| Madagascar Afremail Part 1 | |
| To unsubscribe from Afremails, request by email |  |
| HOME | Exits | Canaria | SIT | A2K | Morocco | Madagascar | |
|
Epi-prologue: Written by Rob to his friends, but after I finished this webpage, therefore fitting to include it in the beginning of this afremail update.
Finally, after hours of work and frustration with these Malagasy/French computers, Aaron and I, well mainly Aaron...actually Aaron did it all cause Im clueless when it comes to this stuff! Anyway, we got just a small selection of our pics up on a link for you guys. We're not sure whether the pic description is gonna work or not but it should be up within a few days so check back if its not there when you first take a look. This is the 2nd group email goin out to everyone so if you didn't get the 1st one then A. I didn't have your email address yet, or B. Im in Madagascar for crying out loud and these 3d world computers don't really work that well! Either way, hopefully you'll get this one which is alot better than the first cause its got some illustrations!! The next email won't most likely go out for another couple weeks cause we'll be in 'East Bumble' for awhile so internet access is most likely out of the question. Other than that, I hope all is well back home with everyone and i'll talk to you guys as soon as i can! Later!! -Robert French, a.k.a whatever... -and might I add, that as Rob was writting this email, he left out the explicative that he inserted outloud as he told me what he was writing, between each word. A.W. |
Ok, so, why has it taken so long to hear from me? Well, first of all I am in Madagascar, an island that split off the coast of Africa over 100 million years ago. So that’s a pretty good start as to my excuse. Next, everything is in French here so we know that in itself is a major pain in the butt. The first few days I was just in the main city Antananarivo (Tana) and didn’t really get a chance to use the internet. Then I went on a week long trip down the Tsiribihina River that dropped me off into the Mozambique Channel (actually Morodava town). I was pretty badly sun burnt after sitting on a canoe for so long and needed to recover. There was not much to the town, except annoying post-colonial French abuses going on (ask me about it over a beer) so I decided not to write email from there or it would just have been me ripping into negativity. Now I am back in Tana ready to start the real Darwinian adventure south thru 7 types of rainforests housing hundreds of thousands of species found nowhere else on earth.
1. The first few days in Tana I went with Rob to the Tsimbazaza (botanical garden, zoo, natural history museum). It was a good way to summarize all the biodiversity and natural history of Madagascar. (Lemurs & Giant Philodendron Tree)
2
3. To me, one of the most interesting things about an exotic place is the way the people look like, what they eat and how they live. I have really been surprised at how people look here. It’s really unique. Parts of the country are 100% Polynesian looking (the center) and parts are almost just like Africa, with a Polynesian twist. Not what I was expecting. But, Madagascar was originally settle by Polynesians a couple thousand years ago and African and to a lesser extent Arabian influence has only recently contributed to the “phenotype” and culture.
4
5
6
7
8. The river was cool; the first picture is of our guides/oarsman. Malagasy eat rice like there is no tomorrow and this guy paddled for 8 hours (at least) straight all day; for three days. He was an instant machine, just add rice.
9
10. We stopped at an awesome turquoise waterfall. It was breathtaking, in the middle of a crack into the jungle along the river. The scary looking guy with white stuff on his face was named Luva. He was our main guide for 4 days on the river, spoke English barely. The beautiful woman was his girlfriend who was eager to pose for sports illustrated photos, but only once I told her I would send her copies.
11. Rob had no idea I was taking a picture of him.
12. It was my turn under the water. It wasn't just a massage, it hurt and was deafening.
13.
14.
15. That's her boyfriend by the way, so there was no messing around if you know what I mean?!
16.
17. Along the river, there were patches of jungle that teemed to the waters edge. But, here and there were sporadic cliffs that soared over our heads. As we passed we could see giant fruits bats who were really, really noisy and scary looking.
18. If you look at the picture of me in the bar, you can see that my shirt is drenched in sweat, except for a patch of dryness on my sleeve and hip. Also, I am wearing a raffia hat, but the hats were too small for me here so I had to cut it and duct tape it to the right size. Anyway, the whole picture seems Lebowskiesk.
19. I found a guy who loves Saddam Hussein (look at the back of his shirt). Although, I bet, if I just walked up to him and asked him, even in his own language, who Saddam was or how to spell his name, he couldn't do it.
20. The scary painting is on the side of a tomb (which are common) about the size of a one-car-garage.
21. Before we reached the ocean we came to an area that is famous for Baobabs. Madagascar contains 7 of the 8 species in the world and 6 of those are only found in Madagascar. The Baobabs here are much more elegant than those in Africa. Very different.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
