Vagabonds in Madagascar. Part 3

[Vagabond]

Vagabonds in Madagascar Part 3

 

The dinner the previous night had been centred on two large slices off one of the thazard (wahoo) we had caught. Marinaded in lime juice and a suitable blend of spices, they were served grilled, with a lime sauce and fresh bread. Definitely one of the world’s tastier fish. Note the cruet set on the table, caricatures of two marlin.

 

 

That evening, Rija turned up to discuss the next stages of our trip. Whilst we had been out fishing, he had spent the day stripping down the less complicated of his two mobile phones, cleaning out the water and grit, and reassembling it. It worked !

 

With a working mobile phone in his hand, the old Rija resurfaced. Barking a continuous stream of instructions, a taxi to Morondava airport was organised, making a "slight" detour to see some special baobab trees and some birds. The slight detour was only a twenty-mile round trip, but we did see the baobabs and a family of sooty falcons that used them as a roost.

 

Next stage was a flight to Toliary. This was one of the days where there was no direct flight, so we had to fly into Anatananarivo first and take a connecting flight – rather like flying from Aberdeen to Dundee via Gatwick ! (Better than BA though, we once wanted to fly from Bangalore to Delhi, and they suggested doing so via Heathrow!) From Toliary we had a 25 km drive to a lodge on the beach at Ifaty. Spirited driving along a track so full of potholes we spent most of the time making detours into the bush and even between pirogues pulled up on the beach.

 

I had attempted to get some fishing gear together in Morondava, but after trying a number of "general stores" in the market (about every fourth stall is a "general" one) the best I could find was 100 metres of thick nylon (about 30 lb BS, I guess) and a dozen "size 17" hooks – roughly about our size 6. There was nothing smaller. That, plus a short piece of lead glazing, was the limit of Madagascar’s resources.

 

It was just possible to thread the nylon through the hook eye, so a crude one-hook paternoster was made up and wound upon an empty drinking water bottle. Made another for Norma. By winding the line close to the bottom of the bottle it was possible to cast off it as if off a fixed spool.

 

 

Wading out about ten yards, whirling the lead round and letting go "on the up" as Brian Lara would say, it was possible to cast another twenty. A larger lead and some practice should make fifty yards possible. The neck of the bottle could be stuck in the sand, and thus acted as its own bite indicator.

 

 

Well, it worked – at least to the extent of casting bait far enough for the crabs to nibble it off the hooks (we use tough zebu meat) but no fish resulted.

 

Later that morning we saw about sixteen men trying to catch fish in a huge net. Four men to hold each end of the ropes, four to ferry the net out about a quarter of a mile, and four swimmers (one with snorkel) to control the net once in the water and keep it open. The net seemed to be a gigantic purse net The picture shows the four guys on one end of the rope. The net, floats and attendant swimmers are too far out to be visible.

 

 

The whole operation, from start to finish, took about four hours.

 

When the net was nearing shore, we walked along the beach to witness the catch – here it is!

 

 

One Picasso trigger fish, and a pair of Palenose Parrot fish. Somebody else had picked out a small garfish, but made off with it before I could get a picture. So a whole morning’s task for sixteen men produced enough fish for a meal for two people……..

 

We were told by an ex-pat Croatian who was building a house locally (spoke excellent English, Norma said) that that was about par for a morning’s catch. I can only assume that occasionally they entrap a big shoal (mullet?) or the whole exercise seems pointless. No wonder we could only get crab bites on our gear!

 

In the Baobab and thornbush scrub behind the beach, we found some excellent birds, including a third species of Ground Roller. It is very like the Mexican Roadrunner in size and shape, but much more colourful.

 

We also visited some salt flats a mile or so away. Having watched birds from camel-back and from horse-back, a new form of birdwatcher’s transport awaited us – zebu-cart. Here we are setting out. This trip yielded a pair of the endemic Madagascar Plover – extremely rare, and we got quite close to them.

 

 

Watching a zebu driver is quite entertaining. The only thing a zebu really wants to do is to stand still and eat grass, so the driver has to urge them on all the time, with reins, kicking their backsides with his feet, continuous shouting, and when all else fails, leaning forward and pulling their tails.

 

The last day at Ifaty I had to practice a bit of dentistry. Norma split a tooth. I shone our owl-spotting searchlight into her mouth, weighed up the damage and worked out the best thing to do, then pulled the offending piece of tooth out with the aid of our tweezers. Norma claimed it didn’t hurt (much). Our local dentist charges £60 for an adventure like that!

 

Then off for another zigzag across Madagascar to our next location.

[Anderoo]

Just fantastic, thanks for sharing this latest trip. If I ever need emergency dental work at Wingham I'll know who to ask

[Steve Walker]

Note the cruet set on the table, caricatures of two marlin.

 

And, if I am not mistaken, stylised baobab trees on the big earthenware pot?

[Tigger]

Amazing to think I used to have a picasso trigger in one of my marine tank's !

That's a strange lookin horse and cart...wouldn't know whether to ride it or milk it LOL.

[Vagabond]

And, if I am not mistaken, stylised baobab trees on the big earthenware pot?

 

Indeed they are - you find stylised baobabs everywhere, and some actual (small) baobabs "mummified" in what appears to black pitch-tar.

 

There are about eight species of baobabs in the world - one widespread in Africa, Madagascar, the Middle East and parts of India, one native to Northern Australia, and six species endemic to Madagascar - so they are quite proud of them.

 

Lots of stylised fish and seafood carvings in the wooden posts supporting the dining area roof - should have taken pictures, but didn't.

[Tony U]

Dave

Re: In the Baobab and thornbush scrub behind the beach, we found some excellent birds, including a third species of Ground Roller. It is very like the Mexican Roadrunner in size and shape, but much more colourful.

 

Was that the Long Tailed Ground Roller?

[Vagabond]

Was that the Long Tailed Ground Roller?

 

Yep