From Antananarivo (Tana) we caught a taxi-brousse (bush taxi) to the Perinet National Park.
The Malagasy have a saying that ‘the human is not the chicken’- which may not sound that profound, but has a profound impact on their public services (compared to Indonesia that is J). For long trips (approx greater than 4 hrs) they will only pack in 3 people to a seat (15 to a taxi) –and only 5 per seat (25 plus children) for shorter trips. There are also toilet stops !! where the women take one side of the road and the men the other (thank God I’ve been wearing skirts!) and the driver will wait patiently for passengers to buy snacks through the window of the taxi…in fact they are so patient in waiting for people (and $) [1st to sell enough tickets to fill the seats and second for all the ticket holders to finish their shopping and odd jobs for the day and congregate at the taxi brousse at the same time] that they often leave 2 to 3 hrs after they are ‘scheduled’. For this the Malagasy have another phrase: ‘mura mura’ which describes their attitude to life and means ‘slowly slowly’.
The bungalow accomodation here we stayed was about 3hrs taxi-brousse (bush taxi) ride from Tana via Moramanga. The bungalows and resteraunt were nestled in along a riverbed overlooking the national park.
The next morning, snuggled up under a doona and mozzie net, I was woken up (4.30am!) to the sound of the indri-indri hooting and howling in the forest to mark and protect their territory. Two animals can make such an amazing racket! We took a day tour with our guide ‘Leiver’ and saw so many animals…
The common brown lemur
Sifaka’s (white golden and black)
Indri-indri (having a bad hair day!)
The hedgehog tenrec (moved too fast for me to get a piccy)
Ring-tailed mongoose (ditto- but very cool looking critter!)
Parsons chameleon
Leaf chameleon
Day gecko
Millipedes…
The coolest thing though were the groups of Malagasy school children seeing their national parks and native animals wild for the first time. I was aware that a programme had been set up to educate Malagasy communities about the value of the unique natural environment of which they are part…and I was stoked to see it in action.
After 6hrs of trapesing through the ‘jungle’ animal spotting, I still hadn’t had enough and we headed into Andasibe, a small town 2 km walk from the park entrance to have a look and find some lunch. The shell of an imposing colonial style hotel marked the beginning of the town. Prince Charles and David Attenborough had stayed here in its glory days. No more. The town was hot, dusty and sprawled either side of a rail line that now transported supplies to Tana. The place seemed largely deserted under the weight of the afternoon heat- except for a bunch of kids set free from school playing soccer.
The train was due in 30 min…or 4 hrs, so I sought the shade and promise of good food at a small wooden ‘hotely’- or ‘warung’ as they would call it in Indonesia. I love eating at such places. The Australian government stongly warns travellers against it, but then again- if you took all your travel advice from them you would spend your whole holiday worrying… Such eateries are dotted all over the third world and are invariably constructed from wood and tarpaulins. It’s often dim inside, with a low roof and wooden tables protected with garish plastic table clothes. Those of us who regularly eat in these places know that its where the locals eat – so the food is usually simple, cheap and absolutely delicious (or you spend the next 24hrs on the toilet with your head over a bucket!). The family lives behind and the menu is… well, I never had any luck with reading menus in Madagascar, but I ended up with a divinely delicious meal of mildly flavoured butterbeans, carrots and green beans with chilli, rice and ‘rice water’. I think ‘rice water’ is a povo-special invention – but it almost had a sweet nutty flavour.
Recipe
Cook your rice.
Burn it. If you don’t want to burn it before eating, scoop out the cooked rice for your meal, then slowly heat the rice stuck to the bottom of the pan until the edges curl up brown.
Add water. Boil.
Serve resulting hot tea coloured water to your guests.
Warn guests about rice dregs.
Enjoy Madagascan cultural experience.
Let me know what you think once you’ve tried it!
The following day it was time to leave my travelling partner and go our separate ways- he was heading to Ile St Marie to the north-east and I was heading back to Tana to catch a flight to Tolear in the south-west. We got up early, skipped breakfast to be out at the T-junction on time for the taxi-brousse at 7.30 am…and waited. Then we realised it was Sunday.
It was so beautiful, people walking to church along the road in little groups through the clearing fog. Old men in suits and hat, 1950’s style. Women in colourful long dresses and wide brimmed straw hats. “Bonjour Madamoiselle!’ ‘Salama!’ Everyone in their Sunday best. We sat on our bags and waited. The church bells rang. The men fixing the truck on the corner finished putting all the pieces back in and push started it down the hill. The road was deserted. The taxi-brousse never came, but several hours later a passer-by took us to Moramanga.
No comments:
Post a Comment