Catherine Burmester, with camera and notebook in hand went scouting for creatures.

As a result of being an isolated island for millions of years a number of animal and plant species evolved in isolation in Madagascar creating one of earth’s greatest experiments in evolution. Over millennia many species arrived on Madagascar’s shores by various modes of travel, swimming, flying, or clinging to drift wood and enriching the biodiversity further. The species made landfall spreading all over the island experiencing the range of habits and evolving subtly as they encountered new environments, some to the extent that new species were formed, resulting in an evolutionary process known as adaptive radiation, which culminated in a myriad of new species found nowhere else on earth.

Madagascar’s unique biodiversity makes it one of the most enthralling destinations in the world and my husband Ryan and myself decided to spend some time on the magical island as part of our belated honeymoon.

Hog Nose Snake
After a stop in Nosy Be, we made our way to Nosy Komba a smaller island between Nosy Be and the mainland across the bay where we encountered the beautiful hog nose snake lazing about the path, which allowed me to capture his magnificent black and yellow checker board form on camera. Further exploration brought our horrified Malagassy guide and us into contact with a harmless tree snake effortlessly gliding through the branches. Vilandeer, our guide, retreated explaining that the snake was very dangerous. Some of the Malagassy believe the tree snake to have the powers of possession, sporting a pale innocuous green body and culminating in a bright red tail, the reason for its notoriety. It is said that the harmless tree snake mesmerizes cattle and people from the tree tops and then stiffening its body like an arrow drops down tail first to impale its hapless victim, resulting in a blood red tail. Black lemurs bounced around in the trees feeding on mangos oblivious of a ground boa camouflaged on the forest floor.

We taxied our way on boat from Nosy Komba to Port Ankify on the mainland where we met up with our guide Goulam, fluent in English and knowledgeable on Madagascan wildlife and headed off in his 4×4 to his rustic lodge adjacent to the spectacular Ankarana National Park situated further north on the western side of the mainland.

Fire Flies and Frogs
Goulam stopped on the way at road side stores purchasing various items for lunch, including crabs and exotic fruits before we arrived at his lodge being a small wooden hut with a double bed taking up most of the space and the shower comprising of 2 buckets filled with cold water from the well and a little jug to douse ourselves. The toilets were down the drag and again a bucket was supplied with a jug to flush the loo. At night after generator was turned off it seemed as though the stars had floated down around us as little male fire flies were lighting up to attract a mate. The rain showers at night would set off the frog chorus, a cacophony of sound that reverberated into the night drowning out the resident night jar.

Pinnacles called Tsingy
Ankarana is a small vegetated plateau with ancient 150 million year old limestone elevations that exceed 1,200 meters above sea level. With an average rainfall of 1,800 millimeters the underlying rocks have eroded vastly producing caves and underground streams, forming a karst topography. The limestone has also eroded from the top creating a massif of sharply jagged limestone pinnacles known as “tsingy”, formed over centuries by the movement of wind and water and often towering several meters into the air they are a spectacular sight.

Tsingy in Malagassy means ‘walk on tip toe’ because if you slipped on the tsingy you could be skewered like a sosatie on one of the spires, so we were mindful of our steps as we surveyed the strikingly unusual landscape. The tsingy is surrounded with sunken dry deciduous forests containing a high density of lemurs, bats, birds and reptiles. We started our walks around 7am and were greeted by the reverberating screech of cicadas lasting till nightfall, a sound which I find enthralling as it feels as the day is starting with a crescendo of suspense of what may lie ahead pulsating through the forest.

Vasa Parrots and Lemurs
Primitive vasa parrots also added to the cacophony of sound while pesky orange flies would chase us around diving into our necks delivering a nasty bite (much like a horse fly) and copious amounts of insect repellent did nothing to deter them, forcing us to pick leafy branches and wave them wildly around ourselves to ward them off. The forest was alive with life and Goulam pointed out diminutive nocturnal sportive lemurs in the nooks of trees resting their chins on little human like fingers all the while staring benignly at us as we passed by.

Spiders and Bats
Families of the diurnal crowned lemurs browsed in the trees, whilst large red skinks scurried over the tapestry of leaves below and strange butterfly nymphs resembling bits of scraggly cotton wool were bustling around on branches. We ventured down in to the cave system descending into complete darkness and scrambled around stalagmites and stalactites illuminated by our head torches revealing some of the resident spiders and bats hanging huddled together squeaking and twitching at our presence.

Our night walks were fascinating as Goulam with his x-ray like vision managed to detect the elusive and extraordinary leaf-tailed gecko tucked away on a branch its form melting into the bark as their camouflage is uncanny. The gecko’s body indents perfectly around the branch eliminating any shadow and sporting a splayed tail and the ability to employ colour change tactics it is almost undetectable save for its large beautiful speckled eyes.

Orchids and Baobabs
We were captivated by the landscape as at times it felt as though we were walking on another planet, the surroundings seeming not of this world. Orchids hung delicately from trees, baobabs reached skyward and strange tubors culminated into long twisting vines winding their way around the vegetation. Red flowers hung over the tsingy like little lanterns, strange lilies protruded from crevices and foliage clung to the rocks resembling beautiful red coral in an ancient seabed. The forest floor was bedecked in a tapestry of leaves forming pathways which snakes and chameleons silently traversed.

We made our way back to Nosy Be and flew directly to Antanarivo. Climbing into an ancient taxi (a little Renault) held together by bits and bobs we travelled east for 3 hours to Andasibe with the tar clearly visible through the cracks in the floor boards allowing the exhaust fumes to sometimes pervade the cab. We jiggled along cobbled roads passing rice paddies and men pulling along carts laden with goods or paying passengers and noticed the change in architecture which at times resembled little European villages with tall houses hugging narrow streets surrounded by green valleys compared to the wooden huts up north.

