After our wonderful New Years Eve celebration and a relaxing day at sea, we arrived in Madagascar.

It is officially known as the Republic of Madagascar. It is the world’s fourth largest island, covering 228,000 square miles. It is the second largest island country second only to Indonesia. Each region of Madagascar was ruled independently until the early 19th century, when it was united as the Kingdom of Madagascar. In 1896, France annexed the area, which is why Creole (African-French) is spoken. The main language is Malagasy, but it has 22 different dialects.

The French gave Madagascar their independence in 1960, but it remains a popular retirement area for the French citizens. The country has undergone numerous types of governments. After 4 political transitions and 1 coup they are currently considered a constitutional governance. The country has a population of 32 million citizens. The main religion is Christianity, probably from the French influence and 7% of the citizens are Muslims, but the mosques are not fancy and the women do not have to cover themselves.

Our ship docked in Antsiranana, which was originally named Diego-Suarez in 1506, after a Portuguese naval captain. The bay is protected and had an available source for coal, which was important to the French to power their steam ships in the 1890s. Antsiranana is one of the smallest cities with a population of 130,000, but the urban area around the city is very densely populated with a population of 880,000. About 30% of the homes have electricity with another 10% relying on solar power.

It was a tender port, where we used the ship’s life boats. We watched the local citizens, wash their clothes at the port.

We had a nice welcome at the pier..

Our tour for the day was to a national park. We were in an SUV with two other guests, a driver and our tour guide who went by Garry. The other passengers were from Germany, so there was a bit of a communication gap between German, English, and Malagasy.

Tuk-Tuks are the main source of public transportation and we were a bit jealous that we weren’t riding in one of those..lol

A few pictures as we drove out of the city..

Road side food stands were everywhere

After the French left, lumber became a very precious commodity, as it was used to build small houses in the country side. It is still used as fuel for cooking.

The never ending search for wood, has created clear cut harvest practices. This has led to severe erosion issues, which did not exist before the 1970s. To protect roads, the government has tried to create barriers.

Every mode of transportation is used to move products to the small markets along the road

It was holiday break for the local children, so as we drove by, they enthusiastically waved and yelled, “Salbia va gar” which Garry told us meant Hello White Skin. But when we looked it up we think they were saying Salama Vegar, which means hello and be happy. Either way, we loved it and waved back. We mention there was abit of a communication problem…lol

The rural houses are extremely extremely small, with one room, a dirt floor, and yellow jugs outside for obtaining water.

Residents are either farmers or merchants. Rice is eaten with each meal and instead of drinking coffee, they chew on tree leaves, which gives the same stimulant effect.

The children in Madagascar work very hard to help their families…

After an hour and a half drive, we reached Amber Mountain National Park. At one time, it was privately owned by a French couple. They brought in many non-native plants and trees that have thrived, such as Eucalyptus. The national park has one road in. This led to some very interesting passing and parking situations.

The area was gifted to the Kingdom of Madagascar and it became a national park on October 28, 1958. It is one of the few areas in the north that has not been clear cut and thus, does not have an erosion problem. The park is one of the most biologically diverse places in all of Madagascar with seventy-five species of birds, twenty-five species of mammals, and fifty-nine species of reptiles. (We did not get to stop at the visitor center, but just took pictures as we drove by)

It had rained the day before, so it was a bit of a muddy hike to the trail

Garry was our guide through the park. He looked around the bottom of the trees to find the world’s smallest chameleon

High in the tree canopies, are Lemurs. The park has 7 types of lemurs, 5 are nocturnal. The females are pregnant for 3 months and nurse for 3 months, then the baby becomes part of the family group. They are extremely agile and fast!!

The bird nests were intricate and interesting

We walked past a pond that had hundreds maybe thousands of yellow frogs. The croaking sound was deafening but very cool…

We encountered more Lemurs.

There were large snails and a 6 foot snake along the trail

We went to a small waterfall. It would be interesting to see it during the rainy season as there was not much water flowing over it.

The cascade was very beautiful and peaceful

While leaving the waterfall area, Garry grabbed Jim as he nearly walked into a wasp “nest” that was hanging over the trail.

The forest had many interesting plants, including pineapple.

We had a short break for a local drink and snack at the park’s campground. For the day some of the shelters were used as craft huts.

While eating our snack, we were entertained by a chameleon with the help of one of the guides.

Our final destination in the park was to what Garry called Grande Waterfalls. Don’t know if that is the official name but that’s what we will go with. The trail was nicely marked but very crowded with people and lemurs

We can only imagine what this waterfalls, looks like in the rainy season, probably pretty impressive.

We had enjoyed the national park and had a great appreciation for the conservation efforts that had been made to preserve and protect the area. On our way back to the port, we made two stops, one was at an abandoned school. We walked to the third floor for a view of the area.

While there, we watched two boys get drinks from the well, a woman also bathed, while another washed clothes. It gave us a great appreciation for the struggle to live each day.

Our last stop was back in Antsiranana, at an overlook of the bay

There were lots of vendors selling vanilla

Back to the port…even with a language barrier, we had learned about Madagascar, visited a national treasure, and enjoyed the scenery.

Even though we have been on numerous cruises, it still fascinates us to watch them bring the life boats back on board.

It was a pleasant evening as we sailed toward Reunion Island.

That night enjoyed the Teppanyaki restaurant…always one of our favorite spots!!

We only had one more port on this portion of the cruise, so after dinner, we watched the Elements show, which ended in the Final Farewell from the crew.

Back in our room for the night, we checked our progress toward Reunion Island. We received our information for the next cruise as we would be staying on the ship until Cape Town, South Africa. Jim asked Cindy, if she was trading him in, because it showed her companion as Javier Lopez Cruz…oops. The ship straightened it out the next day.