Why Madagascar

This is the story of the most exciting trip I ever took in my life.  It was my trip to the Islands of the Indian Ocean during seventeen days from late November to early December 2019.  Many people I have known are world travelers and they are either on a trip or planning their next trip.  But so far, I never met anyone who traveled to Madagascar. 

It was a quick, easy decision to make.  As soon as I received the email from my friend Irit, including the trip itinerary, asking me if I would like to join her, I immediately knew this was my trip.  During the six months that we were planning the trip, many people were asking me: Why Madagascar?  This was a strange question, as in my mind the answer was obvious: I could not think of a more exciting place to go visit! First, I don’t know much about it, and no one ever talked about going there.  So sure, I’d like to go find out!

Irit happened to know the specific guide for this tour, who she met on a previous trip to Morocco.  It was advertised on an Israeli tour company website, and I would like to say that I have been to many tours with Israeli guides, and they are usually very knowledgeable and give you a thorough explanation of a place’s history, geography, nature and culture.

I would start with a brief description of the itinerary:

We flew from Israel to Rome then to Mauritius.  From Mauritius we boarded the Italian cruise ship Costa Mediteranea.  We were 28 Israelis among some two thousand passengers on the ship.  We sailed to the Seychelles and visited the largest island Mahé, with the capital city Victoria, and then two smaller islands, Praslin and La Digue.  We then sailed to Madagascar, where we docked at three different ports at the north part of the island: Diego Suarez, Nosy Komba and Toamasina.  Our next port was San Demi, Reunion Island.  And then we sailed back where we started at Mauritius. 

All these places and names did not mean much to me before.  But after this trip I gathered so many facts and experiences, that I feel so much more enriched!  I very vaguely remember the geography lesson from high school telling us about the super continent Pangaea. The great reality for me was that here I witnessed the result of that old super continent Pangaea breaking apart over a hundred eighty million years ago.  India broke away from Africa and pushed toward Asia, creating the Himalaya Mountains.  Madagascar separated from Africa and was the largest island in the Indian Ocean.  All the other islands were the mountain tops of the old super continent.  I learned that these islands we visited, each had a different geological age, with the youngest still having an active volcano.  That was Reunion Island aged a mere 65 million years.  I also witnessed the endemic forms of animals and plants specific to these islands as they were isolated from all other continents.

The cultural lectures by the resident scholar on the ship, who explained the history, nature and culture of each island, were supplemented by our guide Yaron, the zoologist.  He walked us through the botanic gardens, museums and bazaars and enriched our knowledge of the people and their ways of life.  On each island we also had a local tour guide, who organized our delicious group lunch and told us many interesting personal stories. 

At the Seychelles our local guide Steve was an employee of the tour company 7 degrees south.  He told us that the owner of the company was a French lady who married a local guy.  She named the company after the location of her office south of the equator.

Our ship was docked at Mahé.  We traveled in every possible means of transportation from island to island.  From Mahé we rode a catamaran to the next Island Praslin. Then a boat to La Digue, then we rode on trucks to the restaurant which was set up on a wooden platform under a makeshift metal roof.  Lunch included delicious vegetables and some fish.  We were surprised by a sudden pouring rain that created a huge noise on the roof.  We struggled through the rain to watch the tortoises enclosed nearby.

Next, we spent a day in Mahé.  We saw many trees typical to this tropical hot and humid weather:  we learned to recognize the coconut, cacao, mango and many other trees.  I most enjoyed the visit to the botanic gardens named Baie Lazare.  I loved all the unusual plants: Crepe and Alpinia Ginger, Carambola (star fruit,) elephant apple, water apples, Mahogany tree from Honduras.  I enjoyed even more our visit to the 25 Acre spice farm, Jardin Du Roi: Stick insect, Bread nut, Mace, nutmeg, cinnamon, black pepper and more. 

I had an amazing wonderful surprise at the three ports in Madagascar.  The best part in these ports were the welcoming group of colorful singers and dancers greeting us just as we disembarked the ship.  We first saw them in Nosy Be, a group of beautiful ladies dressed in long dresses of bright white-yellow-orange, their dark faces painted with yellow flowers, singing and dancing for us to the beat of the drummers.  The beat was very fast with complex African rhythms, that made me want to jump in and happily dance with them.

Next port was Antsiranana, we heard the singing to the beat of go-go-go, fast, loud and very catchy, then we saw the line of singers in white and bright pink T shirts.  The musicians were sitting by the shade of a structure, wearing the same T shirts but with added green flowery skirts, beating on various drums.  Their dark faces beautiful and smiling happily.  Some of us naturally joined the dancers and moved to the special beat of their drums. 

At the third port in Tamatave, the dancers greeting us were wearing blue shirts, white and blue long flowery skirts, straw hats on their heads and in their hands, they were holding straw baskets moving them from side to side to the beat of the drums.

These beautiful images and sounds of the dancers and musicians stayed in my mind and left a strong unforgettable feeling of happiness.  These people were poor, they never had fancy houses or electrical appliances.  Yet they were so satisfied with their lot.  They always had plenty of food with fruits falling from the trees everywhere, and fish from the ocean.  Their faces were kind and forever smiling.  I was filled with this great mixture of colors and sounds and facial expressions from a place so exotic.  I was full of gratitude to Irit for making this trip a reality.

I learned all the historical facts about these islands.  There were many visitors and conquerors, first the Arabs, then the Portuguese, the French, the English.  Most islands were now independent, except La Reunion which remained as the 21^st district of France. 

I also learned about their economy, which was based on agriculture and products of sugar cane and various spices.  We visited a Vanilla farm and a Rum factory.  Recently they all benefit from high end tourism, as well as call centers.

I also enjoyed the company of my fellow travelers in the group.  We had plenty of chances to interact and get to know each other.  Each had his own contribution to the experience of these amazing places in the Indian Ocean.  The blue color of the ocean and the smiling faces of my friends and the locals will stay in my mind for a long time.

I returned home and stayed in a high mood for weeks.  I was very pleased about my choice to visit Madagascar and neighboring islands.  Some of my friends were still asking me: Why did you chose to go to Madagascar?  I hope I gave a good answer.