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West coast of Madagascar


bruno

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Two fishermen leaving very early in the morning.

pirogues.jpg

Belo sur mer is known for its boats. here are built some of the boutres you have seen earlier.

Incredible!

Some naval carpenters from Britany in france, taught the malagasy how build them a century ago. if they came back today I think they would be horrified. But the vessels float and navigate for years up and down the west coast. There are no roads, at least, parcticable roads.

chantiernav.jpg

chantier2.jpg

chantier3.jpg

antananarivo madagascar

altitude 1200m

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Leaving belo sur mer. Just a few km from the sea we meet this dry salted lake.

lacsal.jpg

The road goes alongside it. Salt is exploited here.

pistelacsal.jpg

Plenty of baobabs again

baobab.jpg

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antananarivo madagascar

altitude 1200m

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Bruno,

I really like the boat part. Although I do not have a boat I am very interested in them. Around where I live they are an integral part of life as there are few roads. The construction of the boats there is a bit more primative than around here it appears. Plus I imagine there is much more raw material available here. Please keep the pictures coming. It is quite a bit of work to organize and post them, but very worthwhile.

Thanks, again.

dk

Don Kittelson

 

LIFE ON THE RIO NEGRO

03° 06' 07'' South 60° 01' 30'' West

Altitude 92 Meters / 308 feet above sea level

1,500 kms / 932 miles to the mouth of the Amazon River

 

Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil - A Cidade da Floresta

Where the world´s largest Tropical Rainforest embraces the Greatest Rivers in the World. .

82331.gif

 

Click here to visit Amazonas

amazonas2.jpg

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Fantastic Bruno!

Thank you again and please continue!

Zone 10a at best after 2007 AND 2013, on SW facing hill, 1 1/2 miles from coast in Oceanside, CA. 30-98 degrees, and 45-80deg. about 95% of the time.

"The great workman of nature is time."   ,  "Genius is nothing but a great aptitude for patience."

-George-Louis Leclerc de Buffon-

I do some experiments and learning in my garden with palms so you don't have to experience the pain! Look at my old threads to find various observations and tips!

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wrong pic above

baorouges-1.jpg

We saw a very different kind of baobab also by the dry lake

baosansfeuille.jpg

baossfeuill2.jpg

  • Upvote 2

antananarivo madagascar

altitude 1200m

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We had to cross another river with a ferry. This spot is called "bevoay" which means lots of crocs...

I took this pic a bit late leaving. We had to go over about a mile of deep sand before reaching the ferry. We got stuck in the middle and a bunch of about 10 guys came to the rescue.

bevoay.jpg

After that, the landscape changed radically. We were drinving among those strange plants belonging to the didieracea family. An eagle was trying to stay on one of them

aigle.jpg

didieraces.jpg

antananarivo madagascar

altitude 1200m

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Alternating sand or stone road. Either way, the medium speed was 15 km/h.

pistepierres.jpg

A very rare sight: a white zebu! Three at a time is even rarer.

omby.jpg

antananarivo madagascar

altitude 1200m

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piste3.jpg

2gros.jpg

There's a really big one.

grosbaoba.jpg

I read somewhere that the widest baobab needs 34 persons to go round it. And the oldest one could be 4 000 years old.

gosbao2.jpg

  • Upvote 3

antananarivo madagascar

altitude 1200m

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Let's reach the sea now.

salary2.jpg

Very basic hotel, run by a flamboyant italian and his malagasy wife. We were treated like kings: food was fantastic and plenty. Beautiful sea, beautiful white sand, 180 km of beaches like that without any tourists! Nice huts, but cold, you can't imagine! At night we had three blankets on our beds.

salary.jpg

antananarivo madagascar

altitude 1200m

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Bruno,

I did some reading about Zebu cattle and Madagasscar had the most pure strain of them in Africa. Here in Brazil most cattle are of Indian origin. The mains type is Nelore which is a type of Zebu and is pure white. Are cattle raised extensively there?

dk

Don Kittelson

 

LIFE ON THE RIO NEGRO

03° 06' 07'' South 60° 01' 30'' West

Altitude 92 Meters / 308 feet above sea level

1,500 kms / 932 miles to the mouth of the Amazon River

 

Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil - A Cidade da Floresta

Where the world´s largest Tropical Rainforest embraces the Greatest Rivers in the World. .

