to the land of indri-indri

madagascar travelogue : part 1

ok i made it safely back from my trip. obviously.

it's a relief really. for a start, our carry-on luggage did make it through the check-ins. air asia didn't even measure it! so much for me trying hard to keep the 7kg limit. what a wasted effort.

then, when the bangkok-antananarivo air madagascar stewardess tried to close the cabin luggage flipper before take-off, the small plastic cover fell off.

it fell off!!

and nearly hit me too. can you believe that? apparently that piece of plastic interior was sticked to the plane luggage compartment body with only cellophane tapes. now see that and try to comment on the airplane safety.

well as i was very well bucked up waiting for take-off, there was nothing i could do, could i? whether it was a miracle, or those in charge of interior weren't the one managing the wings or engines (which i'm so grateful for), we managed to arrive antananarivo safely anyway.

there was i in a land where nobody knows about. nobody i know anyway. madagascar (or at least antananarivo) is everything but hot, sunny and full of safaris with running zebras and lions.

frankly, i didn't expect the city to be so pleasant as if i just touched down in zurich. weather wise i mean. the wind was a bit chilling and i knew right away my sunblock was just a waste of luggage space. what a nice spring morning.

there were still lots of poor ppl all over the city but where hadn't? almost the entire city were in some way or another, involved in sale and trading business.


scene like this was no stranger along the narrow city roads, although we never had a chance to actually stop and well, shop around. to tell the truth, i was more comfortable being inside the car then being outside alone, stared by all those locals. plus, i didn't think we'd managed to communicate anyway.

even on the road, was buzzling with activities. do this in singapore and you'd be run over.


we took a trip to andasibe with our 4-wheel drive, which is 140km away on the east. our target? to see indri-indri.

indri-indri is the largest spesies of lemur, and yes, i'm still speaking 100% english. i too didn't even know this animal exists prior to checking all madagascar facts before this trip. all i know, that it's a must-see.

i don't even know how to describe it properly, koala is the closest animal i can think of to relate, but with long legs and black/white colours, and a whole lot more active, and loud too.



mind you we had to bare leeches inside our shoes and pants just to have above sight.

this was not the only one. there were lots of different lemurs around too. the rest, were smaller, tamer and most importantly, easier to spot without the need to wade through the rain forest. thank god.

my favourite is the left one. it has a fluffy clean black and white fur, long tail and a face like a wolf. it climbed the handrail all the way purposely to get near us. very cute i almost wanted to smuggle one back as pet. the middle one, called the sifaka was colder and distant in contrast. plus, it has this old look on it. we had to take a brief sampan ride to get to the ring-tailed lemur on far right. they came towards us and played around nearby our sampan. what a good bunch of performers.

other animals were less overwhelming. only scary.

we made a trip to see rare chameleons in mandrake on the way to andasibe. you see, i hate lizards. apparently madagascar got like billions of them and they were all enourmous. the guide made a stunt by putting one of the chameleon on my back while i was busy taking photos and despite what others said, i DID NOT scream.



at night, we trailed the dark road path with torchlights to spot nocturnal animals, lead by the guides of course. at this time, we were already tired from venturing the whole day since we got down the plane. we couldn't see anything so i just wished we could just give up. it started to rain when we finally reached our vehicle. interesting experience nevertheless.

day 2 in next post!


...ed