Fauna and flora of Andasibe’s Rainforests
We arrived in Andasibe in time to find a hotel and an amazing guide Herman who was to unveil the beauty and unique fauna and flora of Andasibe’s rainforests. Herman transformed our walks from the ordinary to spectacular with his ability to see right through the forest pointing out a pair of mating stick insects, reed frogs, tree boas and the most bizarre looking giraffe beetle. He knew how to settle down unobtrusively in the forest and marvel at the diademed sifaka lemurs as they browsed close by in the trees.

In places the forest was a velvet carpet of magical green moss with ferns and lichens growing from branches and the indri lemurs would pierce the forest orchestra with their eerie wailing song. Their enchanting songs can be heard echoing for miles in the forest from early in the morning and was a magical sound to awaken to as our accommodation Hotel Feon ny Ala which aptly means voice of the forest was situated over looking the river adjacent to the reserve. The view was beautiful with steam rising off the river and floating into the forest as birds cavorted along the water’s edge. Herman informed us that the Indri lemurs live up to about 60 years of age, are monogamous and the largest of all the lemurs and the only one with virtually no tail.

As we were scrambling up a steep slope trying to achieve a better view of the Indris, they descended down the trees and gazed at us with piercing blue eyes looking like a strange teddy bear panda. These gorgeous, black and white lemurs feed on complex carbohydrates and so need to spend much of the day resting in order to digest their food. Indri in Malagssy, means ‘look up there’ and was mistaken for the lemurs name by an English explorer being shown the lemurs by locals. The Malagassy name for the indri is babakota meaning “father of Koto”. Indri lemurs are endangered as they are sensitive to habitat disturbances and not only does deforestation threaten the Indris’ environment but they also have never survived in captivity as they simply stop eating.

The forest imbued in us a sense of wonderment and immense fascination for Madagascar as we had only glimpsed the surface of Madagascar’s vast bio-diversity which has one of the highest percentages of endemic species in the world.

Source: Wildside, Volume 10 (No 1 out of 4, 2010 – Autumn Edition)

Air Madagascar managed to lose my fishing rods and Evan’s stands and tripod, but otherwise the flights were fine – empty and comfortable. The hotel in Tanna was classic – very comfortable (hot water etc.). The father and son blues guitarists were world class.

The road trip was a blast – the park was brilliant and the guide very talkative and informative with a dedication to personal service.

The scooter travel was not the most comfortable way to travel, but convenient and fun. Even considering the slightly higher cost of a bigger bike, that may be the way to go.

The kayak trip was also great – beautiful and rustic. Ross has chosen some great spots and the accommodation was more than ample. The guys who ran the trip; Mohammed and the crew of the boat were great – tireless workers with a friendly attitude. Without exception they worked very hard – frustrating for Ross at times I think as the time ethic; sticking to a schedule etc. is not what we are use to.

The trip is certainly not for the comfy chairs and cocktails types – not a luxury trip by any means – but for an outdoors type, just the thing. The bugs (sand-flies, and some but not many mozzies), were a right pain. We did not do as much paddling as Ross had envisioned, but fortunately us lazy ones could always revert to the Dhow. It was stunning to paddle the open blue, or just have the kayaks there to play around the camp etc. We did one or two great island circumnavigation’s too.

Last, but by no means least, you did a great job in getting flights and itineraries sorted. A friendly person organising ones ticket puts a person in the right frame of mind to enjoy ones holiday.

All in all a good trip, and I think everyone enjoyed it. If there were any areas that needed a little work, I would say that the organisation of the day to day running could have been a little more slick (not a Madagascan trait I do not think… ). There was a certain randomness that is delightful, but some (more retentive ones),  may be a little unsettled by it. The food might have a little more finesse in presentation (some colour, variety or garnish), although delicious and well prepared it certainly was. I forget her name, but the lady that ran the galley worked like a Trojan and produced lots of great food under some very difficult circumstances.

So Thanx, it was good. I would go again tomorrow, given the chance.
All the best
Richard

Catherine Burmester, with camera and notebook in hand went scouting for creatures.
As a result of being an isolated island for millions of years a number of animal and plant species evolved in isolation in Madagascar creating one of earth’s greatest experiments in evolution. Over millennia many species arrived on Madagascar’s shores by various modes of travel, swimming, flying, or clinging to drift wood and enriching the biodiversity further. The species made landfall spreading all over the island experiencing the range of habits and evolving subtly as they encountered new environments, some to the extent that new species were formed, resulting in an evolutionary process known as adaptive radiation, which culminated in a myriad of new species found nowhere else on earth.

Madagascar’s unique biodiversity makes it one of the most enthralling destinations in the world and my husband Ryan and myself decided to spend some time on the magical island as part of our belated honeymoon.

Hog Nose Snake
After a stop in Nosy Be, we made our way to Nosy Komba a smaller island between Nosy Be and the mainland across the bay where we encountered the beautiful hog nose snake lazing about the path, which allowed me to capture his magnificent black and yellow checker board form on camera. Further exploration brought our horrified Malagassy guide and us into contact with a harmless tree snake effortlessly gliding through the branches. Vilandeer, our guide, retreated explaining that the snake was very dangerous. Some of the Malagassy believe the tree snake to have the powers of possession, sporting a pale innocuous green body and culminating in a bright red tail, the reason for its notoriety. It is said that the harmless tree snake mesmerizes cattle and people from the tree tops and then stiffening its body like an arrow drops down tail first to impale its hapless victim, resulting in a blood red tail. Black lemurs bounced around in the trees feeding on mangos oblivious of a ground boa camouflaged on the forest floor.

We taxied our way on boat from Nosy Komba to Port Ankify on the mainland where we met up with our guide Goulam, fluent in English and knowledgeable on Madagascan wildlife and headed off in his 4×4 to his rustic lodge adjacent to the spectacular Ankarana National Park situated further north on the western side of the mainland.

