We rode through a market trying to find our hotel,



but even I had to admit defeat at this point and turn around, not even the cyclists were going through






We found out the hotel had closed down and so we headed tot he bungalows on offer and had one that looked like a honeymoon place



There are even pretty flowers outside



Abi decided to go for that scary travel experience where you get someone to cut your hair and the person does not share a common word of language with you!



The flicks and layers I ended up with in Georgia still come back to haunt me

Elections are brewing, the first in many years, pick up trucks with large sound systems in the back are trawling the streets playing political speeches and distorted music at ear splitting volumes, and the walls are covered in election posters - we've picked out favourites



We met another bike traveller, this is Kim from Korea who has hired a Honda for 25 days.



I do have a picture of his bike somewhere but that will have to appear later.

We'd been heading west and reached the end of the tarmac/dirt or any sign of further tracks and so went in search of a boat to continue. We had visions of something like this



We spread the word in town, and soon had a "business meeting" to sort out getting down the river.



Due to our incredible negotiating skills and low budget, the actual boat we ended up with was this



without the washerwomen I hasten to add.

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Sitting on the river bank watching as the boat guys decide how to load.



They did it- got Suzi onto the pirogue.



A pirogue is basically a tree trunk which has been scraped out to create a dug out canoe. They are very plentiful on the rivers and sea around Madagascar and most parts of Africa.

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Tiffany
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Everything is ready
We have Suzi the bike securely tied on the pirogue



We've got comfortable seats for Abi and me (I'll also be using my BMS Ergo seat)

We've been shopping and got floppy hats and umbrellas to protect us from the sun.



Abi looks a bit more Ladies Day at Ascot than me!!



And off we go (never mind that the river is only ankle deep at this point!!)



Yes, SHE got the flowery umbrella



The crew...
this is Marietta



Fali - the main paddle guy is on the left and Nasulah the guide on the right




Together we've got three days of rivers to navigate before we reach a dirt track.

Whoops almost forget, one other passenger, this is Henny Penny who sat in the shade under Suzi most of the time



Henny Penny's motives for travelling seem a bit unclear, but actually she's destined for the stew pot - just don't tell her.

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Tiffany
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We pass small riverside settlements



Getting regular opportunities to swim






Helping to push when we grounded on sandbanks - this happened quite a bit on the first day as we're at the end of the dry season and the river is low. It's a welcome opportunity to cool down in the water.


Other river users


Other boats


and a chance to see the wildlife up close





Moored for the evening on a sandbank



The locals come over to for a closer look at these strange foreigners and their motorbike.




Nasulah breaks out the Rum



and we set up our tent as the sun goes down

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Tiffany
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View from the Tent

As night fell, I was still outside looking at the stars- they are incredible out here where there's no artificial light.



It's a perfect temperature, warm but breezy so there is no problem with the mosquitoes.

Sunrise and I looked over towards the guide's tent



They were busy




Suzi was still there as well- no bike rustlers had sneaked up on us in the night, although there had been a lot of animal noises coming from the bushes around us.


breakfast was soon ready





We felt like Victorian Lady Explorers having this sort of service, something I could quite get used to!

6.30am and off we paddle



Spectators are sparse




another sandbank to push the boat past


watched by various pedestrians (yes, they are STILL just wading across the river!)



Others are using zebu carts to collect water



A passing piroguier knows Fali and he paddles alongside us for 40 minutes chatting to our guys



There is a relaxed pace of life on the river.

We spot some people panning for gold and pull up in the shade of a large tree beside them




I check that Henny Penny is still Ok




she's got the bottom bunk underneath Suzi. Abi gives her a comforting hug

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Tiffany
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Lunch was being prepared, and it was a scene of tranquillity, we were sat under the tree with the children staring at us while their mothers and older sisters panned for gold.





When some people appeared on the opposite bank,



Behind them more people were emerging from amongst the trees. We asked Nasulah what was going on, he shrugged and said "It's people from the taxi boat"
this is an overcrowded motor boat which runs a bus service for settlements on the river. We'd spotted it earlier but it had then stopped and taken a different channel of the river from us. While we'd been sat under the tree, we had heard its engine as it made its way along the river.

The people started calling over to us, Nasulah looked up, what was more interesting was the reaction of the gold panners (women and girls) as they looked up



They called out some questions, which were answered and suddenly looking extremely alarmed, they threw down their pans, grabbed the babies and small children and then rushed away.
We asked what was happening, and Nasulah said
"It's bandits, they have attacked the taxi boat and now they are coming this way"

He agreed with us that we had to go and straightaway. The charcoal burner was doused, the saucepans grabbed and we rushed back into the boat pushing off from the bank and the guys paddled hard.

