November 16, Madagascar, Lokobe:”Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all of one’s lifetime”. Mark Twain

Since we spent the night in Madagascar we signed up for another tour here with Across Africa to Discover Lokobe Nature Reserve tour for 6 hours. The tour includes discovering the reserve, encountering Lemurs, stopping at the Ambatozavazy Village.  We drive by vans to Ampasipohy which is a 39 minute drive to a small village on the south end of Nosy Be. Then we board a pirogue for a 45 minute boat ride viewing the lush landscapes composed of mangrove forests of the Travelers Tree (Ravinala) and the wild rower!  The village is the e trance to the park.  Inside the forest we walk and our guide shows and tells us about the rich flora and fauna.  The guides also share information on the medicinal value of the plants as we see macaco, boa snakes, chameleons and lemurs.  After the tour we have a delicious meal under a shaded pagoda of seafood before getting in our pirogues and heading back to shore.  The pirogues are how the children get back and forth to school. 

Some history of Madagascar from my friend and guest speaker Kate Ross.  Eighty eight million years ago Madagascar broke off from all other land and it developed its own unique plant and animal life. It’s like a living laboratory studying evolution as a living science.  Who settled there first is uncertain but over time there has been intermarriage with local groups.   Half of the people descended from people from Borneo. Africans were probably brought there by slave trade Malagasy is their language.  Ride came first as a live plant and became a crop.  Ports were established on the coastline and built up 8 ft high and 29 ft thick to protect the settlers.  Black Death may have killed most of the settlers. Portuguese were the first explorers to locate the island and they labeled it in 1502.  The name means “ in the midst of the water”.  Pirates became more prevalent and raided shops even in port. Then the Dutch, French and English came but none thought it worth fighting for.  Captain was even a raider here.  Madagascar has the worlds only pirate cemetery in the world. Swords on stones mark them. Cities and names often have long names with up to 17 letters!  Most people had no last name.  Sometimes their last names were the cities they were from. King Andrianampoinimerina was one example of a long name.  Missionaries taught children skills like iron works, printing and established an alphabet.  CQWX are letters not used in their language. Three queens ruled for many years to the same prime minister .  In 1943 the island was a French territory but returned back to the  Madagasy.  In 1”960 it gained its independence.  People are like plants in the wind.  They bow down and rise up again.  

The village school

The small church in the fishing village where climb into the pirogues

One families shelter , abode and place to sell items

Every village has a monument to signify their beliefs and faith

Dan on his way to the pirogues 

Charles our guide getting everyone in.  The pirogues only hold four to five people.   We enter from the water and exit into the water.  They are rustic very basic 


Chuck is up front and Betsy is in front of me.  We are all roped together and pulled by an older larger boat.  The skipper has a lawn motor engine that he runs the prop with by use of some kind of fan belt!!!! We go very slowly.  This is how the village we go to sends their children back and forth to school each day .

This is the old boat that pulls us along

You can see several of us tied together.  We probably had 20 pirogues

Betsy and I had to bail all the way there

Dan was pretty excited about seeing this huge chameleon!!

Can you see the boa constrictor ???

Here’s another shot of him!  Another exciting critter for Dan!

Can you see the flat tailed camouflaged chameleon on the tree? 

Here’s another view of the critter ; you can see his eyes at the bottom and his pointed nose


And look at this lizard!  Such colors

Look how big this Jack fruit is compared to Betsy’s hand!

Dan found a cicada casing that they shed.  We could hear them everywhere.  

Look at this tiny lizard perched on a leaf!   He never moved as we peered at him. He just froze in place 

Charles explains more of our surroundings and the value of the forest

The cicada bug is the brown glob in the middle of the photo

Can you see the lemur hiding in this rotted out tree??

At the village I thought it was laundry day then the guide said oh no, they are displaying their wares!!

Here was our pagoda type shelter for our lunch complete with table cloths , plates, napkins and glasses. 

A typical plate of lunch with fish, bread, cabbage, and rice 

And we had the local beer too!  Chuck and Betsy dug in :)


Heading back to where we started showing Chuck and Betsy. 

A video of our water trip 

This was our gecko



Then we celebrated Betsy’s birthday with friends at the Canaletto a night later.  It was delicious and a real treat!


Here was our group; crazy Dan, me, my friend Kate, Ruth Macy who organized our tour, Betsy and Chuck