Marxem de Tana / We're leaving Tana

Dema marxem de Madagascar, be si els vols no s'endarrereixen, es clar. Hem passat mes de sis setmanes en aquesta illa, primer convivint amb la canalla de la llar que Yamuna hi te organitzada i despres visitant un xic altres parts del Pais. Ha estat una experiencia extraordinaria, especialment al tenir el privilegi de coneixer tota aquesta canalla i la gent que hi treballa cada dia, veure com viuen i acostar-nos al seu mon. .Visitar els parcs que hem vist i descobrir la fauna i la flora de l'illa tambe ha estat increible; feia anys que teniem Madagascar al cap i per una rao o altra mai hi haviem arribat, ara sabem que hi volem tornar! Habitar a la ciutat ens ha ensenyat com sobreviu molta gent, com tiren endavant dia rere dia, entre el fum dels cotxes, la manca de serveis per nosaltres basics, l'olor de les escombraries descomposant-se i les plujes torrencials que varen arribar amb el Nadal i que ben segur continuaran al llarg de tot el mes. Ens hem acostumat a comprar al mercat local i a veure les mateixes cares que et saluden al sortir de casa cada mati, a agafar els busos del barri i trobar-hi la mateixa gent, a fer i tornar a fer el cami envoltat dels familiars venedors, de veure els camps d'arros que ha crescut i ja han començat a segar, de trobar durant setmanes el terra sempre ple de peles de "lixi", per ara ja no veure'n doncs la temporada s'ha acabat. Han arribat les prunes i amb elles nosaltres ens n'anem. Veloma Madagascar!

Tomorrow, unless the flight is delayed, we'll be leaving Madagascar. We have enjoyed more than six weeks on the island; first sharing our time with the children Yamuna houses in their home and later traveling to other places. It has been an extraordinary journey and we have been very fortunate to meet all these kids and their carers and to get to know a little how they live. Visiting some of their parks we have discovered new flora and fauna to us. We always wanted to go to Madagascar and now we know we want to come back! Living in the city has taught us how some locals survive, how they fight each day amongst the car fumes, the lack of some basic services, the stench of the decomposing rubbish and the torrential rain they endured after Christmas and that will stay for a while. We have become accostumed to shopping in the neighbourhood market and to seeing the same faces greeting us every morning when leaving home, to catching the local buses and to finding the same people every day doing again and again the same route surrounded by the same vendors, seeing the rice fields growing and being harvested and also seeing the floor constantly covered in lychee peels and stones. Now these have disappeared as their season has ended and the plums have arrived. We are leaving Madagascar too. Veloma!

Lemurs, leeches and chameleons/Lemurs, camaleons i sangoneres

We are back in Tana having spent a week visiting this beautiful island. There are no motorways here and so our journey of approximately 800km south took us Monday afternoon and all of Tuesday to get there…but it was worth it. Our first stop was Isalo National Park where we spent a day first climbing up the huge escarpment having Bara tombs pointed out to us (actually pointing at tombs is fady – taboo- here and so our guide did it with his knuckle) and then crossing a plain towards a natural plunge pool. We walked about 12km and saw plenty of Madagascan wildlife…technicolour grasshoppers, owls, a kingfisher, lizards, a chameleon and a troop of ring-tailed lemurs!
We then moved on to Ranomafana, but on route stopped at Anjà, where Frank, our one-armed guide, showed us more wildlife and took us scrambling over almost vertical granite rock faces.
Ranomafana is in the jungle and so we expected rain but instead had the most brilliant sunshine and again we saw lots of flora and fauna including leeches, two of which managed to attach themselves to Manel and Blanche, who were unaware that their blood was being sucked until we saw the stain on their T-shirts!
After the noise, pollution and dirt of Tana, these few days away were a refreshing change.

Tornem a ser a Tana havent passat una setmana visitant aquesta magnifica illa. No hi ha autopistes aixi que el nostre viatge de 800km cap al sud va durar la tarda de dilluns i tot dimarts per arribar-hi…pero va valdre la pena. La primera parada va ser al Parc Nacional d’Isalo on vam passar el dia, varem escalar un penyassegat mentre ens ensenyaven tombes Bara indicades sense assenyalar (en realitat assenyalar es fady – tabu- i per tant el guia ho va fer amb el puny), i seguidament atravessant una plana en direccio a una piscina natural. Vam caminar 12km i vam veure molts animals de Madagascar…grills que semblaven haver caigut dins un pot de pintura, mussols, un marti pescador, llangardaixos, un camaleo i una tropa de lemurs!
D’aqui ens vam dirigir a Ranomafana, pero de cami parant a Anjà, on en Frank, el nostre guia amb un sol un braç, ens va ensenyar mes animals i ens va pujar a una roca practicament vertical.
Ranomafana es a la jungla per tant ens esperavem pluja, pero sorprenentment vam tenir molt de sol, i de nou vam veure molta flora i fauna incluint sangoneres, dos de les quals van aconseguir enganxar-se a en Manel i a la Blanche, que no s'en van adonar fins que van veure la taca de sang que restava a les seves samarretes!
Despres del soroll, la contaminacio i la bruticia de Tana, aquests dies han sigut un canvi molt agradable.

Heading south from Tana / Cap al sud de Tana

Avui es el primer dia que no hem anat a Tsinjo, el centre d'acollida de canalla, i ens preparem per marxar a descobrir un xic d'aquest extraordinari pais. Anirem cap al sud i despres cap a l'oest. El territori es molt gran i les infraestructures un xic precaries i per tant suposem - i ens ho confirmen- no podrem fer molts quilometres cada dia, o sigui que anirem tant a poc a poc com calgui, disfrutant pero de la rica varietat dels paissatges que anirem trobant.

Avui es el primer dia que no passarem per la casa-camio que hem vist cada dia prop de Fianarivo, tampoc veurem els venedors ambulants que ocupen els dos costats de la carretera que hem seguit gairebe cada dia del darrer mes, pero ben segur que en veurem d'altres, potser fins venent coses diferents i tot. Avui tambe es el primer dia que hem fet la motxila, despres de 30 dies disfrutant de tenir la roba en un armari... ja s'acosta el dia de deixar Madagascar i ens ha anat be la practica!

Today is the first day we haven't been to Tsinjo, the children's home. Instead we are getting ready to travel south first and then west, to see some of this extraordinary country. This is a very large place and the roads are not necessarily in tip-top condition, so we don't expect to travel very far every day, but this will allow us the opportunity to enjoy each and every one of the different landscapes we'll pass.

Today is the first we will not pass the lorry-house which we pass near Fianarivo on our way to the home, nor will we see the many sellers that populate both sides of the road, but we are sure to see many others along our route, maybe even selling different items. Today is also the first day we have had to pack our rucksacks after 30 days of enjoying the use of a wardrobe... we'll soon be leaving Madagascar and so the practice was convinient!