The principle
To board a ship straight out of a tale from the Arabian Nights, and leave for a fabulous trip to the discovery of a region inaccessible by land (the only way is to 40 km as the crow flies .... !). The sea is the only access to this world preserved, offset, and quite unconventional. A mysterious coast, and breathtaking beauty, which has a climate of legendary softness.
We offer you to balance the journey between the discovery of the maritime aspect of this unknown region, and the discovery of more earthly aspect, and more mysterious just back from the region. Throughout this trip so we will alternate a Maritime Day (6 à 8 hours aboard the dhow including 1:00 to 1:30 of snorkeling, and the rest of the earth in time) and a day's trek (between 4 and 6 hour hike spread over a whole day). In total we have 5 days of maritime-terrestrial discovery, and 3 resolutely terrestrial typed days.
In any case our "travel philosophy" will be the same ; between real physical effort and contemplation, breathe several angles in the Mainland visited, look at her, hear, and so, quietly, over the meetings and sensations, give it its true form. We look beyond our feet and we will keep all our senses. To accentuate this cultural foray, We will fish and hunt our fish, and sometimes we buy the villagers and fishermen meeting.
We will be opportunistic on all subjects, and will seek by all means to approach us closer to this growing world of dreams. Both on land and sea, our program will be malleable, and we will adapt to unexpected, because it is above all for us to realize a real journey of discovery completely off the beaten track.
We also cultivate a lifestyle that aim to demystify certain clichés of adventure. So we will try to eat well in all circumstances, and we will cultivate flying carpets, cushions, teapots, perfume of spices, sweet aperitifs, various showers, fruits, smiles and good humor !
Route
The idea is rather to articulate the trip 8 days to give it some dimension.
DAY 1 Ankifio vers Anjiabe
6h00 am, boarding the boutre. We have breakfast on our boat to enjoy the best of the morning calm. We go anchor around 6:45 am for about half past three crossing before joining our first dive site. This is our first day also, and find fish is not yet a necessity. It is mostly for pleasure as we dive snorkeling over our first corals (Angle between two and five meters deep). Each takes its place in its own way, we really are parties, we are in the bush, and the huge Mainland is no longer a distant landscape. Towards 11 H00, we return to the South to reach our first camp. The daily thermal wind has just risen, and it is the veil (if the wind is in the right direction !) or engine we reach our first camp. Anjiabé is a long white sand bordered by an abandoned coconut. A site with the extraordinary low tides home to dozens of bird species, for the most part endemic (only present in Madagascar). We have lunch on board, above a lagoon groomed blue and green . Landing around 14:00, and, after a shower with fresh water wells in the area, stroll to discover a little better what surrounds us and what we can expect tomorrow : a green mountain 700 m high over there, on the other side of the bay ! Aperitif in the lights of the sunset, meal, talks, dreams and good night to all !
DAY 2 Anjiabe vers la Montagne DE ANDRANOMATAVINA puis heart
(6h00 walk total) Breakfast at 5:30 am, then, around 6:30 am we board the Annex to cross a very sheltered bay 2 km wide. We land 20 minutes later on the beach Milorano, starting point of our walk of the day. The goal is to make us on this beautiful mountain called Andranomatavina (where water is abundant). We leave to the discovery of a particularly important sacred gully for Sakalava religion is shamanic kind .Protégée since ancient times by many "fady" (taboos ), primary forest is remarkable. After two hours of walking, we reach the foot of the magic mountain surrounded. The whites who have visited this highly sacred place can be counted on the fingers of both hands at the most. Large mossy rocks, trees, and leeches .... What happiness ! Right here, vegetable endemic is very close 100%. Everything becomes extraordinary. We baladons we quietly in this universe by simple but beautiful. We lunch at the edge of the valley, and we hear each in our own way this absolutely unique forest in the world. Around 14:00 we start our walk back to Milorano where our boat awaits us. During our walk marine changed bivouac, and it is in the village of Amporaha , near, our new camp is reaching. After 5 minutes crossing, surrounded by the lights of the sunset, we land. Dating Village, douche, farniente, food and drink. We begin to know better, everyone feels that the trip has really started. See you tomorrow !
