El suave sonido de las aguas que se abren para dejar pasar la piragua, la luz aún suave de la mañana, la brisa que viene de frente y refresca la piel bajo la camisa, el sol cálido sobre los pies, el silencio roto solo por las voces de los pájaros y el remo al entrar en las aguas pardas, el paisaje y la vegetación que van cambiando poco a poco con los meandros que navegamos, la tranquila actividad cotidiana de algunos lugareños que laboran los pequeños arrozales que salpican las orillas, los juncos que delimitan los sembrados o las trampas para peces, la propia amplitud del río que se abre y se cierra como si se tratase se un acordeón que empuja el espacio y detiene el tiempo. El descenso en piragua por el río Tsiribihina se convierte enseguida en una experiencia placentera y relajante.
Tratsin'ny fitsingerenani taonan'ny nahateranao ianao!*
Tonga soa eto Tananarive! ¡Bienvenidos a Antananarivo!
The train of death
We've one day here so we plan to make the best out of it. The main (and only) tourist attraction here is the Pangalan canal. It was built “by the french” as a way of transporting goods from Manakara to Tamatav while avoiding the treacherous Indian Ocean and its cyclones. The region has lots of lakes with brackish water and it was “just” a question of connecting all of them. It's 665km long with 420 of it artificial. In a pure colonial manner, the work came from local labor and it was unsurprisingly forced labor. Its name come from that, it's a Malagasy word meaning “the taken”.
Anja
Another day on the road. We leave Antsirabe to go to Ambalavao, 320km away. We're stuck for about one hour by roadwork. There's no one working and we suspect they broke for lunch but traffic is suspended until they come back... whatever. The road is good at the beginning by it starts zigzagging so much that we have no choice but to look at the road to avoid being sick; so much for using these long hours stuck in the car for reading or writing the blog... Just before reaching Fianaransoa we get to experience the worst asphalt road ever. I don't see how it could be worse. It used to be asphalt but it now is a pothole after the next.
Tsingy's and Baobabs
A shower with hot water and a bed are luxuries we don't take for granted anymore. Coming across that magic combo is such a treat after three days on the river :D We even get used to wake up at 6am these days. Today's program is Broadway in the "grand Tsingy" and the "petit Tsingy" in the late afternoon. We start the day just like we finished it yesterday, in the 4wd on a tough road. We have 20km to cover to the trail head, 1h drive ;)
Row row row your boat
Not completely recovered from yesterday, we stack up in the minibus and head to Miandrivazo. One of the thing that strikes us in comparison with Ethiopia is the elaborate irrigation system used here. Rice fields require a lot of water but it only became possible because of a common effort to develop a complex system of canals. Little by little though the culture are sparser. The lands is more and more yellow and barren. The only constant is the police controls. We hit a bit of zebu traffic at some point but it doesn't last long. The zebus are so much bigger than the Ethiopian caws by the way. We arrive at the hotel just in time to enjoy the sun setting on the river and on the rice fields.
Mad' organization
We arrive in Kenya after a short fly but with a 5h layover in front of us. The airport is without a doubt more modern than the Addis' one. It's boring to have to wait in an airport but in one of the shops we find an inflatable neck pillow for me. I don't use it in the plane but it works marvel when camping for me. Finally we board along with a class of English teenagers girls and their teacher. We end up string next to the French teacher if the group and she's happy to practice her French with us. They have been preparing this for 3 years and the two weeks camping adventure finally begins for them! Arrived at Antananarivo airport, we wish them luck for their adventure, go through custom in breeze (free 30 days visa, yeah Madagascar!) then start shopping for a local SIM card.