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Day 21. Nosy Antafana
And so proceeded.
At 5 am i'm picked up by Patrick from ANGAP. I am accompanied
by Carine's son and a newly wed French-Hindustan couple. The boat
is waiting on the beach right behind the hotel. A calm ride and
a shower later Nosy Antafana looms up. We sail around and dock
on a pearly white beach. There's a small house equipped with solar
panels. Antafana is inhabited by 2 ANGAP people and a few fishermen,
who are allowed to fish the waters here twice per week. Behind
the house is a cooking place. It's literally crawling with rats,
rummaging around in the pans - the same pans used to boil a bunch
of fish heads that serve as my breakfast - which i kindly, yet
firmly reject. Carine's
son Anthony however has no problems with it at all and he consumes
his meal, sitting between he rats, in a few minutes.
After "breakfast" we enter the dense rainforest, carpeted
with ferns. Countless bats fly around, loudly squeaking, and a
merciless attack on my legs by mosquitoes occurs. I quickly make
my way to the beach and take shelter from them in the warm sea.
We walk around the island, which is very exotic with rainforests
reaching all the way to the sea. The water has the color of a
swimming pool. After our hike we make a pirogue crossing to one
of the other islands in the atoll. It can also be reached by foot
through the shallow water during low tide, but i have to use the
pirogue because of the photo equipment i'm carrying. The cano
is leaking like a basket and is tilting over dangerously, but
we manage to reach the shores and keep the equipment dry.
This is a more rocky island with mangroves and very clear water.
Between the rocks swim many fish in wonderful colors and after
a dangerous climb up we have a beautiful view on the atoll. We
sail back with the pirogue, and another fish head lunch gets prepared
in between the rats, which i skip once more.
After the lunch we take the boat to the third island for snorkeling.
The atoll is supposed to be amongst Madagascar's finest, an impression
also given when seen from the air. But much to my disappointment,
the reef is entirely dead. The once proud reefs are now a colorless,
dead mass. Later i learn this is partially caused by a cyclone,
and partially by global warming. What a pity.
After snorkeling we leave the atoll and after an hour with the
speedboat we are back at the hotel. Good news reaches us: Mr Roger
is willing to take us to his island, after several negotiation
attempts. So minutes later we're sitting in the back of a
pick-up jolting through Mananara. Then we cross a serene
river with a pirogue.
As we arrive on Aye Aye Island, situated in the center of a river,
covered with palm- and banana trees, we wait until it gets dark,
while a guide with a torch is on the lookout for the Aye Ayes.
After a while he shouts they have been spotted and from that
moment we are running like idiots through the pitch dark forest,
tripping and falling in an attempt to see the fast
moving lemurs. Some times we spot one high up in a tree, glancing
at us, and even though it isn't much that we see, we catch glimpses
of the obscure animal and i even manage to take some blurry pictures.
Mission accomplished!
Mr Roger personally drives us back to the hotel and as we're back
i shake his hand and apologize for the misunderstandings, after
which all seems to be fine. Judging by Roger's smile!
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