DAY 3 Heart vers Ambatofotsy
Lever 6h00, breakfast, and boarding for still another day. We walk along a coast fringed beaches and forests more or less intact. There are sometimes a hamlet, someone walking on a huge beach, the scenery is elegant, graceful even. We dive along the way in a completely different world of water ahead eve, then around 11:00, sailing probably, we ever join south, Ambatofotsy. This is a small village that has the distinction, Furthermore natural charm, to host the royal residence and a "temple" to relics. Attention, nothing spectacular here, even if we are in the heart of the small kingdom Sakalava which reigns Mohamady king who owes his Arabic name to an old family history, wars, and of course kings ! A territory in the form of narrow ribbon of seventy kilometers in twenty. The role of the king mainly concerns the relationship between men and the sacred or small claims in the daily life of these honest people, soft, friendly, fins, shy, reserved, often, spontaneously and sometimes unbridled unreservedly. We land at Ambatofotsy in early afternoon, and we set up camp in the heart of this quiet village and serene. The shower is different again, is that of the town ..... children, the raffia, so that light Malagasy, Laughs, a weird song invisible bird, surf the recessed sea, and this immensity, all over. The sunset is not far ... .Contemplation .décontraction ... ... and the rest, as usual, or almost.
DAY 4 Ambatofotsy vers AMBARIOJEBY et retour
( 6h00 walk total ) Lever 5h30 , then , After a good breakfast, we drive to Ambariojeby, large village inaccessible by road, but representing a major agricultural basin in the region. At the beginning of our walk we went around a large pool of mangroves before tackling some hills discovering promising landscape. The area is semi mountainous, interspersed raphières (set of raffia palms), forêts of shrubs, small hamlets, fields and stories. We are surrounded by red and green, and walk on a major pathway used for centuries by locals. We meet people, painted in December, lemurs, zebu, odor, curiosities, and our watermark reading this life Sakalava still stuff a little more. We arrive in the late morning in this world is grown under large shade trees, Coffee, pepper, vanilla,orange, and we baladons us in the middle of rice, cassava, Groundnut, bananas, and sugarcane. Lunch near the village, surrounded by a few curious children : they never see foreign, and our presence here surprised everyone. We leave this quiet countryside around 14:00, because we still have two and half hours of walking before finding our coconuts. We head full, a little tired too. But the aperitif is welcome with his tasty treats procession. The nocturnal lemurs make much noise, but this really surprised us more. We talk today, we talk tomorrow, talking ... .Good night to all !
DAY 5 Ambatofotsy vers BERAFIA ISLANDS :
Raised as usual, and around 8:00 am we are back on our dhow that begs to go forward. Today we go to the largest island of the archipelago Radamas : Nosy Bérafia. After two hours of crossing we dive on the edge of this island just off our bivouac daybreak. Peach, spearfishing, and swimming before returning to the small lagoon Maroentendry. This small village is our door to approach this vast island well Malagasy Red. But beyond this earth so characteristic, Nosy Berafia is a hilly island and semi woody, while length, no real height ( 150 m maximum ). Since the beginning of the century, the French, and the Indo-Pakistani led large agricultural projects on this fertile land. The economic failures of Madagascar and its sidelining of international trade eventually blunting these beautiful development companies, Berafia and returned to what it was : a beautiful island, and the absolute focus of religion local Sakalava . We land there in early afternoon. Farniente, short walks talks and swimming occupy us until sunset before enjoying the rest of our catch of the day. Good dreams under the stars, and good awakening !…. as say the Malagasy.