Fire Flies and Frogs
Goulam stopped on the way at road side stores purchasing various items for lunch, including crabs and exotic fruits before we arrived at his lodge being a small wooden hut with a double bed taking up most of the space and the shower comprising of 2 buckets filled with cold water from the well and a little jug to douse ourselves. The toilets were down the drag and again a bucket was supplied with a jug to flush the loo. At night after generator was turned off it seemed as though the stars had floated down around us as little male fire flies were lighting up to attract a mate. The rain showers at night would set off the frog chorus, a cacophony of sound that reverberated into the night drowning out the resident night jar.

Pinnacles called Tsingy
Ankarana is a small vegetated plateau with ancient 150 million year old limestone elevations that exceed 1,200 meters above sea level. With an average rainfall of 1,800 millimeters the underlying rocks have eroded vastly producing caves and underground streams, forming a karst topography. The limestone has also eroded from the top creating a massif of sharply jagged limestone pinnacles known as “tsingy”, formed over centuries by the movement of wind and water and often towering several meters into the air they are a spectacular sight.

Tsingy in Malagassy means ‘walk on tip toe’ because if you slipped on the tsingy you could be skewered like a sosatie on one of the spires, so we were mindful of our steps as we surveyed the strikingly unusual landscape. The tsingy is surrounded with sunken dry deciduous forests containing a high density of lemurs, bats, birds and reptiles. We started our walks around 7am and were greeted by the reverberating screech of cicadas lasting till nightfall, a sound which I find enthralling as it feels as the day is starting with a crescendo of suspense of what may lie ahead pulsating through the forest.

Vasa Parrots and Lemurs
Primitive vasa parrots also added to the cacophony of sound while pesky orange flies would chase us around diving into our necks delivering a nasty bite (much like a horse fly) and copious amounts of insect repellent did nothing to deter them, forcing us to pick leafy branches and wave them wildly around ourselves to ward them off. The forest was alive with life and Goulam pointed out diminutive nocturnal sportive lemurs in the nooks of trees resting their chins on little human like fingers all the while staring benignly at us as we passed by.

Spiders and Bats
Families of the diurnal crowned lemurs browsed in the trees, whilst large red skinks scurried over the tapestry of leaves below and strange butterfly nymphs resembling bits of scraggly cotton wool were bustling around on branches. We ventured down in to the cave system descending into complete darkness and scrambled around stalagmites and stalactites illuminated by our head torches revealing some of the resident spiders and bats hanging huddled together squeaking and twitching at our presence.

Our night walks were fascinating as Goulam with his x-ray like vision managed to detect the elusive and extraordinary leaf-tailed gecko tucked away on a branch its form melting into the bark as their camouflage is uncanny. The gecko’s body indents perfectly around the branch eliminating any shadow and sporting a splayed tail and the ability to employ colour change tactics it is almost undetectable save for its large beautiful speckled eyes.

Orchids and Baobabs
We were captivated by the landscape as at times it felt as though we were walking on another planet, the surroundings seeming not of this world. Orchids hung delicately from trees, baobabs reached skyward and strange tubors culminated into long twisting vines winding their way around the vegetation. Red flowers hung over the tsingy like little lanterns, strange lilies protruded from crevices and foliage clung to the rocks resembling beautiful red coral in an ancient seabed. The forest floor was bedecked in a tapestry of leaves forming pathways which snakes and chameleons silently traversed.

We made our way back to Nosy Be and flew directly to Antanarivo. Climbing into an ancient taxi (a little Renault) held together by bits and bobs we travelled east for 3 hours to Andasibe with the tar clearly visible through the cracks in the floor boards allowing the exhaust fumes to sometimes pervade the cab. We jiggled along cobbled roads passing rice paddies and men pulling along carts laden with goods or paying passengers and noticed the change in architecture which at times resembled little European villages with tall houses hugging narrow streets surrounded by green valleys compared to the wooden huts up north.

Fauna and flora of Andasibe’s Rainforests
We arrived in Andasibe in time to find a hotel and an amazing guide Herman who was to unveil the beauty and unique fauna and flora of Andasibe’s rainforests. Herman transformed our walks from the ordinary to spectacular with his ability to see right through the forest pointing out a pair of mating stick insects, reed frogs, tree boas and the most bizarre looking giraffe beetle. He knew how to settle down unobtrusively in the forest and marvel at the diademed sifaka lemurs as they browsed close by in the trees.

In places the forest was a velvet carpet of magical green moss with ferns and lichens growing from branches and the indri lemurs would pierce the forest orchestra with their eerie wailing song. Their enchanting songs can be heard echoing for miles in the forest from early in the morning and was a magical sound to awaken to as our accommodation Hotel Feon ny Ala which aptly means voice of the forest was situated over looking the river adjacent to the reserve. The view was beautiful with steam rising off the river and floating into the forest as birds cavorted along the water’s edge. Herman informed us that the Indri lemurs live up to about 60 years of age, are monogamous and the largest of all the lemurs and the only one with virtually no tail.

As we were scrambling up a steep slope trying to achieve a better view of the Indris, they descended down the trees and gazed at us with piercing blue eyes looking like a strange teddy bear panda. These gorgeous, black and white lemurs feed on complex carbohydrates and so need to spend much of the day resting in order to digest their food. Indri in Malagssy, means ‘look up there’ and was mistaken for the lemurs name by an English explorer being shown the lemurs by locals. The Malagassy name for the indri is babakota meaning “father of Koto”. Indri lemurs are endangered as they are sensitive to habitat disturbances and not only does deforestation threaten the Indris’ environment but they also have never survived in captivity as they simply stop eating.

The forest imbued in us a sense of wonderment and immense fascination for Madagascar as we had only glimpsed the surface of Madagascar’s vast bio-diversity which has one of the highest percentages of endemic species in the world.

Wendy Maritz finds out what made Riaan Manser give up the life he knew in exchange for solo adventures into unknown territory, first on bike then a kayak.

