Aye : the elusive nocturnal lemur Part 2

Posted on July 16, 2010 by ihavetravellust| Leave a comment

On arrival to Moroansetra, I enquired if there were any captured Aye Aye in town or a zoo aka private reserve had any lemurs, a name, Julien popped up with much disgust within the Angap (national park registered) guides I met. The answer I got was, “you can find him, Julien might know where to find Aye Ayes but I don’t recommend it”

Julien Rabsoa former Angap guide, now he calls himself an extra guide was rumored to have a few kept Aye Aye which he shows to paying tourists, documentary and nature television crews. He proudly shows off his nature books, most it seems were given by the authors of the books.

Even Gerald Durrell the famous naturalist and author had his name on the acknowledgment as Julien proudly pointed out tapping at his name on the page. “A few weeks ago, your country television people, Japan Nippon (he thinks I am Japanese) came to film the Aye Aye.”

Being an Angap guide (registered National parks guide) is a poorly paid job, Julien said he makes better money as an ‘extra guide’, of course he does, by charging me 40,000 aviary (16 euros) for 15minutes of personal Aye Aye time.

The nature trip will take 1 hour he said, 10 mins to the forest and another 30mins of showing me all his nature books, and a short 10-15minutes looking at the Aye Aye. I asked if he was keeping the Aye Aye and he denied by replying “there were 6 Aye Ayes in the forest, all wild and free roaming, you don’t need to pay tons of money to Nosy Mangabe and Masaola National park to look at nothing.”

The long walk pass the hotel Relais du Masoala and into an dark empty field with the only remaining tree, the Aye Aye was there waiting. I had only carried LED head lamp and Julien had a torch which had low batteries, it makes bad photographing without a bright lamp in complete darkness. He pointed out the active Aye Aye jumping around the tree with my dim LED head lamp, injected with brief shouts of “Good show, Good show” when the Aye Aye decides to come a little lower and look at us. Indeed the whole 15minutes of Aye Aye viewing seem like a circus show with the Aye Aye performing for me. It was further marred by bouts of heavy rain as I tried to with much difficulty to photograph the animal in complete darkness. In one quick final act of the circus performance, the Aye Aye descended to the lower
branch and looked briefly at me before running up into the foliage, Julien ended the whole show abruptly by saying it was over, it is time to go, the Aye Aye now needs its rest and too much light would affect its eyes.

“Remember to tell everyone in Japan that I am the Aye Aye specialist, I promise guranteed Aye Aye sighting, I will give you my mobile number”, which he did.

The next morning I met him again while heading off to find where he brought me to. He invited me again to join him and a bunch of Americans to look for the Aye Aye and other nocturnal animals for a discounted 40,000 aviary per hour in the night. (I didn’t join in).

He went into his hut and gathered up more nature books to show me his and his siblings names in the acknowledge pages. Seems his whole family were all nature guides and all those published nature authors were using his family
for spotting wild animals. Makes me wonder if these authors and television crews even mention if the animals they recorded in their documentaries and books were wild or captured. I doubt these published authors were dare to mention it so, allowing their viewers to assume they found the lemur in the wild.

In the day, I revisited the area and found it to be a large cleared field surrounded by sparse forest. Right in the empty field was a lone solo tree in the middle, now without any Aye Aye. I surmised that the poor Aye Aye was placed there for ignorant tourists like me, it had no other trees to jump to and definately won’t be able to move across the empty fields in search for other trees to feed on.

More photos to show once I get a chance to upload them.

Location : Finding the tame Aye Aye

Julien Rabasoa’s house can be found just before Masaola Resort

The Aye Aye was located in the forested area is opposite Hotel Relais Du Masaola, you can visit the forest by your own in daytime to see the locals logging for rose wood and other timbers.

Cost of the brief 15mins viewing : 40,000 aviary per person

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Posted in North East - Moroansetra

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