Nasulah asked to borrow my binoculars and scanned the river bank on the opposite side



You'll be pleased to hear that the bandits did not appear and we escaped safely.

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Tiffany
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Our delayed lunch took place almost two hours downstream (bearing in mind that the bandits have hijacked the taxi boat and so potentially have an engine while we just have paddle (and brolly) power.

We pulled up at a sandbank with little shade, a few huts with people outside watched us get out and Nasulah directed us to a shady area at the side. we were both hot and so had a swim with the kids joining in




with more kids following




Despite the muddy brown colour of th river,t he locals wash, cook and even drink the water.

This child was using the cup to drink with and then just playing with the water.

The story of our near brush with the bandits was told to the villagers who were very interested.
Then a motor boat came past



They were regaled with the story and warned about the bandits

Other motor boats appeared and we realised that the "real tourists" had caught us up in their motorised boats - something we had aspired to,


but after a day and a half on the river in our quiet pirogue, we realised we actually preferred our boat. we waved as the tourists on the other boats took pictures of us

I can't think why they thought we were so odd looking...



Further on it was time for a break, the lemurs were calling to us



and we went ashore to get more photos of them



and to find the waterfall we'd heard about



The water was crystal clear and so jumped in for a swim and a bathe




We couldn't linger, we'd lost time today and so we headed on and as dusk was falling stopped at - yep, you've guessed it, a sand bank.


The guys quickly got the charcoal burners going as they prepared some food for us



With usual speed in the tropics, it quickly got dark and still the burners were going




while they were cooking, I seized the opportunity to upload some of my photos onto the computer



I think the photo was better without the flash, as you can't see how untidy our tent area is!!



This was the best night so far for jungle noises, the birds, frogs and lemurs were making a racket and adding to the exotic feel of the river.

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Tiffany
On the road from...I'm not sure any more
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAUhV1r-kUo

Apologies for the overload of info today - it's election day s most places are closed and I'm waiting to get to the bike shop to pick up the bigger capacity furl tank- which has given me an unexpected day with good Internet access (Unusual over here) to catch up on photo uploads and blogs...

An even earlier start the final morning on the river, I'm a bit bleary eyed and crumpled as we set off



The scenery makes up for it, we've entered a gorge and the rocks look amazing as the sunrise reflects off them





To our surprise we saw bats hanging from the cliff face, out in the open


We had an early stop at a bustling village on...dare I say it a sandbank. The guys seemed a bit shifty and went of towards the huts saying they were going to get a coffee- very unusual behaviour we thought. They left us at the edge of the water, where we found a randomly placed bench to sit on




The morning wore on


and we realised Henny Penny was being a bit quiet- in fact we couldn't see her. We questioned the guys and the admitted she'd been despatched during the night. We hadn't smelt any meat cooking and I suspect that our unexplained and rather odd stop at the village earlier had been their attempt at selling her body parts. There's a lot of fish on the river but very few chickens we'd noticed. It was not a subject to discuss but we were subdued.

It was a warm day with little shade until the guys hailed a bloke under a thatched shade. we pulled up and joined him and the two boys


The bloke pulled some birds (!) out of a bag



Sparrows, baby budgies and other small birds, all apparently destined for the cooking pot.




all alive and desperate to escape.

At least the puppy looked happy



We didn't realise but this was the final meal break, as at the next stop, we got out to walk for a while along the river bank and at the end of the walk were told the trip was over and we were at our destination.
Except that the actual contracted destination (remember that "business meeting") was 6kms down the track after some river crossings.
We were given the opportunity to off-load our luggage which I wasted no time in doing, the bags went into the zebu cart and I also took advantage to off-load my passenger, after all she's not going to enjoy river crossings



We said goodbye to Marietta and Fali. Nasulah was continuing on with us and fancied himself as the next Lewis Hamilton of the zebu world and picked up the reins



The guy in front with the white T-shirt?? Well he announced he would come on the bike with me and be my guide- why not I thought as he jumped on in his barefeet.

The zebu cart took off at a gallop while I was still getting my helmet on and making introductions with my "guide" - John the Baptist, OK it's actually Jean Batiste, but that is what it means.

We soon caught up with the cart, Abi was in the back barely able cling onto the sides and so she did well to take these photos as we followed








Abi's view from the back looking forwards




I finally had to hop up onto a footpath at the side to get past



I got to the village quite a time before them, found a hotel/bungalow place and grabbed a room, Their zebu cart came trotting along, with Abi now smiling as she realised her life was no longer in danger.