DAY 6 MAROENTENDRY to Mahabo and finally the place called "THE MAGAZINE" ...:
(4h00 walk total ) Sunrise around 5:00 to make the most of the mild temperatures in the morning. We are in the north of the island and walk south. Quartz is at ground level, sometimes clear amethysts appear .Des bats frugivores dozens, same day, small quail tubby few meters in front of our feet, of all green pigeons singing strangely, and our same old guinea fowls that fly as pheasants. We meet life in all its forms before arriving at the foot of the sacred town Mahabo. Here are buried the kings, the princes and princesses of the royal lined concerned. Very few whites were able to visit this place, also, we will have some guidelines to follow to avoid disturbing this highly sacred place. Mango trees are centuries old, and some old men also seem. We are at the top of Berafia, and the view is breathtaking ... it's beautiful. We have lunch at the edge of the sea just below before moving westward "Magazin" which is not a course. It must mean an old colonial term for hardware storage sheds and other agricultural products. An hour's walk amid the scent of ylang-ylang , pepper and vanilla other more or less abandoned before overhanging the sea where our dhow awaits. We contemplate this African counter landscape from the top of the home of the concession manager ; perfumes prewar, perfumes from another time as evidenced by the very eve carcass of a breathless tractor. After a visit to the village, we regain our dhow to reach the shortest and sea, our camp in the north of the island. Douche, bathing, aperitif, farniente, fun and talks will occupy us until our eyes close, each at our own pace. See you tomorrow !
DAY 7 ISLE BERAFIA vers Ambariomena
After the usual breakfast and loading the dhow, we leave for about three hours of crossing one hour of diving or fishing before arriving in the late morning to Ambariomena. It's kind of quiet Malagasy fjord like a lake, lined with small orange sand beaches, dominated by dense primary forest. This fiord then sinks deeper into a maze of mangroves to finish in the river at the foot of mountains covered in rainforest. We install our camp this time at the entrance to the estuary, then, if the tide permits, we go more or less deeply an inlet ... water becomes increasingly thin amid this tangle of mangrove ... surreal life, yet intense, here is discreet ..., almost everything is Nursery, everything is strange, fragile !
We meet two hours later our camp in the raking light of dusk. The landscape is golden, the light is almost too good, she bewitches us ... It seems that all these green and the roses are edible. The evening will find us for the last time this trip surrounded by soft harmony, and we will contemplate what this bay looks for centuries : dhows, schooners, adventurers, and pirates who come to hide from the sea whims. Small fragile fires at night, distant laughter, smoke odors, silences, the feeling that little has changed .... The feeling that we are no longer quite the same either.
DAY 8 Ambariomena vers Nosy Be via ANKASOBERAVINY
Today, up quiet a bit later than usual. But the journey is not over because we have a few hours before us before joining Nosy Be. We do not really have to hunt and fish our fish today, and we especially try to visit a particularly beautiful coral and accessible website. One benefits the most, and those who want to stretch their legs on a lovely beach will. Apéros, tapas, memories and laughs accompany our last meal, then, comfortably seated on our carpets and our pillows we raise our sails. Singing ropes, the magnificent landscape, grinding pulleys under immense yard, heavy cotton sails ... .Any, magically take us back to the dawn of time ... for a few hours yet. quietly pushed by the delicious thermal wind, we touch Nosy Be in the light of the setting, towards 17 h 00.
END OF TOUR
It should also support the information using the content of "prelude to a trip dhow", document I enclose to this folder for simplicity.
How fit for walking
Avoid poorly ventilated fabrics such as lycra or the like modern fabrics.
Take enough loose cotton shorts.
Prefer shirts with short or long sleeves rather than the tee shirts that are usually too hot.
Take cotton underwear also.
Take a sarong light cotton (y 'has much to Madagascar), it is more practical than a towel !
Choose shoes or light hiking-type Velcro sandals "Teva". Note that in the mud there is no suitable footwear ; is that barefoot is best. Keep in mind that in all cases the shoes must be removed and recover quickly.
Several pairs of socks (2 à 3) in cotton .
A water bottle per person.
A compact because branches hat on trails.
A small hiking backpack with a volume of about 15 l.
A well penetrating sunscreen (thick creams are spectacular but also very uncomfortable with the heat).
Prices
Based on 3 people minimum and 8 persons
3 people : 150 Euro / day / person
From 4 à 8 people : 125 Euro / day / person
Promotion for the months of May and September
3 people : 120 Euro / day / person
From 4 à 8 people : 100 Euro / day / pers
Leave a review