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Day 12. Evatraha
Today we need to move out of our bungalow in Lavasoa because
it's booked. We end up in "the Studio", an even
better bungalow with a kitchen and a fridge. It's a special
experience to see all the way over the bay from behind the bar
in your kitchen - what a view! Today we visit Evatraha, a small
fishing village and a personal highlight of Fort Dauphin to
me, because of the spectacular viewpoint over the village, with
the lagune, the mountains and Fort Dauphin in the backdrop.
The plan was to go by boat but a fierce wind blows today, and
although we won't sail on open sea, we ask Jerome to look for
alternative transportation - keeping in mind earlier bad experiences
with boats in Madagascar. Jerome runs off and returns 1,5 hour
later with a very descent 4WD.
We are accompanied by an old, friendly French man and a young
Malagasy girl. We wonder if perhaps the girl is his (grand)
daughter, but he shouts in triumph "it's
my wife!!", takes her in the front and wraps his arm around
her.
After an hour (what a difference with yesterday's minibus!)
we continue by foot into the direction of Evatraha. A wonderful
small village situated in a spectacular lush, green,
mountainous surrounding, with turqoise sea around it. It strikes
us, however, that it's very poor and the people look terribly
unhealthy - the children look bewildered, have infected eyes
and beg for money. That's odd because this area sees relatively
much more tourists than elsewhere in Madagascar, so one would
expect the population to benefit from it.
We climb up a hill where the promised panorama meets all expectations.
We have our lunch, and walk down to a little bay which seems
to be some sort of workplace for pirogues; numerous are being
build on a beach. We chill on the beach, Jerome is taking a
nap under a palm tree and around 3 we call it a day and walk
back to the car.
Some kids are playing near the car, one of them is making a
toy car out of an empty can, with apples serving as wheels.
We help him to attach the wheels, and when it's done the boy
loads stones into his new truck and shows off proudly.
Back in the hotel we have a chat with the owner of Lavasoa
and we tell her about our visit to Evatraha and
the bad health conditions of the people. She tells us that a
lot of time, money and effort has been spent into educating
these people; but they firmly stick to their old, traditional
way of life. For instance, they refuse to understand that the
same water that's been used to clean the fish, should not be
used to wash babies. They also refuse to drink fresh
water from the pumps that have been installed for them. Also,
tourists do pay taxes, which is meant for the people of the
village, but is instead spend on Zama,
the local rum. There's heavy lobster fishing - the lobsters
of Fort Dauphin are renowned for their quality - but obviously
this money too is being wasted.
Strikingly, the village that is situated a bit higher, only
100 meters away, is in a much better condition. It has a a school,
and kids play double dutch instead of asking the Vazaha's for
money. According to the lady of Lavasoa, it depends on the head
of the village; obviously one is more developed than the other.
The only positive thing may be that the young generation will
grow up with a better knowledge of what's good for them.
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