John the Baptist had been great as a pillion rider, cackling away as we sped along and ploughed through a river. He just clung onto the rack at the back and I didn't even notice he was there.

A cold as the sun set finished the day off nicely for me.

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Tiffany
On the road from...I'm not sure any more
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A farewell to our floppy hats, they had served us well


we gave them to the cleaner who took this photo for us

off to catch a ferry


where they insisted that I would not be allowed to ride my bike along the ramp and the blokes then spent ages wrestling the bike onto the barge









we sat at the front away from the engines



at the other end I was allowed to ride off

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Tiffany
On the road from...I'm not sure any more
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAUhV1r-kUo

Tiffany thoroughly enjoyed the blog,quite the adventure ,also had to tune in to find out the "chook story "beautifully illustrated by your photographs. Regards Noel

You're welcome Noel, good to hear from you as always

Lots of chooks out here - generally making suicidal dashes across the road!

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Tiffany
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Leaving the ferry and tearing ourselves away from the riverside scenes, such as boys collecting water



We head into ton and stopped at the first shaded place we saw, my sister is getting quite comfortable in her bike gear as you can see




We bumped into Nasulah - our river guide


who was so pleased to see us he did one of his mega watt smiles for the camera- he usually prefers to have a straight face for photos.



We seemed to be spending a lot of time on boats, we now needed to take yet another one



This one then sat there for an hour with us on it waiting to fill up with passengers before it will go.
Never mind, this is Africa and there's always plenty to watch, today it was the zebu washing competition


with particular emphasis being paid to the bums



I'm sitting comfortably, writing my journal



other boats are off-loading, they don't worry about niceties like a quay here!



car ferries are packed




Our boat was full, but the bloke in charge decided there was room for more, and a Suzuki 125 was passed in



Things got pretty cramped



You can see Suzi on the left side with the guy leaning over her - he's having to sit on the edge of the boat.

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Tiffany
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I know of some people who pay good money to do obstacle course races through deep mud- as I reminded my sister, she gets to do it for free!



We'd arrived and under the deceptive surface of the water is deep sucking mud- we didn't want to lose our boots in it, so went barefoot to get us, our gear and Suzi to dry land- and it was a long haul as you will see






I wasn't just watching, I was supervising the bike unloading...









Come on boys, lets see if we can keep the momentum going...


Don't slow down now...





and yes, that IS our bike lying in the dry (ish) mud



sorting out the side stand


Luggage on, sister slogged through mud to a better vantage point, now I've just got to get out off here


this bit is very wet and slippery


and onto dry land

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Tiffany
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View from the pillion's seat



In case you've ever wondered what the view is like for the person sat behind me.

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Tiffany
On the road from...I'm not sure any more
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I promise, no more boats for a while

we're now back on the road with a vengeance, except it's not much of a road, lots of sand and it's often rutted which is not fun, I drop the bike - one of those slow motion drops, my sister is more surprised than anything and she's also surprised at how tricky it is to pick up a bike in sand. I didn't take a picture as:
a) It was swelteringly hot
b) her foot was trapped under the bike
c) I didn't want to damage sisterly relations as we've got to spend a couple more weeks together on the bike

the tracks are pretty empty, we start to see our first Baobab trees



there are few other road users

we spot another motorcyclist but quicly agree he probably is NOT another overlander unless he's an Action Man role player



I love the zebu carts



It's getting late and we stop at a forest reserve for the night, staying in the dorm. To my surprise a large cat appears at the door and then I realise it's got a very long tail and actually it turns out to be a fossa - supposed to be one of the most difficult to spot animals in Madagascar and here it is almost walking in on me getting changed.
Grabbing my camera I follow it into the woods










It looks a bit fierce so I don't try to get too close.

Hot on the heels of doing my David Attenborough impression we head into the woods properly for a night walk with a guide



the guide proves excellent at listening to the forest noises and pointing his torch in the right direction

however my camera skills and the distance from the animals as they either hide or move quickly means that I haven't got much worth showing here but I do have a lot of good memories from the fat-tailed lemur tot he little mouse lemur and even this mongoose



followed by these little fellows


The Giant Jumping Rat- it looks fine from the front - like a rabbit, but then it turns and its got the scaly tail of a rat - yuck and yes they DO jump and they move very quickly.

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Tiffany
On the road from...I'm not sure any more
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAUhV1r-kUo