Sep 3, 2018 - Bon's Travels

9-3 From Bon's texts: had been out all day wandering around w/ Cathy, Kim from Korea and Gemma from Catalonia. We all will leave tomorrow for a trip south and then west to see the baobob trees. Not all that far, but roads horrible (!)! So everyone says 4-6 hours. Then a day to drive to baobob area, a day to see and the reverse to Tana(Antananavo-Capital) for a night and then head north to Nosy Be. From there some day trips to parks, and snorkeling and then?? Fun group in the dorm.

Aug 28, 2018 - Bon Flies to Addis Ababa &Madagascar

Photos were sent from Bon's friend, Cathy Stuart, who was traveling with them. 8-28 She left amidst a complex of 'projects'...finishing our year + 'remodel' job, buying a piece of land, selling 2 houses to pay for the land, moving tenants into and out of rentals, and finally getting and attempting to complete an offer on one of the 2 for sale. The morning was spent attempting to pack! She said it was the worst packing job ever! Our good friend Ernie got her to the airport 10 minutes to boarding! Yahoo! Way to go Ernie!! Flights: To...

Aug 6, 2018 - Antananarivo

Monday 6th August 2018 Antananarivo Up at 7am today, down for breakfast in the hotel restaurant then on the bus for our trip to the Lemur Park where we saw 6 diurnal varieties of lemurs that reside in the park. It was a very pleasant place set beside a river. We had many photo opportunities and were able to get very up close and personal with the lemurs, who can jump an amazingly long way across the branches. After the park visit, we went back into town to the supermarket where we bought some things then went to the craft market and bought...

Aug 5, 2018 - Toliara to Antananarivo

Sunday 5th August 2018 Ifaty to Toliara to Antananarivo We had a leisurely start to the day and were then picked up at 11:00am from the hotel for our 20++km drive to Toliara Airport for our afternoon flight to Antananarivo. Arrived at the airport to be told that our flight due at 2:05pm had been delayed by 7 hours, but there was a possibility that there may be seats on the 5:35pm flight but that we wouldn’t know for a number of hours. So we lined up our bags and sat and waited, with a few updates from our guide. When the airport terminal...

Aug 2, 2018 - Isalo National Park then to Ifaty

Wednesday 1st August 2018 Isalo National Park Today was fine, cool in the morning, warming up during the day. After breakfast we set off to the Isalo National Park nearby and walked into the forest spotting lemurs and birds. We saw a very special lemur, Verreaux’s white lemur, quite large and very distinctive brown markings, nearby were a whole heap of ring tailed lemurs, the symbol of Madagascar, so beautiful and very friendly- they came quite close to us, less than a metre away. Then they hung around in the picnic area where we were, we...

Jul 31, 2018 - Ranomafana to Ranohira (Isalo National Park)

Tuesday 31st July 2018 Ranomafana to Ranohira (Isalo National Park) Today we set off at 7:00am from the beautiful Ranomafana National Park where we had seen a number of lemurs, towards the south west. The road wound through firstly rain forest then past mountain ranges with jutting granite cliff faces to the second largest city on Madagascar Fianarantsoa, then on to drier country than we have seen so far, the villages were firstly of solid brick with thatched roofs then the huts became less fancy. We saw cattle and then scrubland burnt off...

Jul 30, 2018 - Ambositra to Ranomafana National Park

Antsirabe to Ambositra then Ranomafana National Park Set off after breakfast through the countryside and arrived at lunchtime in Ambositra, the main wood carving town in this part of Madagascar. We did some shopping buying a few items in some interesting shops full of really well made local handicrafts. After lunch we continued on the long drive to the village of Ranomafana, where we stayed in a very nice hotel. In the afternoon, we stopped at a very beautiful viewing spot, where we had a view over the whole of a very large valley. After a...

Jul 28, 2018 - Andasibe-Mantadia National Park then to Antsirabe

Friday 27th July 2018 Andasibe-Mantadia National Park Up early this morning for a drive into the rain forest from the lodge, then a walk in the muddy rain forest looking for lemurs and any other animals and birds that we could see. Lynn had forgotten her raincoat but Margaret, a lady in our group, kindly lent her a spare coat to use. We spotted lemurs high in the trees as we walked along the muddy tracks for about 2-3 hours. When we got back, we had a picnic lunch in a little shelter near the track, then back to the lodge. After a short...

Jul 26, 2018 - Antananarivo to Andasibe-Mantady National Park

Thursday 26th July 2018 Mauritius to Antananarivo then Andasibe-Mantadia National Park Today we had a huge and delicious buffet breakfast in the hotel and went for a walk with Tanya and Geoff through a nearby village then back to the hotel, packed up and went to the airport for our flight to Antananarivo in Madagascar at 2:00pm. Arrived there around 4:00pm and experienced quite a long delay at immigration with queuing and finding our luggage in a total melee - one carousel, 4 flights, hundreds of people, large boxes etc. Eventually we...

May 14, 2018 - The Third and Final Hike

Our final hike of the trip was a day hike through yet a third type of terrain. Our first trek provided the lush green of the forest and rice paddies; the second hike was through rugged mountain-like terrain; and this last hike was through an area that reminded many of us of the desert canyons of the American Southwest. It came complete with sandstone cliffs, slot canyons, scorpions, cactus and the strange-looking baobab tree which can live more than 1,000 years!

May 14, 2018 - The Beach

Our tour officially ended at a beach resort near the town of Tulear. I’ve had two days to relax in a beautiful setting on the Indian Ocean and all the little pleasures that involves, like sipping a cold beer under a palm tree. The coral reef off the coast of Tulear is the fifth largest in the world. Four of us hired an outrigger canoe with a sail for the day and the boat owner and his assistant took us out to the reef where we were able to snorkel. Along the way we stopped out on the water and bought four fish and four lobsters from some...

May 13, 2018 - The Animals of Madagascar

Madagascar is home to many types of animals that are found nowhere else on earth. However, there are probably many misconceptions about what types of animals one might see. There are none of the large animals that are commonly associated with Africa, like lions and giraffes. Hippos were once at home here but long ago became instinct because of human hunting. Today one is most likely to see reptiles, unusual insects (like the hissing cockroach) and the occasional lemur. We have been quite lucky in seeing three different species of lemurs...