Fenoevo

We picked a taxi-brousse to take us through the misty hills looking over Ranomafana Sud Valley. There a dense tropical flora hosts all kinds of friendly creatures: lemurs, bats, anacondas, and all kinds of bugs like the crasy looking girafe ants. The unconfortable laury packed with at least 40 passengers bouncing on rice bags, squeezed between chickens and dried fish for 6 hours was a fun ride. We stopped in Fenoevo and stayed overnight at the local doctor's place.
He and his wife have lived here for the past two years; right after he finished his medical studies at the Tulear University and was appointed to this isolated location. "That's my own little paradise here" he said showing us the fish pond he created by taking advantage of the water pump installed behind the health facility. Their house was quiet modest but they have a full set of furnitures and dishes: rich rural folks! A young maid helped at the kitchen while we discussed the life of a rural doctor, its advantages and constraints and the pulic health issues in the region.First of a long serie of rice and manioc diners. Exhausted by a long day of taxi-brousse rodeo, we fell asleep instantly. Our orange tent gloomed under the moon, contrasting with the old huts of the village.
In the quiet night, all we could hear was the soft music of a spring irrigating a corner of paradise.

A narcistic companion

To accompany us all the way and make the experience more interactive, we recruted a jobless tourist guide appropriately named Narcisse. Our companion was serious on walking but spent an embarrassing amount of time flirting (and shagging) with girls in each village we stopped, constantly made stupid jokes designed to cheer-up flocks of tour-operator middle-class French tourists, and became dumber than a dog everytime food was made available to him whether in form of a cooked plate of rice or wild guavas. He'd ususally scarf down the largest portions his body could humanly absorb in a noisy barbarian manner. We looked at him in turns exasperated, bemuzed, offended and embarassed to impose such company to the villagers. As a matter of fact, Narcisse managed to translate bits of conversations, while simultaneously shoveling mouthfull of boiled manioc and generously batting his eyes to the chief's daughter! But let's be fair: he walked for 30 days without complaining - even as his shoes, bag, and tent fell apart. He was not afraid to visit foreign tribes, he could sleep in a tent out in the bush and was always ready at 06:00 AM. That, not so many Malagasi are ready to achieve. As for the rest, well... it's just Narcisse, our guide extraordinaire!

Lalana Gasy

Hard to summarize a 2 months back-packing trip that allowed us to fully experience the south-east coast of Madagascar like a few people know it. While we would set our tent in the most remote villages and shared a basic meal of rice and manioc with locals most of our days, we also spent time with well-off Malagasi people around a cold THB beer or a luxurious $ 3 dish...

Our purpose was to get off the main road and walk the "lalana gasi", the trails that locals use to go from one village to the other. Similarly, our intention was to better understand the different cultures, traditions and stories of each of the tribes in this region. So we often ended up humbly accepting poor villagers' invitations to join them for dinner (we'd give in-cash contribution in the morning) and respectfully investigated their development status by asking many questions inspired by our professional background.
Everyday was different, every village was a new experience, every trail brought moments of pain and new blisters... but we made it -- and now we try to share a bit of this adventure with you.

Thanks Mr. Camus

For those who like music at a reasonable price, before you visit Madagascar, you might want to check the program of the Centre Culturel Albert Camus, one of the final bastion promoting french culture in Africa with French tax payers money. The CCAC actually offers a good selection of concerts and other cultural activities at a locally affordable fare. This month's program includes Mathieu Boogaerts and the Belmondo brothers. Not bad. Now imagine the anglophone version of this: Metallica, R Kelly and Willy Nelson's Indian Ocean tour!! There are days I want to say "Thank you Mr. Camus".