82331.gif

 

Click here to visit Amazonas

amazonas2.jpg

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Thank you very much, Bruno. The photographs are most interesting. Please show us more!

San Francisco, California

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:bemused:

Zone 10a at best after 2007 AND 2013, on SW facing hill, 1 1/2 miles from coast in Oceanside, CA. 30-98 degrees, and 45-80deg. about 95% of the time.

"The great workman of nature is time."   ,  "Genius is nothing but a great aptitude for patience."

-George-Louis Leclerc de Buffon-

I do some experiments and learning in my garden with palms so you don't have to experience the pain! Look at my old threads to find various observations and tips!

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Those baobabs are simply magnificent!!! I definitely have to try to find those Madagascar baobabs. The native & B. digitata are all doing well here, I think they might like the long dry season that we have, even though we have higher annual rainfall.

It is amazing the difference in landscape... it actually reminds me a bit of Australia, just in a smaller scale.

Regards, Ari :)

Ari & Scott

Darwin, NT, Australia

-12°32'53" 131°10'20"

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Here is the flamboyant italian owner who quit a stressed life in Milan and lived for 8 years from island to island, scuba diving off this coast and then started his small hotel.

patron.jpg

And his malgasy wife, cooking our breakfast on charcoal. magnificent breakfast. very unusual and delicious.

patronne.jpg

antananarivo madagascar

altitude 1200m

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Sorry I was a bit lazy posting... there's much more material and very diversified.

More sea and sand landscape, no palms, no coconuts except a few planted in gardens

dunesalary.jpg

a dune at the hotel.

dune.jpg

a small house unchanged in shape and material for the past 1500 years. the village behind.

caseplage.jpg

antananarivo madagascar

altitude 1200m

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Remember the huts of the hotel posted above? I have to show you the "bathroom"

sdb1.jpg

Walls made out of seashells, held by small branches. Traditional walls in this area. Mind, there 's no shower there! A woman brings a bucket of hot water on her head...

sdb.jpg

  • Upvote 1

antananarivo madagascar

altitude 1200m

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Que fotos magníficas Bruno !!!

I've tried germinating 6 different species of baobabs here but only managed to establish a few Adansonia grandidieri, suarezensis and digitata. All the other species, including the Australian native gregorii seem to be very sensitive to extra humidity during their seasonal dormancy period. Those short fatties you've shown are quite impressive. No idea of the species? I can't wait to plant my seedlings here in the ground. You pictorial essay is highly appreciated in palmtalk, as always...

Sirinhaém beach, 80 Km south of Recife - Brazil

Tropical oceanic climate, latitude 8° S

Temperature extremes: 25 to 31°C

2000 mm average rainfall, dry summers

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Baobab look like upside down trees.

Thanks for the photos.

That's how we were taught this tree in infants school, The "upside down tree". It's curious how the trunks are so out of proportion to the canopy. Nature's balance has definitely gone awry with the Baobab!

Great photos, Bruno!

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For the baobabs fans, here is another pic of one of those leafless ones. I really don't know what variety it is sorry. As I said above, even with book, we could not diferentiate them. I only know that the ones in alley of baobabs, are andansonia grandidierii, like the ones by the pond with water lilies.

