As soon as the sun comes up we crawl outside the tent. About twenty children are sitting silently in line, observing us. I wonder how long they're already here. One of them has a brown lemur on a rope on his shoulder. Sad, of course, and i try to ignore it. But of course i can't resist and soon i find the animal on my head where it starts to lick my neck, making all kinds of noises. Is it the mosquito milk he likes?

Rija tell us that these people normally have plenty of food, but they too have lost a lot due to the storm, so they're having a hard time now. Rija gives them yesterday's food (the chicken, well spend at least) and some baguettes. We have a pack of crackers left. I haven't even reached out my arm or the crackers disappear in a screaming frenzy of tumbling children. When the dust cloud settles down, the crackers are gone and the children are lying upon each other on the ground. We decide to organize things better this time and we let the kids line up orderly. They all reach out their hand and i give each of them a peppermint. They've probably never tasted anything like it, because they chew with surprised looks. But i can tell they like it.

Tsiribihina banks

Around eight o'clock we begin the last part of our river trip, another five hours downstream. There's not much to see so we wave at the people on the banks, and they all wave back in enthusiasm. Rija entertains us with stories. He tells about some boys who wanted to sail from Madagascar to Jamaica, (13.000 kms), in a pirogue full of marihuana, to attend Bob Marley's funeral. The police caught them smoking in their boat, after 10 kilometers.

It's fady in this region to have chicken on board. It brings bad luck and the boat will sink. Thank god we already ate ours!

The nature is slowly changing and becomes more spectacular. On the left and right we see steep cliffs with lush jungle, but yet different as what we've previously seen. After some more hours of rowing we finally reach our destination.

While Rija prepares lunch we say goodbye to Mr. Langa, who has worked like a dog the past days and is now beginning his 14-day return trip. We hand him some money and shake his hand. He can probably use the money well, since he has ten kids to take care of.

We see a bright green colored chameleon (finally!) and in the shadow of a tree we enjoy lunch. Again, we're an attraction to the crowd around us. We take a few bites of our food and give the rest to the children. They eat it in no-time with happy faces. The fat pasta must be a welcome variety to the eternity of rice.

Our trip continues by Zebu car. It was waiting already when we arrived by boat but it takes a long time to load it up, so we decide to go ahead by foot. We're not getting very far, however; after five minutes of walking the path changes into a river. So we decide to wait for the car which arrives a few minutes later, carrying our luggage, with a relaxing Rija on top. We climb on the car but soon it partly collapses and an emergency repair has to be undertaken. The car sinks away in the mud a few times, and the poor zebus are badly beaten to get them to pull the heavy load.

Further down, a river has to be crossed. In a desperate attempt to keep our luggage dry we have to hold it high above our heads. This is certainly not the most comfortable way of transportation! Last week, the water level was much higher, Rija tells us.

We pass a tiny village and from every place children come out to watch us. This is a very isolated and primitive area where a plastic water bottle seems to be something unusual. It's hard to imagine we will sleep in a real hotel tonight. They're even supposed to have cold beers!

The road is now dry and we have a pleasant walk behind the zebu car. Everywhere we go, countless children follow us. Huge baobabs are around us. Children drive their zebu-herds over the dusty road which is covered in a mysterious golden glow by the low sun. When we reach a second village of not more than a handful of cottages along a sandy road, life seems to have come to a stop. Everyone greets us and there are many, many children. I hear what sounds like thousands of voices saying "salama vazaha!". Everyone asks our name or wants to have a picture taken. This must be what it feels like to be a movie star!

On the way home with the zebus

To my surprise, there seems to be something like a hotel indeed. Here in the middle of nowhere is an area, surrounded by wooden poles, with some wooden bungalows. In the middle sits a terrace situated around a gigantic baobab. We are appointed to cabin nr. 1, of course no one else is here. Clearly instructed, the children remain outside the compound but keep trying to attract our attention from behind the wooden poles.
With a lot of noise a generator is kicked on, and behold, there's light. It turns out there's also a public shower, containing a bucket filled with the well known muddy river water.

It has become dark by now and impressive spaceship-sized insects are circling around the light, along with many other indefinable animals. From the bar, where they indeed do have cold beers, sounds non stop malagasy music. It's played on such a volume that nothing but distorted noise remains. It turns out that behind the bar is a local cinema and the music comes from Malagasy films. Villagers can come and watch a film here for 10 cents.

We share our beers with the owner of the zebu car (which he happily accepts) and i try to start a conversation with him. He says that he's very cold. While we are sweating he's wearing a winter jacket! For dinner there are two choices: rice with tame duck or rice with wild duck. We take the 2nd option. The dogs will probably still be thankful for the bones we fed them.

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