under the african spell

madagascar travelogue : part 2

when we got the recommendation to go to Ampefy, we were not sure about it. mainly because i couldn't find this place among the must-visit places, or in fact, in any of the madagascar related websites.

i was glad we agreed.

the drive to ampefy took about 4 hours towards the west of antananarivo. it was a clear sunny day compared to a gloomy and cloudy day yesterday. the roadside view was simply breathtaking.

i've been to a vast land before in western USA but never have i been to one with so many activities by the roadside.


madagascar ppl use zebu (a cow spesies but with lump on its back) a lot to assist them in the fields. in between fields, ppl travel by feet to get to their destination, lots of times bare-footed.

that was me with our 4x4. there were few vehicles on the road, we met like 3 cars in 100km.

that lady in bottom right pictures were carrying a pail of water on her head. a pail of water! now if that's not some kind of a superwoman, i don't know what is.


other locals caught in their everyday lives
we visited one of the local village on our way to chute de lilie, a famous local waterfalls. frankly, i was not too excited about the falls because hey, we have lots of them back home (in malaysia) but seeing the locals run their everyday live was simply not to be missed.

local houses were made from bricks and clay. just a simple rectangularish build with a door and few holes made as windows. the floors were the ground itself. we had to keep our eyes on the ground too to avoid zebu dungs. one of the local kids stepped on one, so i guess as much as we were amused by the local sights, they were amused by us tourists even more....

i managed to take this photo of a mother cutting her son's hair in front of their house. i'm proud of this photo, i called it 'a national geographic moments'.

on the left were local kids photo taken from inside our 4-wheel drive just before we left. i was not sure what they were waiting for, did they expect us to give them something? i wished i had some sweets or something to offer them.

chute de lilie or lilia falls at the heart of the village. the locals used the water force to generate electricity for the village.

in a whole, what a memorable day. plus, had i mentioned about our lunch? we had it at a restaurant by the lake. no other tourists around so we had the place all to ourselves. we dug in while enjoying the view and lullabied by sound of nature.

especially at this time, working life at home seemed like land far far away.


..ed