Hammerheads

11/30/12
I saw a school of hammerheads!
David and I decided to try the snorkeling near our hotel today- no hiking or bus rides- just a short walk across 3 small crescents of white sandy beach to a place where the giant granite formations protruding from the earth demand you get wet if you want to continue. Of course, around this "corner" is exactly where I wanted to go. I had glimpsed an idyllic sandy beach hidden back there during our earlier snorkel (with hundreds of comb jellies and a stingray) and I wanted to swim/snorkel to it.  The tide became too low to float out and there was too much potential to damage coral by walking in the shallows around the rocks so we retreated to the previous cove and swam out along a murky sand channel...

Keep in mind that two days ago (after a 45 minute climb up and down a mountain) we were just starting to enjoy our snorkel at beautiful Anse Lazio, when a boat with two local dudes motors over to tell us we were out too far and that it wasn't safe due to sharks with babies- there had been a fatal shark attack.
Not even 5 minutes into our swim, as the sand channel ended and I cut right to swim parallel to shore (David is behind and to the inside), I look out to the ocean on my left and see, about 10 feet away, an orderly group of what I know in an instant are shark tails passing me by. The next instant was spent simultaneously trying to focus on the funny shaped heads wagging back and forth and registering the "HOLY F***" alarm sounding in my head. I stood up on the closest rock and calmly said "honey, come here" followed by "I just saw a school of hammerheads". I didn't hear any response, I just followed as David quickly swam back to shore.
Back on land I immediately began doubting what I saw and kicking myself for not taking a picture as evidence. David hadn't seen anything. I'm positive there were at least 8 sharks but my initial estimate was 20. They were each about 4 feet long in a formation of 3 or 4 across and deep and long... that would be at least 27.
How awesome would it be if I actually knew for sure what I saw???  I don't know much about hammerheads but I think they like deeper waters. I have a very clear picture in my head of what the tails looked like... I plan to compare it with google images once we get to wifi. The dive shop owner said it would be very rare to see a hammerhead. A hammerhead. One. Then again, very little is known about shark behavior in general.  Right?  I've decided that I'm going to allow myself to be stoked that I was fortunate enough to witness something very special and exciting.
I do wish I had chosen foto over flight, though.   : )

slice of paradise

stingray

sandy patch from above

Reflections on Madagascar

I slept in that bed.

Middle of nowhere.

7-11

Pirogue trip to Nosy Ve.

Vendor stand in Ranomafana.

Favorites...
food: homemade zebu yogurt
destination: Faux Cap
town: Morondava
park: Kirindy
beach: Lavanono
landscape: mountains leaving Ranomafana
plant: chubby baobab
animal: Verreaux's sifaka
word: tsara = good
saying: tsi mila = I don't need any
snapshot memory: girl running across hot sand sloshing water out of the bucket on her head TIES WITH naked young man on the side of the (busy) highway helping clothed young man with his broken 10 speed bike (think Hwy 1 at Davenport)
experience: getting bogged the first time and being helped by everyone within sight without hesitation and without request - they all just started digging and pushing until we were free... and them all cheering for my photograph
*Sandrine making animal noises*

Verreaux's sifaka

Chubby Baobabs

Least Favorites:
burning land
people using beach as toilet
broken 4WD
Ambovombe


Looking back, I realize how much of my Madagascar experience isn't recorded in photographs.  I have a hard time pointing my camera at the faces of people I don’t know, no matter how beautiful I think the image will be.  When I muster the nerve to ask permission, the moment has usually passed and the dynamic has changed.  I want the photo of the woman in a brightly colored and patterned sarong wrapped over her very unmatching brightly colored and other patterned blouse (that somehow works) gracefully walking barefoot down the street with a basket of who knows what effortlessly balanced on her head. I don’t want the photo of the posed woman looking stiff and uncomfortable and staring blankly into my camera.
Also, I spent a lot of time in the back seat of a moving vehicle and it wasn't realistic to stop at every scene that caught my eye. We drove 3800km in 25 days, passing through vastly different landscapes. The mountainous highlands with red dirt, bright green rice fields, lots of water and cooler temperatures.  The warm dense jungle teeming with wildlife and its calls.  The dry rolling grass hills of the southeast dotted with out-of-place-looking traveler’s palm and continually leading you to yet another valley river crossing.  The hot and dry spiny forest in the south that is a tangle of dead-looking trees, vines, bushes and cacti all sporting their own variety of painful daggers.  The remote southern Indian Ocean coastline with its end of the earth feeling, sand tracks and revitalizing breezes. The west coast fishing villages built right up to the waters of the Mozambique Channel.  The dry deciduous forest bursting with birdlife, lemurs and joyful chubby baobab trees.

