Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
bavaonthenewlysurfacedroad.Strappedtotheroofwereagaggleofgeesereadyfor
thefestivepot,basketsofmangosandotherfruit,aswellaseverybody'sluggage-oh,
and a large sofa. About halfway we were flagged down by the police. Just the obligat-
orysecuritycheck,Ithought,andwe'dsoonbeonourway.Thedriverwascalledinto
the police hut and a few minutes later emerged with two gun-toting officers, a couple
of geese, and a rather desperate-looking prisoner handcuffed to one of the policemen.
He cleared the seat in front of us and the prison detail took their places.
Now,whathappensinacrowded
taxi-brousse
whenaprisonertriestomakeabreak
forit? Dothe police start shooting, andwhat happens ifheleans overandgrabsme as
a hostage? I spent a very tense couple of hours mulling all this over, but of course we
reached Vohemar safely and the prisoner was taken off to spend an unhappy Christ-
mas in a Malagasy cell.
CLIMBING MAROMOKOTRO
Nigel Vardy, mountaineer
Wandering into the Tsaratanana Massif to ascend Maromokotro - Madagascar's
highestpeakat2,876m-isataskrarelyundertakenbyanyclimber.Itsremotenessre-
quires a 14-day round trip on foot, crossing waist-deep rivers, bashing through dense
jungle and summiting on a peak reminiscent of the Pennines. The peak is held sacred
by the locals so we took a plentiful supply of white chickens with us to appease the
ancestors! The climate varies incredibly from burning grassland to freezing moorland
in only a few days, and requires stamina for the 30-plus kilometres you have to cover
each day. A local guide with porters led the way for me through the maze of hills and
valleys, walking barefoot as I followed on in walking boots. Theirs was the last laugh
however as my boots fell apart from the combination of dry, wet, dust and mud. I fin-
ished in sports sandals.
Initially wefollowed theriveroutofAmbanja beforebreaking offintothehills and
leaving the last villages behind. Suddenly we were in a world of tall grass, then thick
forest,beforethemoorlandopenedup.BeingaDerbyshireladitalmostfeltlikehome
as we approached the summit and soon I overlooked most of northern Madagascar. It
was here we left a white chicken along with money, tobacco and alcohol as a bless-
ing. Quite what a chicken does at almost 3,000m I'm not sure! Heading home was an
epicinitselfasthejunglepathswerealmostnonexistentanddawn-till-darkdayswere
spent cutting through the dense undergrowth hoping we were going in the right direc-
tion. Soon the first villages appeared and once again the savanna opened up before us
on the long walk home.
