We spent our last 10 days on the coast in Toliara (Tulear) in the south west of Madagascar, mainly to chill out and recharge, but also to visit the spiny forest. We caught a taxi brousse from Isalo (Ranohira) to Toliara, which took 5 hours. We arrived late, just before 10pm and stayed a night at Chez Alain, which was very pleasant and had a good restaurant (luckily still open).

From Toliara, we travelled 40km north to a beach called Mangily. We checked into a lovely bungalow right on the beach, with incredible sunsets, at a hotel called ‘Bamboo Club’. It had a little family of mouse lemur living in the roof and one had made a little home in the back of a speaker. The days floated by surprisingly fast, as they always seem to do on holiday. We only ate, slept, snorkelled and lazed by the pool.

We did take a walking tour into the spiny forest one evening, which was very interesting and surprisingly cool considering the desert climate. The plants and creatures were out of this world, twisted baobabs, weird cacti, hissing cockroaches and spiky tenrecs (impossibly cute and look just like little hedgehogs).

After a week or so, we had to move back to Toliara. We decided to visit the Antsokay Arboretum, a hidden gem and a very pleasant surprise. This was a lovely way to end our time in Mada, what a find this was, in what felt like the middle of nowhere. Antsokay is an extremely well presented little resort that established an arboretum over 20 years ago. The arboretum displays the wonders of the spiny forest over a 2-3 hour walk. This place had a pool and great wifi in the restaurant, so we were very happy to spend our last few days here. We were also extremely lucky to spend a last evening with our friend, Barry Ferguson, an inspirational social and environmental justice warrior (hope you don’t mind that description Barry!) Thanks Barry for a memorable last evening, with a feast of whole sheep, goat and spirited dancing in the sand.

Sadly, this was our very last stop in Madagascar, before flying to Johannesburg. There were a few tears welling as we drove to the airport, passing typical Malagasy scenes of palm trees, rice paddies, friendly vendors in front of their shacks, more than a few potholes and stray dogs. We met many inspiring people and made amazing friends. Veloma Madagascar, mandra pihaona (see you again soon).

We left Maroantsetra by boat 10:30pm under darkness to Soanierana Ivongo. This boat trip was not fun or enjoyable to say the least! We spent over nine hours crammed into a tiny boat, the windows had to be closed because of water spray, so we were all sweating and there was no air circulation. They had a tv screen  constantly showing Malagasy pop videos the entire journey, yay! Alex was really suffering as he was crammed into the seat next to the wall which was really claustrophobic. The deck hand made trips down the passageway handing out (and collecting) spew bags. But, we made it! We were fortunate to be able to get a boat from Soanierana Ivongo to Ile Sainte Marie the same morning, we thought we would have to stay a night in Soanierana, which we weren’t hugely looking forward to. It’s a rundown seaside town with no attractions and activities. We arrived on Ile Sainte Marie a day earlier than expected, which was a great bonus.

We were picked up by a guy in a tuk-tuk, that Vincent from Sambatra Beach Lodge, had organized for us. Sambatra means ‘happiness’ in Malagasy but, on the funny side, it is also the name of a huge circumcision festival in Manajary, held every seven years. We took a pirogue to our hotel, which was in an absolutely idyllic location. It really was the beach that postcards just couldn’t do justice. The bungalows were brand new and really well presented. The hotel was still being finished and the restaurant wasn’t yet opened as the generator had not yet arrived. This was no problem for us but power was limited. We met a lovely South African couple, Tina and Nick, from Joburg. They were on honeymoon at Sambatra and had gone to high school with the owner Vincent. We went snorkeling, played poker with French expats, visited a remote sand-bar, ate amazing seafood and drank too much. We celebrated New Year’s Eve at La Petite Traversee with our new friends. We danced well into the early hours of next morning. 

After four nights on beautiful Ile Aux Nattes, we decided to see what Ile Sainte Marie had to offer. We really loved our time on Ile Aux Nattes, but we wanted to see what the bigger island had to offer….time to try something new.

We got a tuk-tuk on Ile Sainte Marie to take us to a few hotels to check them out. We decided on Lakana, which had bungalows right on the water. We spent one night in one of these bungalows, which was atmospheric, but there was no toilet or shower in the bungalow.  We were lucky to witness traditional fishing by the local women. Circling fish in shallow waters and forcing then into nets.

We spent the our last three nights in a bungalow on the beach. We enjoyed a few days eating, snorkeling and just relaxing. We hired bicycles and rode to the elusive ‘Pirate’ Cemetery which was interesting. Tina and Nick had booked a few days at an exclusive resort, Princess Bora. We joined them for a swim in the poolsunset cocktails and dinner. We were sad to leave this paradise of Nosy Boraha, but work was waiting for us back in Fianarantsoa, and one cannot laze around forever…