June 1 - Baobab Avenue

Baobab Avenue was a part of the bike ride from Belo-sur-Tsiribihina to Morondava where tomorrow is a rest day. 83 kilometers of sand road before 17 km on hard surface sealed road. The forest has been largely clear-cut - a shame - a few birds en route, a lot of falls in the sand - looking at the road, you had no idea from the colour or contour if the sand would support the bike or not. Vehicle tracks were no help because of the tire width. So a nano-second inattention and you'd be stuck in the sand.

Another day of outstanding organization and support from the staff, getting bags to the boat (need a 45-minute ferry across the river to get to the south side and our bikes - a couple of extra 4x4s to ensure that no one got swallowed by the sand. For Ursula and I, it was a long day time-wise... as usual, we were last on the road getting in just in time at sunset.

I'm having a lot of connection problem, so I'm just going to upload the photos and let them speak for themselves...

our empty water bottles are much in demand outside our hotel

on the walk back to the boat in the morning

our ferry to the north shore - it had obviously previously been used to transport fish

the dirt road and a few obstracles

trust me, it wasn't all this good

and it is used by big trucks too

I'm sure our Dutch friends will appreciate this just in case they are on a leisurely Sunday afternoon ride in the sand
not at all obvious to be that there would be enough cyclists here to warrant a sign like this

gee this is fun

that's not suntan, it's dirt

but nor to worry, we still left some sand out there for the next cyclists

May 30-31 - the Tsiribihina River

Before posting the pictures, we have to take time to recognize the amazing imagination, planning and organization of the next three days as we depart from just straight cycling every day. The idea of cruising down the river on our own boats was brilliant, and the work required to make it happen truly remarkable. An extra truck to be loaded with bikes and drive unbelievably bad roads (you'll see in the next post) to get them to us at the end of the cruise. Details like buckets to ensure the safe travel of our helmets so we didn't have to carry them on the boat.

Then three vans to get us from hotel to boats this morning. In perspective, each of those vans would carry at least twenty local people on their travels along the highway - we were six or seven people to the van.

Arrangements made to get the baggage to the boat without us having to carry it ourselves. And when we got to the water, low water levels meant we had to walk half a kilometer through the river to get to the boat - somehow the TDA crew found a way of getting the bags to the boat - see photos.

Five-litre bottles of water for each of us, with our names on them, to ensure we are hydrated with clean water for the next three days.

This crew is amazing - they are trying to make everything absolutely perfect for us, and they are doing even better than that. That goes for Emily, Miles, Brad, and BaBa, the TSA crew and for all of the Malagasy crew that has been arranged through Ortours. Google Ortours if you want an agency that will look after you when you come to Madagascar - Michel there did our pre and post cycling arrangements and so far it has been perfect.

Okay... on to the two days on the boat, with a night in tents on the river bank in between...


The walk to the boats...

...two of those boats are for us.

Brad arriving with the bags

We saw two or three of these guys and thought better of swimming in the river...

...so we swam here at this waterfall instead.

red-fronted brown Lemur seen near the waterfall



The river is a footpath too

probably the biggest village seen along the river



sun setting behind the other boat

sunset dining... and we still had to come on shore and set up tents

river traffic at sunrise day 2



the other boat early on day 2

Black Kite (?)



Baobabs along the river

Heron alighting

the car ferry for access to the north

...and bags to the hotel by zebu cart at the end

26-29 May - Four Riding Days

26 May - Ranomafana to Ambositra - 130 km - started with a 7 km climb on hard surface, then onto about 25 km of track which was rough with enormous cobble stones at places, dirt elsewhere, big holes everywhere, going through out of the way villages - not a road used regularly by motor vehicles - slow, like very slow for us, but worth it for the nice quiet beauty.

Hand-made bridge across the river with a big step in the middle

Riding into one of the villages

25 km of this

all around the villages were neat rice paddies and other fields

Back on the highway after that stretch, lots of climbing and very hot. Rae was wiped out by the end of the day, could hardly stand up at the end. We're letting the anti-malarial medication take the blame and hoping that a switch to a different anti-malarial will help.  

27 May - Ambositra to Antsirabe - 92 km - Rae didn't ride today at all - good decision. Ursula did it all, and again lots of climbing.

A foggy start for the day, and quite cool in the higher elevation.
Thanks Bill for keeping her company.

Gravel comes from rocks that are painstakingly hammered and chiseled down
until they are small enough, women and kids doing the work at the side of the
road in the sunshine...

...with many of the tools being hand-made. We are constantly impressed at the
work ethic here.

The end of this day was Antsirabe which is generally regarded at the coldest spot in Madagascar owing to the elevation with overnight temperatures into the single-digits.

28 May - Antsirabe to Mandoto - 106 km - Back in the saddle again for Rae but still not much energy or appetite so he rode the bus in from lunch. Ursula still strong and did the whole thing.

 

Notice there are very few chimneys to be seen. Cooking, which is done on the
main floor, is either charcoal or hard wood which is either vented out through
 windows or somehow vented to the attic and the smoke escapes through the roof. 

 

Change in countryside again - still lots of rice paddies in valley, also other grains in
the open areas.

Town of Mandato where we're camping tonight...

...as in most towns along these roads, no electrical infrastructure, no one has
running water in the house, but there are wells in town and these big yellow
plastic bottles are dutifully filled and taken to homes for the water supply. 

Those bottles are heavy when full so you frequently see kids with them on these carts.

Lady with her groceries in the bag - for sure that duck is fresh.

Camping tonight with temperature again expected to be in single digits. Canadians didn't fret too much about that, but for the Malagasy support crew, it's cold.

29 May - Mandoto to Miandrivazo - 119 km - This day was supposedly more down than up, but there was so much 'up' that we still found it hard in the heat. Good news is that we both finished today, Rae being back closer to normal. Of course there's still the sore bums, burnt lips, and desperately hot sweaty bodies to contend with. 

Seven thirty in the morning and kids are walking to school - town is at least 3 km behind us!

Other kids run to the side of the road when we pass

Typical sort of scene entering villages

Seemingly abandoned merry-go-round at edge of town - it must have a story to tell

One of our support busses

Grain being dried on the road surface and poured onto mats to blow away the chaff

Two-against-one - this raptor (ID Bruce?) being attacked by two Pied Crows
and performing a wonderful display of aerobatics in the process

The road surface looks good, but just behind Brad are a couple of big potholes -
the problem on this road was that at the bottom of most hills, the potholes were
literally as big as the road itself