Well, there's lemurs.

Typin' this on a french keyboard with dial up, so pardon the syntax/grammar issues lol.

After our luxurious stay in South Africa, I'd be lying if I said Madagascar didn't take some getting used to.

We flew Air Madagascar from Johannesburg into the capital, Antananarivo . The plane ride itself was fun if for no other reason then that it was extroidinarily relaxed- the stewardess didn't care if you lollygagged in the aisle and I swear all of the Africaaners on the plane with us were more than slightly inebriated. The food on Air Madagascar was by far and away the best airplane food I've ever tasted- I had roast duck!

Upon arriving in Madagascar, we met with our tour guide, Angelo, who David had booked through www.rijatours.mg. After quick night catching up on sleep, we took off for Antsirabe, a lovely town that was covered in rickshaws. It was at this point in the trip that I discovered that I really do love beef of all cultures- I fell in love with the Zebu, which is basically the Madagascar cow. They're delicious.

The next day we continued to drive through the countryside, arriving at Miandrivazo in the early afternoon. It was at this point that I began to realize that the spiders of Madagascar were stalking me. First in the shower, then the bathroom, then at night, while I cowered in fear protected by a flimsy layer of mosquito netting. My relations with spiders was not improved over the course of the next several days; as we departed Miandrivazo and set off on the Tsiribihina River, I noticed spiders at every turn. In my morning tea. In my potatoes. On my legs. Swimming up to my section of the canoe. In my hair. And these are not "awww cutesy spider" sized spiders. These are the "take off your show and scream bloody murder" variety. David found it amusing, as they seem to be sexist and avoided him at all costs.

Spiders aside, the canoe trip was lovely. I felt extremely lazy as we actually didn't have to row ourselves, as Angelo had hired two boatmen. We saw many different kinds of birds, four crocodiles, and this stunning waterfall right before we arrived in Morondava, which was the end of the canoe trip. Except for the waterfall, which required a 5 minute ascent up a hillside to get to, the water on the river was pretty gross.

Madagascar is a third world country, so we did see a fair share of that on our trip. Whenever we arrived in a city, we'd be greeted by swarms of children demand "stylos, bonbons or a cadeau." We faced down a couple of scams, and I've started to really learn how much I take privacy for granted back in the U.S. During our canoe trip, as the one female, our guides did not take my, err, privacy needs into account. Each night we'd be camped on a sand bar smack in the middle of the river, with a little bit of brush, so I'd have to walk out quite a ways to make myself a blur and much less visible. Even during the day, when David asked for a bathroom break, despite the ample coverage along the riverbanks, I was traipsing the dry riverbed enviously glaring at the shrubbery across the river that could offer me the privacy I craved. Even when we did get to the banks, the local children would watch and follow David and I, so we either had to wait for them to get bored with us (10-20 minutes), or run and do our buisness in the <2 minutes we had before the descended upon us.

Along those lines did see lemurs, but the circumstances surrounding our sighting is actually quite heartwrenching. The first night, shortly after landing at our campsite, a pack of children approached us, aged between 6-13, if I had to guess. Two of them had lemurs on tight leads, and they were clearly hurting the lemurs as they dragged them behind them and occasionally yanked the lead to startle the poor creatures. David explained that animal cruelty runs rampant in third world countries- that was something I wasn't entirely prepared for.

It was frustrating because there wasn't all that much we could do- David pointed out that if we gave them money to release the lemurs, they would have profited off of capturing them and continue to do so to make more money. It was a sad situation.

On a lighter note, David had a hysterical conversation with Angelo about the different animals of Madagascar. Here's what I remember:

David: So besides crocodiles, what animals can you see in Madagascar?
Angelo: Well...there's the Ring Tailed Lemur, Aye Aye Lemur...
David: Yes, but what other animals?
Angelo: Well, you can see the Propithecus coquereli.
David: What's that?
Angelo: It's the White Lemur.
David: Yes, but what about any animals besides lemurs?
Angelo: *Blank stare*

Overall, I'd say while I enjoyed our time in Madagascar, 10 days was just enough time. The food was excellent (it was colonized by the French, after all), but the people just aren't as friendly as those in South Africa. And the humidity, heat, spiders, and smell at times can be overpowering. Still, it was great to see and made a lasting impression. On to the Comoros!