We saw people existing in every environment with villages sharing a common layout but defined by the natural materials surrounding them.  Brick houses where the soil is clay, wood homes when there are trees around, stick and thatch houses where trees are scarce. There is always a source of fresh water, whether it be a well or a natural body of water and there are always people crowded around it, filling buckets, barrels or jerry cans for use elsewhere.  We drove past (and sometimes through) oceans, lakes, rivers, creeks, puddles and irrigation troughs where people were washing themselves or any other imaginable thing.  I saw trucks, motorcycles, zebu (ox-like animals) and clothing being washed and naked men, women and children bathing.  The smaller and more stagnant the water source (and the more trucks driving through it), the more I questioned whether a person was cleaner or dirtier after their bath.  How those clothes got clean, being washed in a muddy puddle and dried laying on a hot patch of red dirt, I'll never know... I'll just never take my washing machine (or tap water, for that matter) for granted again!
Small villages would appear "in the middle of nowhere" with 5 to 20 huts generally clustered together on a flat piece of dirt bordering the road. Any visible adults were mostly clustered together in a shady spot and children were scattered about, engaged in some form of play, until they heard the truck and came running to wave and smile and holler cheerfully after us.

Towns showed up on our map and usually had a couple of dirt streets besides the main one, a church, a school, some gargottes (local eating establishment), a few basic accommodation options and a small market. The main road, whether paved, dirt or sand is typically lined by crooked wooden stands and stalls with men selling all varieties of fresh (fly covered) slabs of meat or greasy, rusty metal parts from mechanical things long dead. Chicken meat is sold feather-covered and still clucking, just hang it upside down by its feet until you get it home. The women are vendors of grains, dry fish, fruits, vegetables and prepared items. Rice, yam and sweet potato were available everywhere. Mango, banana, papaya, coeur de boeuf, carrot and tomato were regularly available except in the far south. Fresh? salads of carrot or pasta would be displayed on tables or in cases, usually uncovered, so that the dust and bugs kicked up by the passing cars, trucks, taxi-brousse, pousse-pousse, people, bikes, zebu, goats, ducks, dogs, cats and chicken would inevitably add their flavor as well. My favorite item (and frequent purchase at 5 cents each) was the deep fried ball of rice bread batter offered fresh or stale, depending on your luck. The word for bread is pronounced moof... so these delightful treats are called moof balls. 4 donuts a day keep the hunger at bay.

Was that an overwhelming paragraph?  It was meant to be.

Making fresh moof balls.

 The big cities Fort Dauphin and Antananarivo are loud and dirty and hectic and contain all the people and their offerings of a small town amplified exponentially. Both wealth and poverty are visibly magnified, as is outside influence. I'm sure these cities have many positive attributes (culture, history, style, supermarkets and bakeries) but I'm not one to stick around long enough to flesh them out. Toliara was an exception to my dislike of big cities. Maybe it was because I arrived by boat and was transferred to shore in an ox-cart where the zebu were up to their armpits in water. Or maybe it was because I arrived on a quiet Sunday when everything was closed and locked myself up in my $56, 5 star splurge hotel room with WiFi to talk to my hubby for the first time in 2 weeks.  Either way, the city felt like a crumbling ghost town in the process of being reinhabited and for that reason, was charming to me.
Madagascar was friendly and safe beyond my expectations. Hiring a "4WD" and a driver allowed us to access parts of the country off the tourist track and for me to experience the most remote travel of my life. I loved the accessibility and variety of wildlife and could imagine returning to visit parks in the northern region of the country.

Goodbye Mada!

I'm a Terrible Blogger

 I'm a terrible blogger. I already knew that I'm terrible at journal writing but I thought the pressure of publishing for other people would make me better. It hasn't. I left Madagascar 12 days ago and still haven't completed my "Reflections on Madagascar" entry. What I have written is painfully boring. I can't even claim lack of internet since I've had excellent access in S. Africa and Mozambique (by Mada standards). So, I apologize for being a terrible blogger... but I'm having a fantastic time!