On 8 July 2009, Riaan Manser paddled into Tamatave harbour, 11 months after setting out from the same spot on an epic journey to circumnavigate Madagascar alone and unaided on his kayak. Riaan made history that day, achieving the second of two world firsts, and completing another major personal challenge. (The first was cycling around Africa.)

It takes a great deal of tenacity to give up the life you know and embark on an expedition that will take you into a completely unfamiliar world. But, as Riaan will readily admit, it was a life he wasn’t particularly satisfied with – long-time girlfriend Vast and beloved pet aside, of course.

“It was a bad case of the ‘Sunday blues’ that did it,” Riaan laughs. “Vasti and I were walking the dogs one Sunday afternoon, and I was suddenly overcome with nausea. I realized that I couldn’t continue dreading Mondays. I promised myself then that I would either do something about it or never again allow myself to complain about work.”

A few days later this 20-second epiphany found Riaan pouring over a map of the world as he asked himself, “Well, what am I going to do?” The answer came to him as his focus landed on the centre of the map: cycle around the perimeter of Africa.

Riaan soon learned the pros and cons of preparing such a trip. He estimated his savings would last him for about half the journey, which he planned to complete in 365 days. He began creating publicity, exploring the possibility of sponsorships and doing extensive research on the countries and visa requirements. “Sometimes it’s better to not know too much about where you’re going,” he says, “because what I read about African countries was giving me all the reasons why I shouldn’t go.”

Many of the embassies where he applied for visas regarded him with suspicion and sponsorship request were turned down or ignored. Riaan had more reasons to give than continue, but it was a mixture of naivety and a dogged belief in himself and his mission that led him to eventually cycle out of the V&A Waterfront on 9 September 2003 to fulfil the promise he made to himself nearly a year earlier tat his life needed to change drastically. Riaan accomplished what he set out to do, but it took more than double the time – 37.000km, 808 days and 34 countries later, he cycled back to the V&A Waterfront.

Riaan’s African odyssey produced a multitude of adventures that included being held captive by Liberian child soldiers high on drugs. “I was convinced I was going to die that day,” he explains.

His journey also saw him humbled by the atrocities of poverty and the legacy of landmines that has crippled Angola both figuratively and literally. “I realised I had so much to be grateful for, and nothing to complain about,” he smiles. There were highs and lows, aptly symbolized by Riaan’s visit to Eritrea, Africa’s lowest point at 153m below sea level, and then a couple of months later by his summiting Kilimanjaro’s Uhuru peak. There were lonely times, joyful times spent with kind strangers, times of immense frustration and loss of faith in people, and there was also danger. But there was never time when Riaan thought of giving up. “I told myself every day just to get on with it. I wsnt going to give up; the only way I was going home was on my bicycle!”
As Riaan puts it, this was not a whim of fanciful wish; it was now his career: “I am a solo adventurer. It’s my job!”

Riaan enjoyed a much-needed – and deserved – break and wrote a book covering his African adventures. Shortly after the wanderlust bug bit again, and he pondered on his next move. The world map proved inspiring once more and, as he saw the large island of Madagascar, it dawned on him. “This island is part of Africa. So no African trip is complete without including Madagascar as well,” he laughs.

“I told myself the only way I was going home was on my bicycle”
Riaan grew up in Richards Bay, joined the Lifesaving Nippers and then became a lifeguard, so he’s no stranger to the ocean. But, unlike South Africa that has a well-run, coordinated rescue service that includes the NSRI, Madagascar had no sea-rescue to speak of. The fourth largest island in the world houses one of its poorest nations.

‘I had to prepare for every eventuality. I had to go out and paddle in all kinds of conditions. I also spent a lot of time purposely falling out of my kayak and getting back in, falling out and getting back in,’ he says. He knew he’d have to rely on himself, his wits and his GPRS, because there’d be no help if he ran into any trouble.

In mid-July 2008, Riaan paddled out of Tamatave Harbour heading north in an anti-clockwise direction on a custom made Paddleyak he called the ‘Green Banana’. This time, the craft had been sponsored by Paddleyak, his clothing by First Ascent, his GPRS by Garmin, and his camera, video gear and waterproof housings by Sony. Windhoek Lager once again lent full support as his major sponsor. He also carried with him a cell phone, a satellite phone, a fishing rod and 8L of water.

Riaan soon discovered that Madagascar was no less perilous than the rest of Africa. Cyclone season came early, and while he hoped to round the northernmost tip of the island in time to enjoy the relative safety of the western coast, he found himself battling 2-8 foot swells and sheets of rain. ‘It was like Armageddon,’ he says.

Coming ashore each day to set up camp sometimes proved quite dangerous, as he found he had to negotiate coral reefs, and the huge waves crashing down on them. Blisters, sunburn and a painful ischium were further challenges. ‘When cycling, I had a chance to think about things, my life and my childhood,’ Riaan explains. ‘While I was on my kayak, all I could about was how much pain I was in’.

He was also robbed several times during his journey. Riaan remembers how he befriended a local in Mahajanga, who late made off with his video camera. For Riaan this was incomprehensible. ‘I think people assumed I had money. While I was kayaking, I was approached by the World Wildlife Fund boat with pirates on board. They wanted to know what I was up to and started demanding that I hand over my things. I ended up hitting the pirates with my paddle, then I got away as fast as possible. I beached, dragged my canoe and all my things, and hid behind the large shoreline rocks,’ he recalls. ‘It was in a remote part of the northwestern tip of the island, in desperation, I called my agent and friend, Seamus, on the satellite phone while I was hiding. I knew he couldn’t do anything, but I just needed to hear a familiar voice.’

Add to the being rammed by a 250g bull shark, and its clear Riaan had his fair share of trials during the journey – but he also experienced what few others do; seeing 40-ton whales breaching a few feet away, being out on the open water with a school of dolphins, the taste of fish it took two-and-half hours to catch, and coming face to face with the richest collection of endemic fauna and flora in the world.

