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Mapless in Madagascar Mapless in Madagascar
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Ride Tales Post your ride reports for a weekend ride or around the world. Please make the first words of the title WHERE the ride is. Please do NOT just post a link to your site. For a link, see Get a Link.
Photo by Hendi Kaf, in Cambodia

I haven't been everywhere...
but it's on my list!


Photo by Hendi Kaf,
in Cambodia



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  #46  
Old 27 Oct 2013
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You are indeed very fortunate to see such wildlife.Love the boabs/bottle trees i have three myself in my property.
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  #47  
Old 27 Oct 2013
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Talking The Lemurs are in the Neighbourhood
What can I say - this is one of the reasons we're here

first the juveniles arrive and have a good look at us




and these guys like getting close


a bit of banana works wonders


The Loud Librarian gets in on the act





Mum comes over to check us out, she is the Alpha female of this group




a sleepy baby on her back





then the look out guy called the alarm


and off they went

Thanks for letting me be self-indulgent with the lemur pictures!!
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  #48  
Old 31 Oct 2013
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Talking Destination West Coast
More sand and more Baobabs




the mad African bus lives on in Madagascar



I didn't manage to get the chickens and ducks on the roof in this shot.

and then suddenly we were surrounded by greenery and paddy fields.



Time to head to the beach, and a reasonably nice place to stay as well

this is a view of our room - from the outside because in my usual fashion within five minutes of arriving at a hotel room, it resembles a war zone with stuff scattered everywhere.



I get acquainted with the neighbours


The Librarian couldn't wait to hit the beach



Tourists may be few and far between but there's always a friendly dog



and a sundowner drink as we watched the sun set

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAUhV1r-kUo
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  #49  
Old 31 Oct 2013
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Talking Close Encounters...


Loving the chameleons

I found these little girls with one on a stick




they were appalled when I touched it




but still managed a smile when I pointed the camera at them
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Tiffany
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  #50  
Old 31 Oct 2013
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Talking THOSE Baobabs
Sunset was beckoning and so, turning my back on the beach I headed to the Avenue des Baobabs, one of the most famed sights in Madagascar.






Persuading passers by to act as photographers for me (Librarian was still on the beach)





maybe Grant will even let me submit one of these pics for the photography competition...

though I'm not sure he approves of standing on bikes



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  #51  
Old 2 Nov 2013
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Baobabs
The term awesome has been used too much nowadays to describe many things such as a new haircut or a chocolate desert, there are very few things that I feel are actually awesome. My most recent was the first time I saw the sagrada familia cathedral in Barcelona a few weeks ago.

But the Baobabs ? Oh yeah they look awesome ..............
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  #52  
Old 2 Nov 2013
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Talking In Morondava
Fresh back from my jaunt along the Baobab Avenue, we splash out on a meal in town- yep, the Loud Librarian is getting to grips with travelling Tiffany style, when street food rules the way every time. This was a great spot and we ate here a couple of times.

Here’s a close up of the fish that she paid 15 pence for!

Then watched a stand-off between a gecko and a cockroach, no prizes for guessing which one I was cheering on.

The gecko had a go then ran away, to our shock the cockroach then FLEW away.
Cocktails to finish with

and another great sunset

Goodbye to the beach as we head east, for a dash across the country from Morondava to Brickaville.
The usual seaworthy vessels battling the waves - makes some of the boats we take Suzi in look good


Then a quick stop at this shop to get a new mirror - we'd lost our one in one of the sand falls


Almost forgot, we’d bumped into a familiar face- it was Kim the Korean with his bike, and as promised here’s a picture of it for those of you keen on motorbikes. He’s managed to ride the same sandy tracks as us on this bike so he’s doing well.

some random pictures from the road the evening before




as you can see the other traffic is mainly zebu carts

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  #53  
Old 2 Nov 2013
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Talking Awesome Landscape
Quote:
Originally Posted by g6snl View Post
The term awesome has been used too much nowadays to describe many things such as a new haircut or a chocolate desert, there are very few things that I feel are actually awesome. My most recent was the first time I saw the sagrada familia cathedral in Barcelona a few weeks ago.

But the Baobabs ? Oh yeah they look awesome ..............
It's true, the Baobabs are awe inspiring.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAUhV1r-kUo
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  #54  
Old 2 Nov 2013
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Talking West to East
A final Baobab scene

Reflected in my extremely cool Ugly Fish sunglasses.
Scenes from a ride across country from more street food...