I arrived in Durban, S.Africa November 1st. It is now November 11th. I was a world traveler wearing dirty clothes for Halloween, by the way. It was culture shock for me arriving at the Durban airport, all bright lights/big city/flushing toilets and the like. I had to control my immediate urge to buy all the clean, cold, sterilely packaged food stuffs surrounding me. I hadn’t been missing Pringles but availability makes the heart grow fonder, you know.  It was a strange feeling to drive on a proper freeway with lines, lights and signs and without goats, zebu carts and potholes. People still walk along the road (yes, the freeway), though not nearly as many. I felt a little sad to return to “civilization” but a little excited too… internet!!!
We spent the next day getting our Mozambique Visa and exploring the beach area of Durban. My $7 lunch potato adjusted my wallet economy.  I was used to getting more food than I could eat for about $2. To be fair, we did have an ocean view (and a clean table cloth, and pretty dishes and clean drinking water and…). 
The next day I had the great honor to meet Jes Foord and volunteer for her foundation. She’s the girl next door, except that one morning she was out walking the dog with her dad and was raped by 5 men.  In the two years following, Jes has organized the cooperation of hospitals, police, counselors and volunteers to provide compassionate care for rape victims in the Durban area. She is 25 now and has already accomplished truly amazing things.  Please check out her website: www.jff.org.za

 I am traveling with my friend Lisa and her friend Pamela in Lisa’s truck Benny. Only 2 of us fit up front so one of us lays on the mattress in the camper/truck bed while en route. From Durban we headed north to St. Lucia for our first night (where Pamela discovered that she had already lost her wallet with all of her money and credit/ATM cards). Most of the next day (8 wonderful hours) was spent driving through the Umfolozi/Hluhluwe National Park on our way to Sodwana Bay. You are allowed to “self-drive” through these joined parks where the animals roam freely!  It was AWESOME! We saw white rhinos, giraffe, zebra, impala, elephants, buffalo, wildebeest, kudu, warthogs and some cool birds.

Sodwana Bay had a nice beach but unfortunately our attempts at snorkeling were foiled by... well, it just wasn't a good place to snorkel- surgey and shallow. I had hoped to dive but was congested from a cold I picked up on the flight to Durban. I particularly liked the thieving vervet monkies and packs of mongoose at our campsite.   By campsite, I mean our tent #5 in a row of 10 tents between two other rows of 10 tents. Oh yeah, and they had a big satellite TV where I learned that Obama is still my president. Yay!  Next up was Swaziland and our enormous 2 bedroom bungalow with kitchen, living room and loft inside the Hlane Royal National Park. Just outside of our palace was a watering hole where rhinos, hippos and warthogs were drinking and wallowing upon our arrival (the park office and bungalow area is surrounded by 2 strands of barbed wire for our protection- from 2 ton animals that can run 40 km/h. mmhmmm  Due to rain, we couldn’t self-drive in that park which is probably a good thing. Lisa and I did a guided sunset drive with “just do me” and at one point we were aggressively told to BACK OFF by a bull elephant protecting his females and offspring. Ndome (his actual name) found us a lion and 3 lionesses before the end of our drive. 

The next day we had a less than smooth border crossing into Mozambique. Portuguese is the official language and English isn’t so common, it turns out.  The stern lady at the counter took our passports, frowned and shook her head. No amount of hand gesturing or explaining slowly or in different tones or cadence could make her understand that the lovely gentleman at the Mozambique consulate in Durban had misdated 2 of our 3 visas.  Mine expires 1/1/13, theirs expire 1/1/12, 10 months before they were issued. At least I won’t be going to jail! Anyway, we worked it out and stumbled our way through the rest of the hoops into Mozambique. We spent a night in Maputo, the capital city, at Hotel Santa Cruz. It didn’t feel safe or all that friendly until I spent some time with the desk staff practicing some Portuguese phrases and pronunciation. Like in any country, they love it if you TRY. I get some good laughs when I accidentally garble French with Spanish to make Portuguese. Ugh. None of us really enjoy a big city and we all have these visions of snorkeling from sandy beaches so we left early for Tofo, by way of Inhambane (a nice enough town where residents party to bumping music til dawn). Tofo is lovely. Specifically, we found excellent accommodation with a kitchen right on the beach, next door to the dive shop, great food and wifi.

There are too many waves and jellyfish in the water for me to want to go swimming most of the time but the sand is really nice for walking and the weather is gorgeous. We have stayed 3 nights so far and are scheduled to leave tomorrow for Vilanculo. I have been on 3 deep dives and 1 shallow. I had a great encounter with a giant manta ray today, then saw 8 devil rays “flying” in formation. I have not yet seen a whale shark, which is why people come here. Which is why WE came here. There have been 2 separate sightings of one whale shark in the time we’ve been here. I have one more chance tomorrow morning...

A 4WD Truck is Only as Good as the Tread on its Tires

10/16/12
Today I saw the sunrise from my beach bungalow in Faux Cap, watched humpback whales frolick in the Indian Ocean, helped dig and push our truck out of a sand bog, sat on the southernmost point of Madagascar at Cap St. Marie, moved 25 radiated and/or spider tortoises out of the road along our drive and watched the sun set from my beach bungalow in Lavanono (pronounced lavanoon).  I love the ocean!  