Riaan set out on what many people would have regarded as an impossible – maybe even dangerous and foolhardy – enterprise. But he returned triumphant, and with a pocketful of stories to one day tell his children and grandchildren. In doing so, he joined a handful of people who have heeded the words of the American poet Theodore Roethke, who once said, ‘What we need is more people who specialise in the impossible.’

Source: Sea Rescue Autumn 2010

Entitled “Madagascar Travels”, the author describes in detail her four month journey through this incredible country on foot and by zebu cart.  She stays sometimes with local friends and much of the time in villages, and exposes herself to traditional ways of life, truly seeing the way Malagasy live their life by their beliefs in fady and the spirits.

Below is an extract from her book “Madagascar Travels”, where she describes the celebration of Alahamady – the Malagasy New Year, traditionally celebrated in March.

If you are as fascinated as we are with Madagascar and would like to search for this book, you can locate it on Amazon.  ISBN 0-340-62563-5

“As the moon waned the celebration of Alahamady, the Malagasy New Year approached. On the eve of the new moon I linked up with my girlfriend Freddie again in Tana and we went to the sacred royal hill of Amboimanga where we became part of a vast crowd thronging an ancient stone slab lane. Despite the midday sun the sunken lane was mossy and cool, shaded by leafy trees. The whole hill is covered with trees which are protected as this has been a sacred place since the beginning of the nineteenth century when Amboimanga became the ritual centre of a united kingdom of Madagascar.

The brightly dressed crowd streamed up the hill in high spirits. Food stalls along the lane were selling bananas, rice-cakes, noodle dishes and yoghurt. The lane climbed for another long kilometre. Finally we mounted a flight of old stone steps and entered the great open ceremonial area in front of the walls of the queen’s summer palace. Accordion music, rattles and a bongo-style drum jigged out a fast rhythm and made the mood lively.

The centre of attention were two zebu due for sacrifice the following morning. A wrinkled woman with a trident was pushing back the crowd from the bulls. By now Freddie and I were in the thick of a surging mob, allowing ourselves to be pushed by the eddies and counter-eddies like a tidal flow in a rocky inlet. We were trying to avoid being pushed out on to the great flat sacrificial rock, stained with old blood and bits of withered intestine.

On the upper terrace stood the current King of the Sakalava tribe and some elders, and speeches were being made. Freddie told me that the most senior man present was sure to be the most toothless one.

“There’s the King of the Betsileo,” said Freddie pointing to a white-bearded man with a white ceremonial lamba round his shoulders. “He lives south of here near Fianarantsoa which is an ancient centre of literature and learning. Most of the kings are still recognised as kings but they don’t live in palaces and have no political power. When I had some business to do in the north I had to inform the King, out of respect for him.”

The King of the Betsileo made the next speech while holding up a long ting pipe-pumpkin with sacred water in it. “The water in that pumpkin can heal sick people. If you drink just a few drops of it you will be miraculously cured,” whispered Freddie.

To find out which king will hold it in the ceremony a spirit manifests itself to one f the kings in his dreams, and the spirit appoints the chosen king.” Freddie’s tone turn dubious, “Any king could say he had the dream, couldn’t he?”

Although she was a shy young woman, Freddie was being a superb help by translating what was happening and if she did not know about a custom she asked the people around us, using my presence as an excuse. In fact a great many of the city-folk had no idea what was going on, and a woman attendant was sent to instruct the crowd to remember the fady that forbade the bringing of alcohol or umbrellas and the one about removing their shoes. Shoes are fady because the signify superiority. The ancestors’ seniority comes with age not wealth. It used to be fady for a man to wear shoes if his father had none. Another woman attendant was marking the foreheads of certain individuals with a white chalky substance.

This ceremony had not been held for a hundred years, the last time was in 1895, and now it had become part of a move to bring tradition back to those who had lost touch with their roots. It acknowledged the modern world’s need of the past. Perhaps the island’s increasing economical problems we because the ancestors were displeased.

The invocation of the ancestors began with the words of the time-old formula and sacred water in pottery urns being ritually offered in front of the bulls. Musicians worked with gusto on drum, rattle and accordion. Guards in red headbands and red and white lambas, carrying three-pronged spears, lined up beside the bulls which swung restlessly towards the crowd. As one we recoiled, somewhat frantically as the bulls tangled in their ropes. A guard sorted these, while the red bull kicked out and tossed its horns.

The second bull was red and white with a white blaze and white legs with regular brown splotches. These were sacred markings which meant it would automatically belong to the royal family, regardless of the original owner. As Freddie explained, “When you have something like that which is so great, you cannot own it, you may only be its guardian. We have a proverb which says “You can never possess that which is priceless.” This rare bull is sacrificed to gain the love of our last king, asking him to look after us. It represents religious power; the red bull represents political power.”

The bulls were now securely tethered each by one back leg to a tree’s roots that trailed solidly down the terrace wall and made rich mossy patterns on the stone.

The invocation of the spirits of the ancestors was followed by music to conduct them back into this world. A man in front of us went into a trance, trembling and shaking his limbs, head lolling and eyes closed, possessed by a spirit animated by the music, and other spirits began to manifest themselves in people all around us. One girl with thick black hair was throwing her head and torso from side to side, jerking with frenzied spasms. An attendant tied a red scarf around her head and the crowd cleared a space in case she ell. After five minutes she collapsed in a heap on the ground and her scarf was taken to out on someone else. The scarf is to protect dancers in a trance. Without the scarf, I was told, they could vomit blood and die.

Suddenly individuals were pushing their way through the packed but friendly crowd, like mad fishes wriggling through waterweed to reach the open space where they danced into a trance. The woolly-haired girl revived, still in a trance, put a pot of sacred water on her haed and danced on. The pot was seized by a man who sprayed water on her and doused her hair, then she flicked her head in every direction showering everyone around.

