Just NB

For future reference (mine a well), I've divided the trip (and my future posts) into 4 different trips. I haven't posted any of my vacation posts in order, so until I'm finished this will always be the first post you see on my blog. Trip #1 On this part of the trip, we flew from Tamatave to Tana, had an appointment with a local jeweler and designed our own jewelry, and then flew to Morondava. Then, we visited Baobab Alley , spent the night at Camp Amoureux  (eek). The next morning we drove to Bemaraha Park, where we spent the night at Vazimba Hotel. The next morning we took a quick tour along the Manambolo River and then finished the very long drive back to Morondava. Trip #2 This was the adventourous part of our trip. We took a very early morning flight from Morondava to Tana, then drive from Tana to Anstirabe and spent the night at the Royal Hotel. The next morning we took a tour of Antsirabe town and drove to Ranomafana Park . We spent the night at Setam Lod...

I last left off here , on Part 1 of my Trip Parts 1 to 4 . Yes, it would have made sense post vacation posts in order, but I'm special sometimes and don't necessary pay attention to logic. After we left Camp Amoureux, we were cold and freezing. And tired. We drove for a couple of hours and then had the joy of hopping on one of Madagascar's lovely ferries! We had a few minutes to sit around and...take in the area (and smells) so of course I took random pictures of not much anything. Normally when I see little kids, I'm either prepared for them to a) begin screaming and crying, because they have never seen anything as big or as white as me; or b) ask for candy. Here? They want our empty water bottles to transport water, milk, or oil. I kind of had a "poverty is sad" moment here. The kids don't even ask for candy...the ask for empty plastic bottles. We weren't terribly fond of our transport, but things could have been A LOT worse. After...

Well, it's obvious from my last post that I was enjoying my relaxing day at the pool at Palissandre hotel. (I'm not sure what Palissandre translates to in English, but it's a very nice type of wood.) Anyway, travelling in (or to or from) Madagascar is always a surprise bag of fun. We thought we would have another half day in Morondava, but the lovely Air Madagascar cancelled our flight which meant flying out at 07h10, which meant getting up at 04h45. We arrived in Tana with a near disaster due to some upset stomach. I could probably start another blog, called, " Spending 25% of My Life in the Various Toilets of Madagascar ". I obviously wouldn't get into details, but the unique experiences that I've had here because of my super lame stomach have been more than interesting. Our guides (who are seriously NOT fantastic and already getting on our nerves) picked us up at the airport, we did a little shopping for food on hiking days, picked up Louis' vi...

Not too much new to report on the Martin girls. I'm trying to take them to the market today....which is always an experience... They are suffering through the effects of jet lag...but they're on holiday so they can sleep as they wish. I think by the time we leave on Saturday, they'll be fine. The first part of our trip focuses Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park. We start at in Toamasina (a.k.a Tamatave), fly to Tana (a.k.a Antananarivo), then fly to Morondava. Because of flight connections, we leave VERY early and we spend four our five hours in Tana. There's lots to do there if we get our act together and get a driver... After we arrive in Morondava, we'll drive to Bemaraha National Park and Nature Reserve, where we'll spend roughly three days. "The spectacular mineral forest of Tsingy de Bemaraha stands on the western coast of Madagascar . Tsingy is the Malagasy word for “walking on tiptoes” and the nearly impenetrable labyrinth of limestone nee...