The last full day in Northern Madagascar
The next day was (already !) my last ‘full’ day in Madagascar. I felt I’d done so much and yet there was so so much more to see.
Our itinerary said we should go to Hellville and see the market (but having passed it the day before, it totally stank of fish and once was enough !) and then go to distillery to see how they manufacture perfume from the local gylan-gylan flower... but I’ve never enjoyed trips to factories and I know we would have been pressured into buying bottles for souvenirs and so I asked if, instead of wasting 2 hours doing this, I could go back to the Nosy Be Lodge to see Pepette once more.
No problem for Atou (this is when small tours are so much better too - not sure it’d have been as easy to be in agreement with 17 people instead of just 2 others).
So, we went there and I bought drinks for everybody as I felt they’d let me choose plus I didn’t want the owner of Pepette to think I was just taking advantage when I wasn’t even staying there. But he was a real nice chap (Eric, a Belgian guy) and had no problem. We were supposed to be there for 15mins but we ended staying for 1h15 and I was blissfully happy. Pepette was so lovely, very affectionate once more, half purring as a way of trying to communicate with me (it seemed). She jumped on my shoulder as soon as I walked past her pole. She was just the cutest little thing.
Eric told me that he tries to let her loose sometimes but she jumps all over the bar in excitement and “breaks like 20 glasses within 20 minutes as she’s SO fast that no one has got time to grab them before she goes flying from one table to another”. So I don’t know how he will ever overcome that. I guess these animals are not meant to be kept as pet, period, no matter how cute they are. Some of the guests I talked to later had a real problem with that. Saying that his wife had her on her shoulder quite a lot “as if Pepette was an accessory when she was real and not a toy”.
Lemurs are such sociable creatures too, I really worried that she’d miss her peers and the inter-action she should be having with them and with her mother in particular. Every time I stroked her she had her eyes half shut with delight as if it reminded her of her mother’s licking or something. Maybe I’m all wrong as she looked quite settled but as much as she was the highlight of my week, I did feel she’d paid a very high price to give me such joy. However, I could not make it better for her except by giving her plenty of attention. Her real family was so far South. There were no other ring-tailed lemurs on Nosy Be (none in the wild anyway).
I heard that they are planning to open a Lemuria Land reserve where they’d exhibit all the species of lemurs that can be found on Madagascar. That would be wonderful as some will always be very hard to see.
Of the 3 species we saw, they were completely different. Lemurs are very much like dogs in that sense where a Dalmatian is nothing like a German sherpard or a poodle.
Patrick’s back was really hurting him by our 6th day so he wanted to play it safe and avoid bumpy roads in case it got worse. Atou dropped him off at a lovely restaurant where we later went for lunch and he took the other Sylvie & I to the top of the island for a panaromic view. It was nice, but again, very Lake District like. Pepette was positively better – good choice on my part.
After our very leisurely lunch (I had a fantastic red carp – my first one but it won’t be my last !) we took Sylvie & Patrick to the Vanilla Hotel as they were going to spend an extra 3 nights there and then fly back to France via La Reunion. I had been very tempted to do that too, but I’m not a beach person and spending 3 days on my own, talking to no one was not going to make me very happy – only more lonely. And of course, I had no idea we’d be getting on so well. Patrick was so funny, he cracked me up most days. He had this very nonchalant way of saying things that were really hilarious. Men definitely have a more wicked sense of humour. I’ve never been that witty – not one of my gifts.
I had a quick shower in their room as it was so hot that we were sweating all day, even when doing very little. And then we said our good-byes, swapped email addresses and all, and maybe one day we’ll meet again, who knows... they’re keen travellers and easy-going travelling companions so I’m keeping the door open.
Atou then dropped me off at Nosy Be airport and the flight back to Tana was only 10mins late and only took 1H 20 I seem to recall.
2 nice guys from EST were waiting for me and took me to my hotel, the Plaza Tana, it was obviously for tourists only. In a nice part of town but I’ve been told that it had started to become difficult to go out due to so many people begging outside. There was even an armed guard at the gate, to protect our valuables, but it also seemed to say ‘you common people don’t belong here’ which made me slightly uneasy but I know that people can do all sorts of things out of desperation and I did feel safer knowing that someone was looking after our interests.
The staff at the Plaza Tana were all so courteous, one could see that they really want you to come back, because, well, their livehood depends on tourism really. Once more, there was only ONE computer for free internet access so when I checked-in, there were already 7 people queuing for it. So I gave up, went to my room, gave a tip to the guy who helped me bring my luggage and he was so grateful that as soon as the computer was free he came back to knock on my door, quite excitingly, as he’d seen my disappointment at not being able to log on. By then I was almost ready for bed but he had been so happy for me and so kind that I went anyway, just to make him feel valued as he so wanted to help.