Only the person in the trance and some of the elders know which spirit has possessed a particular dancer. But people said Rakotmadit was the spirit who had taken the girl. He had been a favoured soldier of a Sakalava king.

“What are these spirits?” I asked.

“They’re zanahary, messengers,” answered Freddie, “Spirits that can communicate. When the spirit is in you, you are a slave to it. During the trance it will talk through you and people can ask you their private requests, like how shall I pass my exams? The spirits have to tell the truth.”
As soon as someone was fully in trance the women attendants hurried up t try and ask for messages, and Freddie said, “Only the person in a trance can understand what the spirit is saying. Suppose someone had done something very wrong, he can ask the trance slave what he can do to obtain forgiveness, and the slave has to ask the zanahary. You can’t choose your zanahary, you have to deal with the one that takes you over. It’s different from Christianity in that you can’t make a direct approach to the supreme being. You can’t speak to him unless you go through the ancestors.” She was logical about the ancestors. Dead people are closer to God, they know more about what is right and wrong, so the living must listen and learn from the dead people.”

I asked a girl we got talking to if she had ever been in a trance, but she giggled and said that she would be afraid. Freddie explained, “It would be all right at an event like this. But if a spirit just decided to manifest itself in me whenever it liked, when I was at the office, say, I’d be scared of it, too. Just think of carrying a spirit around inside you that can come out when it likes, and you have no control. Each time you hear lots of music it could manifest itself. How embarrassing”. She was also nervous today because the trance spirit could make its host person point out someone else for it to go into. So no one was safe from its power.

This day was a preparation for the morrow, and the crowd was swelling continually. There were now about a thousand people present and a wonderfully dramatic atmosphere. The ritual washing of the bulls began in utter silence, then the accordion stated while a couple of children were selected to walk forward and throw sacred water over the bulls. Afterwards many people took turns to splash them with sacred water, but respectfully. They were not being baited. A man stood before the bulls and told them to be calm, which was difficult for them when it came to lassoing their legs to tether them for the night. The red bull was fighting and kicking fiercely.

No alcohol meant no drunks and, despite the huge crowd, there was a superb atmosphere of kindly togetherness. Women were signing, lightning flashed, but without rain.

A procession formed in a semi-circle round the bulls, with candles in coloured paper lanterns. Drums began to beat and the vast crowd clapped rhythmically.

An orgy was scheduled for the night, when all sexual taboos were allowed, even supposed to be broken, particularly those fady concerning cross-caste sex.  It was time for us to leave.
Be eight a.m the following morning I was back with the crowd, and orderly mix of families from the villages and townies out from Tana, now swelled to about two thousand, in front of Amboimanga’s palace. In contrast to the unrestrained build-up of the eve, New Year’s Day celebrations began with a Christian hymn, and praying hands, beseeching God’s presence on this heathen day, followed by somewhat blasphemous amens. On stage, a man swung a goose over his head, offering it to ancestors north and south. Someone marked my forehead with chalk. He said the mark was the same as on the zebu’s forehead, and it was a mark of special welcome. A procession of women approached, their heads laden with sacred water, bananas, bottles of pale brown honey, sweets, and a plate of white clay balls.

A build-up of anticipation rippled through the crowd. Spearsmen kept the numbers back and the guards with tridents lined up once more in front of the bulls. The goose was still being tossed to and fro above us at the top sacrificial stone but a moment later its neck was wrung. The bulls would be killed at the big lower stone.

The action was just below where guards wearing red headbands untied the red bull first and two men grabbed a rope trailing from its back leg, pulling it to the ground.More men hurried to secure the ropes. Everyone wore something red which is the royal colour and a symbol of power. They held the bull down on the ground and freed the ropes from its horns; their hands, faces and backs were now covered in white chalk. We watched a slightly gory sacrifice with blunt spears, and waited for a sign that God was with the people. The Chef de Ceremonie danced crouched under a sheet with a large red heart embroidered on it, representing God’s love.

The Chef de Ceremonie under the sheet took an urn of sacred water and offered it aloft to the bulls. Sacred water comes from a particular spring on the hill. In the old days there was a private source fr the king or queen, and their bath was filled with water carried by virgins. It is best to draw the water before four or five a.m, before the first bird flew across the stream because that is when water is at its most pure.

The dead bull was sprawled on the stone; the other waited its turn; people were selected to be marked with chalk dots, and an old man wearing trade beads and a blood-splattered white robe was rubbing his finger in blood and marking people with a red line from forehead back into the hair. His other hand held aloft a ceremonial blade decorated in geometrical motifs. People hurried around with spears and empty buckets amid a sea of bodies dancing with hands fluttering and waiving in the air.

Beside me an elder stepped up onto the small sacrificial stone. I thought maybe he wanted a better view, but he bowed his head and closed his eyes. A man carrying a full bucket of blood stopped in front of him, lifted the bucket and emptied it all over the elder’s head. He seemed to be pleased.

Everything today was to be directed and carried to the palace as a sign of respect. The Zebu are the path to the palace and the carriers and all servers carry the blood as a sign. Blood drinking had started by the bull’s body, with quick handfuls scooped out of its jugular by the bodyguards. Various important people were given marks of blood smeared on their faces and hair. Then much of the crowd rushed up to be marked on face, head and tongue. One brought a jamjar for takeaway blood. After the sacrifice, someone reached down inside the bull to find its heart and liver, then both bull carcases were flayed open by men who sharpened their knives vigorously on the stone. A man with a cup filled it from the beasts chest and drank it all. Plastic cups and jars were being passed forward. “Why are they taking the blood?” I asked a man with a knife. “To put on your own head”. Near me someone launched into a shopping list of prayers saying, “My house has fallen down, my wife’s sick, someone has stolen my land, and I need money”. Whether or not the people believed their prayers could be answered, they could do no harm, and revealed the naïve Malagasy optimism combined with resignation which makes them a nation of dreamers. Freddie admitted that she found Christianity confusing, with the different practices of Catholics and Protestants, but as a Malagasy she was in no doubt about certain things. “Before we do anything important we have to consult our ancestors.”