We have been driving through hot, dry desolate land and so it was a wonderful relief to me to reach the beach yesterday evening and be met by the ocean breezes and cool water. I promptly took a snorkle/swim to the fringing reef but only found one spot with 2 small lionfish and 4 other small fish. We thought our route would follow the coastline, but in reality we have only caught a small glimpse or two, far off in the distance, along the way since leaving Manakara. Thankfully for us, someone saw fit to build a few bungalows at the edge of the world in this extremely remote village of 400 people- nothing but water between here and Antarctica and no other travelers besides us. It definitely felt like our very own slice of paradise. We arrived without food and after a day fueled only by a yogurt and a few finger bananas, I was more than happy to pay $6 for a dinner plate heaping with rice, spaghetti and spiced yams. Normally, a dinner of rice and veggies or rice and omelette runs me about $2-3. A happy surprise to end the day, a sweet crepe dessert followed our sunset dinner!  Bonus!  This morning, I woke just before sunrise and had a leisurely morning exploring the surrounding area and having a swim. Sandrine discovered an area littered with pieces of elephant bird egg... Aepyornis was a 30 foot tall, flightless bird that disappeared in the 17th century.

We watched about 10 whales swim by, I think 1 or 2 were calves. We set off on another long day of driving, our destination Lavanono, by way of Cap St. Marie. Somewhere along the way we got stuck in the sand (bogged) on the road. Within moments, people gather and start digging and cutting brush to use as traction and pushing to free our truck. It really touches me how willing and friendly the people here are. There wasn't really a discussion about will they help or can they help, they just DO help. One of my favorite photos from this trip doesn't actually exist in my camera but in my brain (because pulling a camera out changes the scene): An elderly woman, probably the grandma, with neat greying braids wrapped into buns behind each ear, wearing dirty tattered clothes and a metal wash pan on her head to shade her from the sun, holding a round-faced, big-eyed,  little boy. She, of course, handed him off to the youngest girl and dug and pushed with the rest of us. The rest of the journey was slowed occassionally by tortoises using the road but otherwise was without incident and we arrived safely, if not a little thirsty, into Lavanono- paradise #2.

The Red Island

blog 3.  10/13/12
I've had several titles in mind for this blog entry: <I'm not a vegetarian anymore>, <I think I just heard a pig die>, <Lemurs in Ranomafana>, <Let the larium dreams begin>... but as I look back at the last 5 days, one thing is everywhere- RED.  It is beautiful red dirt contrasted with the bright green of rice fields terraced up and around every curve of mountain.  It is red river bed churned up into brown water by Malagasy women panning for gold.  It is the red belly of lemurs hanging from trees and the crazy potholed section of land they call a road that we travel every day.  It is my new layer of red dust skin and it is the red-orange flames of fire that burn the land as we drive by.
Madagascar is beautiful and poor.  44% of the population is under 15 years old, 90% of the population lives on less than $2 per day and 95% of the rain forest is gone.
It is depressing to drive for hours and see scorched land everywhere you look, some of it still on fire, some of it recently burnt- charred and dead, some of it sprouting new green grasses to begin the process again.  Most striking is the lone skeleton of a tall tree giving reference to where the forest canopy used to be.  Thankfully, the journey didn't start out like this.  In the highlands, it seems every inch of plantable dirt is cultivated and beautiful bright green with vegetation.  Of course, this used to be jungle too but at least it is productive.  Our route, took us south from the capital, Antananarivo to Antsirabe for lunch then Ambositra to sleep. Next day to Ranomafana, where we spent 2 nights and I saw my first wild lemurs!  Red bellied, sifaka, golden bamboo and greater bamboo lemurs.  Thankfully, some pockets of primary forest remain as habitat for these guys.  From there we left the "good road" behind and headed east to Manakara for one night.  Next night in Vangaindrano, just north of the tropic of Capricorn.  The next 2 days were very slow driving with many rivers, creeks and puddles to cross- some with bridges, some without (I eventually stopped counting after 30).  My feet only got wet twice.  The major rivers had ferry crossings- 10 in all- 6 motorized and 4 "by hand".  232 kilometers in about 10 hours over 2 days.  All along we pass through dozens of tiny remote villages.  Out in the middle of nowhere, all of the sudden a little community of wood huts appear and the Malagasy people are going about their daily lives: weaving, washing, cooking, selling, playing...  My favorite part of this trip so far is waving to the children as we drive by and watching their curious stares turn into smiling faces and hands waving and happy voices calling after us.  I love it!
We are spending about $12 per day for food and very basic accommodation.  I am in love with the freshly made yogurt. I eat rice every day and add a greasy egg omelette or yogurt for protein.  I stopped asking for beans when they came with chunks of chicken bone.  I am disappointed that mangos aren't quite in season yet but am delighted to find "coeur de boeuf everywhere I look!  (a yummy fruit I know as cherimoya at home and sweet sop in Jamaica)
We arrived in Fort Dauphin/Taolagnaro yesterday and promptly saw whales splashing and blowing about 300 yards from shore.  We all cheered when we hit the asphalt road but as good as it may be for driving, I prefer the road less traveled where the people are happy to see you.

