We left the Mahavelo after breakfast and drove back to Ivato Airport. We made our way through the multitude of baggage handlers and checked our bags. After a little wait, we went to get on the plane. There is no real system at the airport for boarding. Everyone just lines up in one big line. It reminds me of flying Southwest without the A, B and C.
Our plane was a smaller style turboprop. I had never flown on a plane with propellers before and was expecting it to be really noisy, but it was actually not much worse than a jet. As we became airborne, I was again able to marvel at the beautiful landscape. Tana is really impressive from the air, with all the homes and building built up the hills. We flew for about an hour to Tulear, and as we got further from Tana, signs of villages were few and far between.
When we arrived in Tulear, we were greeted by our other tour leader, also named Klaus. Tulear is at a much lower altitude than Tana, and the weather was much hotter. Klaus was accompanied by one of his local helpers, a young man named Dim (I think that's right). Dim passed out lunch to the group, which consisted of sandwiches made with cheese and tomatoes, and bottled water. The sandwiches were very good and as I was finally getting my appetite back after the Paris salmon incident, I had two. We gathered our luggage and went outside where there were 3 4x4 vehicles waiting for us.
As the drivers were loading the vehicles, we took the opportunity to look around the outside of the airport. We found several geckos and saw some interesting flora. The drivers were having some issues loading up all our luggage and leaving enough room for all of our group as well. I noticed the basket which contained two live turkeys. Somehow, I knew they wouldn't be making the trip back with us. More on that later.
Once the vehicles were all loaded, we were on our way. We had an understanding that if anyone in any truck saw anything interesting critter-wise that we would stop. We hadn't gone more than a couple kilometers when the lead truck stopped and everyone piled out. Bill had spied a large turtle shell by the side of the road. After a few minutes, we were back on our way.
We drove on a paved road that was in good condition until we reached a village at a crossroads. We got out for a little while and mingled with the locals. The village had several hotelys, which are small places where you can get a somewhat cold drink, a snack or even a place to stay. They aren't the Ritz by any means, consisting mainly of a small wood building with a shack in back. After a bit, we all piled back in the trucks and took off south down a dirt road.
We found out that the dirt road we were on was actually Route 10, a major road in the country. There were places where the road was a fine red dirt that coated the trucks. The road was very bumpy and the going was slow at points. There were times that the road would split off in numerous directions. This was due to the fact that when it rained, one road would become impassable and drivers would go back and make another road. We asked how the drivers knew which one to take and found out that they follow the one that looks like it was most recently travelled. Makes sense. All the different roads would always meet back up with the main at some point down the line.
After several stops along the way to see numerous chameleons and other animals, we were told we were coming up on the Tropic of Capricorn. We soon came upon a sign next to the road that confirmed this fact. Everyone piled out and took pictures next to the sign and looked around a bit. Most of the group had left Paris together and had been awake for almost 24 hours, and as it was getting late in the day and there was a large clearing a few hundred meters off the road we decided to camp for the evening.
We pulled off the road and into the clearing and everyone immediately began to explore the area. We tromped through and around the trees and found all sorts of animals. Klaus, Dim and the drivers set up camp for us while we were gone. When we got back, all the tents were up and the dinner table had been set. Klaus brought over a bowl full of hot redskin peanuts that had been salted and heated in oil. They were so good that I practiclly burned my fingers stuffing my face.
We sat down to dinner as it got dark. We had bread and cheese, wine, more peanuts (at least I did) and a few other items. It was all very good and after we were done, we went to explore the campsite at night. We found many other animals as we walked.
I had mentioned to Suzi before we left that one thing I really was looking forward to was seeing the sky at night. I can tell you that I have never seen a sky like that in my life. We were so far from anything that the sky lit up like a Christmas tree. I could see every star it was so clear. It was truly a sight to see and after a while of looking up, we all said our goodnights and crawled into our tents to get some rest.
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