Well, that’s the day on which we hosted our very first workshop right here at No 7 Lancaster Road. In conjunction with The Madagascar Consulate, Air Madagascar, Legacy Hotels and an awesome team we pulled off a hugely successful Madagascar workshop. No mean feat, as agents are constantly inundated with invitations to attend presentations, workshops, etc. etc…
From affordable beach packages to exciting Kayaking Trips and Robinson Crusoe type Fishing Tours it was all there, presented by the experts. Nothing like getting it straight from the horses mouth! The aim: to equip agents with the skills and tools to sell this unique and diverse destination. Did we achieve this aim? According to some agent comments, definitely!
Here goes …

Thanks, Patti. Very interesting and I will certainly think “Jenman” if and when the occasion arises to sell Madagascar. The dhow trip was very tempting! Well done Mike on his display.
-  Odlum Travel & Tours

Thank you to Jenman Safaris for hosting the workshop, it was a lovely event and I think everyone found it very informative and interesting.
-  XL online tours

Thanks for the invite. Was lovely to meet you and learn more about Madagascar. As Lucinda mentioned, it would have been good to have been able to ask more questions. But otherwise you covered the highlights of the destination well, and I look forward to selling your packages if I get the chance.
-  African Travel Experts

It was well worth my while attending the workshop. I feel I now have a good general understanding of what Madagascar offers as a travel destination, which, as you pointed out, is very important to understand. Its not a destination for everyone.

A suggestion:  have a couple of questions to the audience on the destination. First to answer correctly gets a small prize.
A cements the information into our minds.
- African Tamed

Thanks for having us. It was very interesting and informative and we hope to get some business for you now that we know more about Madagascar.
-  Getaway African travel and tours

Thank you, Patti – really enjoyed the workshop and found it hugely informative – was so glad to have been there.  It was brilliant to be broken into short sections like that too.  We came back very excited about the destination!!
-  B-J, Anne & Natalie

Thanks very much for last night. I left knowing more about Madagascar and will certainly keep Jenman in mind should I get any requests.
Have a great weekend.
-  PJ’s Travel and Tours

Thank you so much for inviting us. It was an informative time and good to have met suppliers personally. Thanks too for your kind hospitality.
- Club Travel

Many thanks for the invitation and of course I am very grateful for the fantastic prize that I won – so thank you to Air Madagascar and Legacy Hotels.  I really look forward to seeing the country and look forward to getting the destination added to our website.

The presentation was very informative – the only thing I felt may be missing was just the opportunity to ask any questions of any of the speakers – I know that maybe makes it a little to “formal” and of course there is the break too where you can ask questions – but it might be good just to add a little question time either at the end or quickly after each speaker.  This can also be judged on the number of people that attend as sometimes Q & A sessions can go on a little long!

Otherwise – it was super to get a overview of the country and everything it has to offer.  It is a very exciting destination.
-  African Travel Experts

Fabulous workshop , we are feeling fired up about Madagascar.
- Chelsea Travel

Congratulations for a thoroughly put together presentation: it was really wonderful. What a country!!

It will certainly help towards trying to promote it, albeit against a pinched Spanish economy.
- Benga Africa

To dear Patty and the Jenman Team,
I had a wonderful time with all of you last night. I feel the workshop was a huge success and really look forward to sharing my new knowledge with potential clients!
- AATO

Source: Leila Samodien, Weekend Argus, 23rd of January 2010

You’re alone in the middle of a vast expanse of dark blue ocean. The sea is calm; the sky is clear, but you know that at any moment, a rogue wave could come up behind you, knocking you right out of your kayak.
From above, the 40°C heat is merciless, burning every inch of exposed skin. And it’s even worse below – there’s no knowing what lies in the depth of the water.Within minutes, things turn ugly. The skies fill with dark, bulging clouds: rain comes down in showers; the waves are walls ready to crash down on you and, suddenly, you find yourself in the midst of a tropical storm – slap bang in the middle of the Mozambique Channel, an area notorious for its pirates.
As the minutes pass, it becomes more daunting. Just 100 km from where you are desperately paddling, a tornado forms. It grows bigger and bigger until it reaches 200m up in the air.

Your adrenaline pumps and your arms move faster in an attempt not to get sucked in, but to no avail. You’re thumped out of your kayak by a huge wave.
Luckily there’s a support boat about a kilometre away. They pick you up, and you’re safe – for now.

This is not the script for an adventure movie. For David Grier, a chef, motivational speaker and adventurer from Cape Town, it was just another day on the job.

Grier is on a four-and-a-half-month journey across Madagascar, from the south to north, using nothing but a kayak, some equipment and his legs.
The exotic voyage – which is not his first, and according to his wife Lizelle probably not his last – is Grier’s contribution to Operation Smile, a charity organization that aids children born with cleft lips and palates.
Grier is currently on the second leg of his adventure, trekking through the thick of Madagascar’s jungle.

His plan is to cover the 2500 km distance on foot, and most of the time he’ll be running.

However, before he could start running, he had to get to the island. And this was not as simple as a plane ride and an airport transfer.

Grier officially began his adventure on December 1 in Nacala on the Mozambican shore. From there, he pushed off in his kayak and paddled across the channel – a lengthy 500 km. This part of the journey took 11 days and was not without its moments of drama. Grier battled through at least one tropical storm and many more smaller ones. And, when it wasn’t raining, the temperature soared to 40°C and higher.
“The ocean is so unpredictable,” Grier told Weekend Argus in a telephonic interview from Madagascar. “It will be dead calm; five minutes later, you’re in this huge storm.”

