Go back to Madagascar.
Go back to Part 6.
On the drive back to Tana.
This would’ve been the right time to make our exit but alas we still had a day. We bummed around, tried this, failed there. Were generally unmotivated. Drank more THB. Had lunch. Waited for dinner. Made plans with Lorella and Andrea to share the ride back to Tana the next day. Always fun listening to other climbers talk about those places they still want to visit. Gives one ideas, daydream material…temptations really.
.
Antananarivo’s Haute-Ville.
We set off for Tana with an extra day of cushion to allow for issues. Andrea, a guide from the Brenta Dolomites and his girlfriend Lorella joined us. This made for some pleasant time during an otherwise painful 12-hour drive. Two hours into the ride our driver realized that one of the tires was leaking slowly. Unperturbed, he continued on another 10 hours without a second thought. We got rooms in the same motel as before. In the morning, our Italian friends headed off for a flight up north for some sweet Madagascar beaches while we found ourselves with a day to kill in Antananarivo.
This part of the trip would’ve been totally skippable for me: a large (~2 million people), very crowded and even more polluted city. Still, our motel was a shithole used by a Vietnamese gang to run prostitutes & we were tired of the audio feed. Took a cab downtown, got a tour of Queen’s Palace including a highly overpriced if informative (or at least, very convincing) guide. Walked The Rova. Saw two chameleons. Walked the Haute-Ville. Got some major heat and fume headaches. Went to a Chinese place for lunch. Took a cab back. Flew home that night. Is all.
Photos
Ready to depart Camp Catta – Tsaranoro Massive in background (Sept. 2011).
A yoked pair of zebus (Madagascar cows) pulling a wagon somewhere on the dirt roads leading to Camp Catta (Sept. 2011).
Rice paddies in the arid valley just outside of Camp Catta (Sept. 2011).
More granite (Sept. 2011).
Some other formations early on the drive back (Sept. 2011).
Madagascar (Sept. 2011).
Malagasy women carrying goods along the road just outside the village of Ambalavao (Sept. 2011).
Entering the village of Ambalavao during the drive back to Antananarivo (Sept. 2011).
A market in some village along highway RN7 (Sept. 2011).
A Malagasy woman casually carrying a basket in Antsirabe (Sept. 2011).
Rickshaws in the village of Antsirabe (Sept. 2011).
A Malagasy woman carrying groceries along the road (Sept. 2011).
The village of Ambositra along our drive back up north to Antananarivo (Sept. 2011).
On the drive back, we stopped for lunch in the village of Ambositra. We were sharing our cab back to Tana with our fellow climbers Lorella and Andrea from The Dolomites (Sept. 2011).
Women doing laundry in rural Madagascar (Sept. 2011).
Town scenes during the drive back to Antananarivo (Sept. 2011).
Handmade trinkets along the road on the outskirts of Antananarivo (Sept. 2011).
The inner city rice paddies in Antananarivo…make for some huge urban sprawl (Sept. 2011).
Stair walkways of Antananarivo’s Haute-Ville (Sept. 2011).
A market in the Haute-Village district of Antananarivo (Sept. 2011).
Views from Antananarivo’s Rova district (Sept. 2011).
Had to wait till we got back to Antananarivo to see a chameleon “in the wild” (Sept. 2011).
The Queen’s Palace in Antananarivo (Sept. 2011).
At the Queen’s Palace (Sept. 2011).
View southwest from The Rova hill toward (manmade) Lac Anosy (Sept. 2011).
A closer look (Sept. 2011).
Strolling the streets of Antananarivo (Sept. 2011).
Antananarivo randomness (Sept. 2011).
More Antananarivo randomness (Sept. 2011).
A random taxi in Antananarivo (Sept. 2011).
Shirley enjoying our ride back to Ivato (Antananarivo’s airport subrub) in the tiny (& ancient) Citroen cab (Sept. 2011).
Typical traffic jam in Antananarivo (Sept. 2011).
Go back to Madagascar.