D&K's Blog
  • Honeymoon 2013
  • Europe 2014
  • East/South Africa 2016
  • Prev
  • Next

Shipwreck Economics

July 23, 2016September 28, 2017 By Denise
Land of Toy Trucks.

As we neared Tana once again, the trees disappeared and the towns grew larger and more numerous. In between, we’d pass through the “Land of Toy Trucks,” followed by the “Kingdom of Small Musical Instruments.” That is, all the roadside stalls would feature the same merchandise for a long time, then suddenly switch to something else that everyone was selling. Perhaps we were seeing the booty salvaged from some shipwrecked freighter, with the shipping containers distributed at random, one per region.

Kingdom of Small Musical Instruments.

Traffic in Tana was insane, with the mayhem compounded by a citywide power outage. The outage was not due to any physical problem; the region’s limited power supply was being diverted to some industrial use, we were told, that was lining the pockets of politicians. At last, Michel dropped us off at a hotel (which had its own generator) near the airport. We left most of our luggage in the Rhinoceros, in Michel’s care. In the morning, the hotel shuttle would take us to the airport for our three-day excursion to Île St. Marie.

There are airports scattered around the country, and considering how bad the roads are—it sometimes took all day to drive a hundred kilometers—it sure seems appealing to fly from highlight to highlight. Unfortunately, the only carrier is Air Madagascar, and they are notoriously, horrendously, ridiculously unreliable. Indeed, in the few hours that we waited at the hotel, the airline announced the flight would leave an hour earlier than scheduled, was cancelled altogether, but no, never mind, it would be leaving on time after all. In the end, we lifted off two hours late and arrived at our gorgeous beachfront cabin without any difficulties.

En route to St Marie.

There were humpback whales in the channel, so we took the opportunity to go on a whale watching excursion. Otherwise, we just relaxed.

Enjoying whale watching.
This entry was posted in Madagascar, Vacation 2016: East/South Africa
Share

Related Posts

  • Bwindi traditional story telling

    August 14, 2016April 16, 2020
  • Why Trees Matter

    August 12, 2016April 15, 2020
  • The Loooooong Walk Back

    August 12, 2016April 14, 2020

Post navigation

  Isalo
From Paradise to Perdition (and Back Again)  

2 thoughts on “Shipwreck Economics”

  • Lynn Leslie September 26, 2017 at 4:47 pm Reply

    A notoriously unreliable airline, eh? I’d think twice about flying with them.

    • Denise September 27, 2017 at 1:11 pm Reply

      Yes, well, when you need to get from a land-locked city to another island, and there’s only one airline, you don’t have much choice. Our return journey, via canal boats, hydrofoil, buses, taxis, and 4×4, took over 30 hours, and it was no picnic. We tell that tale in “From Paradise to Perdition (and Back Again).”

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

2 × one =

Archives

  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2015
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • October 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • September 2012

Meta

  • Log in

Previous posts


© Karel Zuiderveld and Denise Cote. All Rights Reserved.
en English
nl Nederlandsen Englishfr Françaisde Deutschit Italianopt Portuguêses Españolsw Kiswahilisv Svenskath ไทย