Adventures of NaDave: H'moon 4 - Mada River & Baobabs

On Tuesday, Dave awoke to a belly full of tummies. The salad had done its thing overnight. Luckily it was not terrible, but certainly made the next couple days uncomfortable.

But we awoke to a sunny morning and had a lovely breakfast overlooking the forest. We were expecting more hiking of the Tsingy, but our guides offered a pleasant surprise. We met for a local pontoon canoe ride on the Manambolo river, to see incredible birds, visit caves, and experience a peaceful morning.

We board the pontoons, and they were carved-out tree trunks...a couple boards used and benches, and we were suppose to sit on those. Wow, move the wrong way and you're in the water. Our 2 guides joined us, and we had a man as our motor. On the river it was a hub of activity for fishing, tours, and wildlife alike. We saw (and sometimes heard!) parrots, egrets, crocodile, kawai/koa, and more. The caves held calcified rock formations, wasp nets, and bats. At the end of the river, we came across a burial ground of tribal locals, and skulls could be seen on the ledge overlooking the river.

We headed back up the river, and then back to the boat launch. We tipped our motor man (with the help of our guides), we hopped in our car, and then drove back to the airstrip. We spent another hour driving past small villages, burial tombs, and along the terrible road conditions. We got back to the red dirt airstrip, and then got ready to head for Morondava & the baobab trees!

We took with Ellie and spent 1-2 hours in the air. Again we looked out the windows and explored along the Madagascar shoreline. We landed on the airstrip, which was a real airport with cement airstrip. We grabbed our stuff, passed signs for the plague (!), and hopped in our next car to head into Morondava.

This time the road was all paved, and as rolled into town, we people watched and saw all the shops, and people walking along the road. We even saw someone with a lemur on their shoulder!

Our first stop was lunch at hut spot along the coastal town of Morondava. We shared an amazing prawns dish...as we ate, a local walked in with a recent catch for the kitchen, unbelievable!

We then drove to our hotel and had 90 minutes before heading to the baobab trees. We checked into our room, and then we walked to the shore of the Mozambique Sea and enjoyed see local Malagasy sailboats.

We then met our guides at the hotel lobby and headed to the Baobabs to catch the sunset. Dave was super excited, he definitely wanted to see these trees. We had to drive about 1 hour to see the infamous Alley de Baobabs, and along the way we went through smaller and towns, and even had a traffic stop with a military personel who asked to see everyone's ID...and also there was a small cash exchange (what was that all about!)

As we drove up, the baobab trees started to appear. They looked like no other tree we had seen. The trunks were huge! The leaves were all at the top...this was Africa! We got to the Alley, and walked around, seeing all the trees and angles. There was also a small village nearby, so we watched them play a game of futbol with something that was some sort ball...and also saw their small huts up close. These people lived so different, no bed, no tables...just simple life.

Next we drover up the road to the famous Lovers Trees. Two baobab trees had grown together wrapped around each other. Perfect for our honeymoon! We loved it so much, we bought a local souvenir that was hand-carved from the local wood. It was beautiful.

We hung around for the sunset and snapped a few photos, and then drove back to the hotel. We got dressed for dinner, and enjoyed a lovely meal. Dave had a Zebu burger, and Nadine more seafood. We retired early to our room, as tomorrow we'd see the Baobabs at sunrise, then fly back to Antananarivo, and then drive all the way to Andasibe Nat'l Park!

Breakfast at Hotel