The next day was (already !) my last ‘full’ day in Madagascar. I felt I’d done so much and yet there was so so much more to see.
Our itinerary said we should go to Hellville and see the market (but having passed it the day before, it totally stank of fish and once was enough !) and then go to distillery to see how they manufacture perfume from the local gylan-gylan flower... but I’ve never enjoyed trips to factories and I know we would have been pressured into buying bottles for souvenirs and so I asked if, instead of wasting 2 hours doing this, I could go back to the Nosy Be Lodge to see Pepette once more.
No problem for Atou (this is when small tours are so much better too - not sure it’d have been as easy to be in agreement with 17 people instead of just 2 others).
So, we went there and I bought drinks for everybody as I felt they’d let me choose plus I didn’t want the owner of Pepette to think I was just taking advantage when I wasn’t even staying there. But he was a real nice chap (Eric, a Belgian guy) and had no problem. We were supposed to be there for 15mins but we ended staying for 1h15 and I was blissfully happy. Pepette was so lovely, very affectionate once more, half purring as a way of trying to communicate with me (it seemed). She jumped on my shoulder as soon as I walked past her pole. She was just the cutest little thing.
Eric told me that he tries to let her loose sometimes but she jumps all over the bar in excitement and “breaks like 20 glasses within 20 minutes as she’s SO fast that no one has got time to grab them before she goes flying from one table to another”. So I don’t know how he will ever overcome that. I guess these animals are not meant to be kept as pet, period, no matter how cute they are. Some of the guests I talked to later had a real problem with that. Saying that his wife had her on her shoulder quite a lot “as if Pepette was an accessory when she was real and not a toy”.
Lemurs are such sociable creatures too, I really worried that she’d miss her peers and the inter-action she should be having with them and with her mother in particular. Every time I stroked her she had her eyes half shut with delight as if it reminded her of her mother’s licking or something. Maybe I’m all wrong as she looked quite settled but as much as she was the highlight of my week, I did feel she’d paid a very high price to give me such joy. However, I could not make it better for her except by giving her plenty of attention. Her real family was so far South. There were no other ring-tailed lemurs on Nosy Be (none in the wild anyway).
I heard that they are planning to open a Lemuria Land reserve where they’d exhibit all the species of lemurs that can be found on Madagascar. That would be wonderful as some will always be very hard to see.
Of the 3 species we saw, they were completely different. Lemurs are very much like dogs in that sense where a Dalmatian is nothing like a German sherpard or a poodle.
Patrick’s back was really hurting him by our 6th day so he wanted to play it safe and avoid bumpy roads in case it got worse. Atou dropped him off at a lovely restaurant where we later went for lunch and he took the other Sylvie & I to the top of the island for a panaromic view. It was nice, but again, very Lake District like. Pepette was positively better – good choice on my part.
After our very leisurely lunch (I had a fantastic red carp – my first one but it won’t be my last !) we took Sylvie & Patrick to the Vanilla Hotel as they were going to spend an extra 3 nights there and then fly back to France via La Reunion. I had been very tempted to do that too, but I’m not a beach person and spending 3 days on my own, talking to no one was not going to make me very happy – only more lonely. And of course, I had no idea we’d be getting on so well. Patrick was so funny, he cracked me up most days. He had this very nonchalant way of saying things that were really hilarious. Men definitely have a more wicked sense of humour. I’ve never been that witty – not one of my gifts.
I had a quick shower in their room as it was so hot that we were sweating all day, even when doing very little. And then we said our good-byes, swapped email addresses and all, and maybe one day we’ll meet again, who knows... they’re keen travellers and easy-going travelling companions so I’m keeping the door open.
Atou then dropped me off at Nosy Be airport and the flight back to Tana was only 10mins late and only took 1H 20 I seem to recall.
2 nice guys from EST were waiting for me and took me to my hotel, the Plaza Tana, it was obviously for tourists only. In a nice part of town but I’ve been told that it had started to become difficult to go out due to so many people begging outside. There was even an armed guard at the gate, to protect our valuables, but it also seemed to say ‘you common people don’t belong here’ which made me slightly uneasy but I know that people can do all sorts of things out of desperation and I did feel safer knowing that someone was looking after our interests.
The staff at the Plaza Tana were all so courteous, one could see that they really want you to come back, because, well, their livehood depends on tourism really. Once more, there was only ONE computer for free internet access so when I checked-in, there were already 7 people queuing for it. So I gave up, went to my room, gave a tip to the guy who helped me bring my luggage and he was so grateful that as soon as the computer was free he came back to knock on my door, quite excitingly, as he’d seen my disappointment at not being able to log on. By then I was almost ready for bed but he had been so happy for me and so kind that I went anyway, just to make him feel valued as he so wanted to help.
posted by Sylvie at 10:06 PM
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