Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
tial oil distillery which demonstrates that revenue can be earned from the leaves of trees
without having to cut them down (
www.huiles-essentielles-madagascar.com
)
, the model
farm running trials with new agricultural methods - and searching for wildlife.
There are several circuits varying from two to 12 kilometres, passing through beautiful
rainforest, cultivated fields and spectacular viewpoints. Some of the trails follow the rail-
way line, including a century-old disused tunnel now home to four bat species.
ANDASIBE TO TOAMASINA
The start of the journey from Andasibe down to Toamasina is lovely, taking you through
lush, mist-enshrouded rainforest.
This eventually gives way to eucalyptus woods, and those in turn to
savoka
(secondary
vegetation) dotted with travellers' palms, and then finally
bozaka
- the stubbly grassland
that results from continual slash-and-burn. This journey provides a stark illustration of the
severity of Madagascar's environmental crisis, and a reminder of the huge importance of
the work of conservation groups, such as the rainforest corridor project described in the
box on
Click Here
.
A ROLLING STONE GATHERS NO MOSS
Rupert Parker
Many
taxi-brousses
ply the route from Tamatave to Tana, all in various states of dis-
repair. The trick is to ensure you get a good one, so we opted for a VW camper van
on the basis that it was built like a tank and was relatively modern compared with
everythingelseonoffer.Sowesqueezedinandoffwewent.Afteraboutanhourthere
was a huge bang from the back and we immediately came to a stop. Everyone piled
out to look, but it was only the back tyre that had blown, so a spare was produced and
we were on our way again. I fully expected the driver to stop in Brickaville and get
the tyre repaired but he carried on and didn't even pause in the last village before the
steepascentuptothe
hautsplateaux
.Andaswebegantoclimb,therewasanotherfa-
miliar bang: it was another tyre and we were in the middle of nowhere. I thought that
maybe he carried two spares, but this was Madagascar and there was another solution
- of sorts.
They removed the damaged wheel and the passengers were deputed to gather as
much grass as they could. This was packed hard inside the damaged tyre. With the
wheel back in place we set off again, but had hardly gone a hundred metres before