And the oldest one which is in the Tléar region is around 4000 years old.

baossfeuille.jpg

We also saw quite a few of those beautiful pachypodiums

pachy.jpg

A close up of the thorns

epinespachy.jpg

  • Upvote 1

antananarivo madagascar

altitude 1200m

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In the little town of Andavadoaka we stayed also in a very nice hotel, where we also were treated like kings. Superb food, seafood of course. It is on the other side of this bay on the pic. really these places are superb.

andav1.jpg

I a sitting at a table right in front of this little beach, seeping a THB. Those who have been here know what I'm talking about. By the way, this THB won a gold medal last june at the beer contest in Brussels, Belgium.

andav.jpg

antananarivo madagascar

altitude 1200m

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The same coast as above.

andavcote.jpg

In Andavadoaka, the british have set up a scientific base for researchers from all over english speaking nations. They come here from Australia Europe, America and study the reef which is the third or fourth longest in the world. it is also, like the rest of the country, beeing destroyed at great speed by industrial fishing. Soon, the local population will not be abble to live off of the sea!

Here is a bungalow of the primitive hotel they are staying in. But I loved those faed colours, they matched the sea behind so well.

andav2.jpg

andav4.jpg

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antananarivo madagascar

altitude 1200m

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  • 2 weeks later...

Now we go further down south, toward the town of Tuléar.

Sand roads still and still beautiful sea.

routemer.jpg

mersable.jpg

And not a palm in sight!

vuemer.jpg

antananarivo madagascar

altitude 1200m

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We went through a village where people build stone walls arounf their houses! That's the first time I see that here. I had to takes pics, even if for you, stone walls are normal!

villagemurs.jpg

murpierres.jpg

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antananarivo madagascar

altitude 1200m

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A small nice village by the sea. Unchanged in style for the last 1500 years...

village.jpg

A stop at a brand new hotel that was opening the following day. very nice.

hotel.jpg

As a stool bar, the owners had found a strange looking stringlike driftwood...

tabouret.jpg

antananarivo madagascar

altitude 1200m

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Looks fun. All of it!

Zone 10a at best after 2007 AND 2013, on SW facing hill, 1 1/2 miles from coast in Oceanside, CA. 30-98 degrees, and 45-80deg. about 95% of the time.

"The great workman of nature is time."   ,  "Genius is nothing but a great aptitude for patience."

-George-Louis Leclerc de Buffon-

I do some experiments and learning in my garden with palms so you don't have to experience the pain! Look at my old threads to find various observations and tips!

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Looks like the surf was up in Madagascar -- post #109.

Kim Cyr

Between the beach and the bays, Point Loma, San Diego, California USA
and on a 300 year-old lava flow, Pahoa, Hawaii, 1/4 mile from the 2018 flow
All characters  in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

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what an amazing journey! thanks for all the time & effort you have put into this,bruno!

the "prince of snarkness."

 

still "warning-free."

 

san diego,california,left coast.

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  • 2 weeks later...

We leave the sea behind now and head up up back north. We stopped one night in Isalo mountains and met a few bismarckias on the way.

palmiersbisma-1.jpg

bism2.jpg

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antananarivo madagascar

altitude 1200m

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There were not as many as at the beginning of the trip.

In Isalo we visited a very nice brand new hotel with superb views.

hotel-1.jpg

hotel3.jpg

hotel2.jpg

antananarivo madagascar

altitude 1200m

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We took time to visit a distant canyon where skinny dypsis onylahensis survive as they can. It was a beautiful place though.

canyononylah.jpg

canyon2.jpg

onylahensis.jpg

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antananarivo madagascar

altitude 1200m

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While in Isalo we stayed in a small unusual hotel where I took Gary and Kim; a few cute wild ducks were stuck to the ground their wing being regularly trimmed.

canards.jpg

antananarivo madagascar

altitude 1200m

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A few hours away another stop at that mountain called Andrigitra. A privately owned park has been set up by the villagers with the help of an association.

andringitra.jpg

as soon as we started a bunch of maki greeted us. They were licking a special spot where there is earth that contains salt! We stayed with them quite a while.

maki.jpg

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antananarivo madagascar

altitude 1200m

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