The sea journey was even more challenging for Grier in that, up until a few months ago,

“Here you have people who have nothing, but they’re willing to give you everything”

he had never kayaked before. He was knocked out of his kayak at least six times while crossing the Mozambican Channel. “The waves sometimes get so high, you just don’t know what’s going to happen,” he says.
“And when you do fall out, all you can think is: “God, this water is 3km deep; what lies beneath me right now?”.

When Grier finally reached the shore of the island, he began his journey on foot from the south side. And this was the beginning of a long, exhausting, months-long run.

Grier has been moving through the thick, leafy jungle for more than month now, covering about 40km a day.

“It’s a scary place,” he says. “It’s so remote, there’s no one bit of cellphone signal (in some places). And the insects!”

But for the bold adventurer and his cameraman Nick Heygate, who sometimes runs with Grier to capture his travels on film, it’s the leeches that have been the most draining.

“I’ve probably been bitten a hundred times, no exaggeration,” he says. “What’s worse is that when you finally get them off, you have maggots settling in the wounds. There’s nowhere to hide from the insects.”
Their voyage would be easier if they had regular food and shelter. But, as is true in any great adventure, the pair are slumming it island style.
They’ve been taken in at villages and convents, communicated using only sign language and eaten nothing but rice for days at a time.

Grier, however, says this has only made the experience more memorable.
“It’s absolutely amazing. The people in the small villages are so friendly. Here you have people who have nothing, but they’re willing to give you everything, even though they don’t understand you. They give you a meal, a place to sleep – all without asking anything in return.”

Heygate has also had to deal with a serious case of fever. And this is only the beginning. Grier will be running for at least another two months. Then, once he reaches the island’s north shore, he’ll kayak and kite-surf back to Mozambique.

But, why on earth would anyone put themselves trough all that? Besides being young at heart, Grier, who spent his 50th birthday in solitude somewhere in the Madagascar jungle this month, believes that Operation Smile is a worthy cause that deserves people’s attention.
“This is such a tangible way of helping children. We’re talking about a 45-minute operation that will change a child’s life forever,” he says.
“Yes, this trip is crazy, but most times, that’s the only way to get people to sit up and listen.”

Grier hopes to raise enough money to fund the operations of 210 children.
Madagascar is not Grier’s first adventure of as a part of his Miles for Smiles campaign. In 2006, he ran the 4200 km stretch along the Great Wall of China and two years later ran 3300 km along the southern African coastline.
Lizelle says she supports his travels, and while he promised this would be the last, she had her doubts.

“Either way, I’m behind him,” she says. “This time, he’s missed out on a lot: Christmas, New Year’s, and our anniversary in March…so he has a lot of gifts to catch up on!”

Grier also uses his cellphone, to communicate with his family, and to regularly update his blog and Facebook and Twitter webpages, which people can use to follow his exploits.

To donate money to Grier’s cause, or to follow his adventures, visit www.milesforsmiles.co.za

Source: Leila Samodien, Weekend Argus, 23rd of January 2010

Ticket to ride
Using a climate model used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), co-author Matthew Huber – a palaeoclimate modeller at Purdue University in Indiana, US – adapted it to shed light on the past.
“I had been doing these simulations for some time,” he told BBC News.

“The paper’s lead author (Dr Jason Ali from the University of Hong Kong) asked me to look at the Madagascar region because he thought that the ocean currents were different during that time.  “I looked, and – sure enough – the ocean currents went in the opposite direction than they do today,” he explained. The reason is primarily because, in the past, both Madagascar and Africa were 15 degrees further south.  This meant that the 430km (270 mile) Mozambique Channel that separates the two landmasses was located in a different ocean “gyre” (circular ocean current), which had an important impact on the direction and strength of the currents within the channel.
Dr Huber said that the model showed that this provided the right conditions to allow mammals to be transported across the channel.

“What the model suggests is that occasionally – say one month in 100 years – the currents were strong enough to allow a raft, for example a large log, carrying a family of lemurs to make the journey in about three weeks,” he explained.

“Biologists and palaeontologists say that rafting is the only sensible way for this [dispersal] to have happened. But the problem has always been the currents.”

“When you looked at present ocean currents, the journey is impossible. “So scientists have been stuck because when you are faced with impossibilities, what do you do?”

Current thinking
As a result, a number of scientists favoured the theory that a land bridge existed in the past.  But the theory would have required a “radical rethinking of the region’s plate tectonics”, Dr Huber explained.  “What we have done is resolved this conundrum by saying that ocean currents were actually different in the past.  “So it was possible – not probable, but possible.”

The idea of mammals being transported on “rafts” of vegetation was first mooted back in 1940 by US researcher George Simpson.  He developed the “sweepstakes” hypothesis because the biodiversity on Madagascar was unique, lacking “megafauna” such as elephants, lions and zebras.

If the animals had reached Madagascar via a “land bridge” – meaning the landmass was connected to the African continent – Simpson argued that large mammals would have also made the journey.  He added that the match between the currents and the arrival of new mammals on Madagascar was “pretty good”.

It is understood that the common ancestor of present-day lemurs arrived on Madagascar between 60 million and 50 million years ago; tenrecs (such as hedgehogs) appeared 42-25 million years ago, and rodents between 24 million and 20 million years ago.  “About 20 million years ago, the ‘flow’ of species stopped,” Dr Huber observed.

“When I look at my simulations for 20 million years ago, the currents are going the same way as they do today.”
He explained that change in the direction of the current in the Mozambique Channel was a result of the slow northward movement of Africa and Madagascar.
This meant that the influence of the southern oceanic gyre was gradually weakened, causing the “sweepstake” route to be closed.
He said: “The ’switch’ might have turned off gradually between 50 million and 20 million years ago, but by 20 million years ago, the journey was impossible.”

By Mark Kinver