Travel Itinerary... let the adventure begin!

The adventure has begun! I'm sitting on the floor in terminal 4 at JFK after a successful first flight. I can't get through security to the pretty part yet because my airline isn't awake or on the board to tell me my gate number.
So, I'll take this moment to write my itinerary:
10/3/12 9:00pm... SFO -> JFK... Good bye Pacific.
10/4/12 11:15am... JFK->JNB... Johannesburg, S. Africa
10/5/12 10:00am... JNB->TNR... Antananarivo, Madagascar

This is where I will meet Sandrine, my travel companion for 25 days in Mada. She is a French woman with an Australian accent. I answered her post, on the Lonley Planet Travel Forum, for a person wanting to share the cost of a car and driver to travel the southern national parks and take photos of wildlife. Where do I sign??? She has an itinerary that I'm happy to follow. I haven't had any time to research but I'm pretty sure I'll be seeing lemurs and baobobs. She's done this before, in other regions of Mada, so I trust it's going to be great! I'm also hoping to do some diving and snorkeling.
So, after 2 days of travel, I will put my best self forward and hope she doesn't run for the hills.

11/1/12 TNR->DUR... Durban, S. Africa

This is where I meet Lisa and Pamela.  Lisa I know from volleyball in Santa Cruz. She is doing amazing things for AIDS orphans in Pretoria. Pamela is Lisa's friend. I haven't met her yet. We will be driving Lisa's truck, Benny, north from Durban along the east coast of S.A., through Swaziland and into Mozambique. We'll go as far north along the coast as we have time for. We're going to snorkle with whale sharks. Yes we are. Lisa has been researching our trip. Once again, I'm happy to tag along on someone else's itinerary.

11/21/12 JNB->CPT... Cape Town, S. Africa

Pamela and I are going to fly to Cape Town to check it out.  I'm looking forward to seeing penguins.  Once again, I haven't researched it. Are you sensing a pattern?

11/25/12 CPT->JNB->SEZ... Seychelles

I fly from Cape Town back to Johannesburg to meet David for our flight to Seychelles! After 6 weeks apart, it will be a great airport reunion. I've wanted to go to Seychelles since about 9th grade, ever since I met a guy named Ciye, who had parents that liked to cart him off to tropical diving paradises.  We are staying on Praslin and plan to hike, snorkle and dive. We will likely take a boat to several of the surrounding islands.  La Digue is an island that boasts the world's most photographed beach.  I'll make sure to post a photo.

12/7/12 SEZ->JNB... unfortunate idle time in Joburg.
12/9/12 JNB->LVI... quick trip to Victoria Falls and Chobe NP
12/13/12 Borneo by way of Singapore, Malaysia
12/30/12 SIN->BKK... Singapore to Bangkok, Thailand
??? about a month later... Western Australia
2/28/13 return to San Francisco (or sooner, or later)

Happy trails on your own brand of adventure!

Countdown Begins... 17 days remain

Create a blog.  Done.  Check it off the ToDo list.  DONE!
I never wrote "learn how to blog" on the list.  Shit.

Welcome to my new blog:  MoonTravel 2012
(my name means moon)

Many of you who know I'm about to begin a great travel adventure have expressed interest in seeing photos and reading posts.  I can't promise that I'll be any good at it but I'm going to try.  At first, I wasn't going to take any electronic devices besides my camera so I wouldn't have to worry about weight, charging, protecting them from thieves, water, bumps and the like.  But then technology got the better of me.  Travel books, novels, music, internet reservations, email, blog, and free calls home in a package that weighs less than a pound?  Sold!  Don't worry, I'm talking Skype or Google video chat... I still haven't entered the realm of cell phone owners.  Stubbornness is one of my endearing qualities.  I'm taking baby steps out of the dark ages. 

Looks like Google Nexus 7 is the winner and with some accessories and a few apps, I'll be good to go.  I feel like a pro now that I've spent all day researching it.  That wasn't on my ToDo list either.  Yikes!

Tomorrow's another day...