I'd initially convinced her there really was a baby crocodile in this bread!

Roadside stalls selling unusual items, and yes, I was tempted to get a life size Virgin Mary to go on the back of the bike

Buying petrol which is measured out of soft drinks bottles

A brush with the Law

We'd travelled from the dry desert landscapes of the west tot he lush jungle surroundings in the east


A puncture slows us down but our new friend Antonio soon has it in hand and gets us back on the road




The Librarian contemplates how many bananas she can fit in her luggage

while his Mum dispenses tea,

corrects my Mandarin to sound like her Cantonese and pets her chicken
Big thanks to Antonio for helping us that day

We passed some cyclists

– a lot of them, obviously on some sort of tour and we were shouting “Bonne Chance” (Good luck in French)

until we noticed they had English words on their t-shorts and we slowed to chat to one of them- they’re British cyclists on a charity ride across Madagascar.
We then went into full-on Tour de France mode, and were shouting out “Well done the Brits and Good Luck”
It was worth it to see the looks of surprise on their faces when they heard our accents.
We'd reached the Indian Ocean- the Librarian's first glimpse of it and no, I have no idea why she isn't smiling!

Tamatave – a town that always seems to be chaotic




Washing up – child labour


And we met these Spanish cyclists who were about to head north on Route National 5 –


we wished them luck, it’s definitely not a road I would want to attempt with a bicycle, it was bad enough all that sand with an engine attached to my two wheels!


We’re going in the opposite direction – to a tropical island, Ile aux Nattes just off the coast of the larger island Sainte Marie (as I know some of you like to know where we are).

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  #55  
Old 2 Nov 2013
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Talking Island Life- Tropical Indulgence
Not so many bike pictures, but wow, what a great time we had, it is THE perfect island with no traffic and no hustle and bustle.
Lemurs,

dogs,

palm trees, beaches, fresh fruit and veg delivery to our beach bungalow and final night cocktails and a posh meal.
Sunset and time for a cocktail IN the sea



we had a few tries at standing on the tree, the first time we had some help

but it looks more like a fight

The Librarian went out snorkelling

No she did NOT catch those fish herself

more animals than people on the beach

Cyclones are a regular occurrence, and we even spotted a Shelter Box tent - still being used after the last time a major one hit.

strange to think that this tent has come all the way from a small town near my house - Shelter Box is a Cornish charity that has gone global
www.shelterbox.org
take a look to see what they do - a simple yet extremely effective idea.

the kids did a demo for me


when I jumped, the photo came out looking very strange


this was as brave as I got with the tree


as you can see, the Librarian is a lot braver than me when it comes to heights
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  #56  
Old 2 Nov 2013
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Cool Still Tropical
The kids showed us a new game


no one on the beach except us and Milo the dog


We heard howling in the woods and went to investigate - it was lemurs


this one was quite good at showing off







this JUST missed me



Genuine lemur poo.

Tortoises as well




Giant spiders



look closely and you can see the lemur leaping form one roof to another










no vehicles on the island so the only traffic jam is caused by the geese, though why they were using the bridge when they can swim, I really don't know


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  #57  
Old 9 Nov 2013
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Loving the wildlife shots Tiffany ,the boabab trees are much taller than ours in Queensland but ours are bigger in circumference.
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  #58  
Old 11 Nov 2013
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Exclamation You Reckon??
Quote:
Originally Posted by Noel900r View Post
Loving the wildlife shots Tiffany ,the boabab trees are much taller than ours in Queensland but ours are bigger in circumference.
Hi Noel
I'm heading north now and I'll be checking out the Baobab up there which has a circumference of 21 metres
Can you beat that?
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  #59  
Old 11 Nov 2013
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dying to know the outcome of this one
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tiffany View Post
Hi Noel
I'm heading north now and I'll be checking out the Baobab up there which has a circumference of 21 metres
Can you beat that?
Love it ! " my Baobab is bigger than your Baobab"
Not a conversation I've come across often.
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  #60  
Old 13 Nov 2013
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Talking Really?!
Quote:
Originally Posted by g6snl View Post
Love it ! " my Baobab is bigger than your Baobab"
Not a conversation I've come across often.
You need to get out more
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