A dream called Madagascar. First Part

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Organization travel Altrovolo travel.
Hotels visited: Vakona Lodge (Perinet)-Plaza Tana (Antananarivo) - Colbert (Diego Suarez)-Domaine de Fontanay (Joffreville) La Mer (Ankify)-Tsarabanjina Hotel (Tsarabanjina).
Departure Saturday 05/08/06 from Malpensa Air Madagascar: Antananarivo destination. First stop after 9.5 hours at Nosy Be, where the air download the first part of tourists and then arrive in Antananarivo. Total time of 12 hours flight. Upon arrival at the airport is our driver Lubert (nicknamed Lupine) that awaits us with a sign with our last name. We presented the other components of Gasikara that we have delivered the material that the Altrovolo gave us from Italy: video tapes and newspapers for him to learn our language and we exchanged money at the airport to the MEMBERS. MAD, which has a better exchange rate than the other. I advise you not to change a lot of money because the cost of living is very little, to eat in 2 (breakfast-lunch-dinner) spent € 20 all in a day.
Lubert we charge on his car by unknown model but still functional.
Direction: Vakona Lodge. The trip is very long, about 5 hours even if the are only 160 Km.
There are no holes, the road is paved but there are many curves el'andatura is so slow even to look around and take the first photos. The landscape is characterized in this area by streams, hills that are reflected on rice crops and a terrace.
We can see women washing clothes in streams and multi-stretch the linen on the lawn to make it dry. Do not resist and we will stop to capture this moment and we have a first contact with the locals which give a little 'things that we brought from home. We continue our journey and finally arrived at the Lodge Vakona where awaits us a wonderful spectacle. A hotel located in the rainforest.
You can not imagine the lush nature that surrounds him. The central body has the shape of a pointed roof bungalows, built to palafitte on a lake reflecting the sky and the thick vegetation. The rooms are built side and connected to the restaurant by wooden bridges. Vakona The park has a large property and we have taken advantage to visit soon. The first thing we wanted to see were the lemurs, monkeys, teddy bears that call, but the little monkeys. Are extraordinary, there are many species, all different. The first one we saw was gray and yellow and was caressing. Took bananas from our hands. It 'exciting to see these animals and I in the meantime I realized more and more that they are in Madagascar and not in another country, because it is the only place in the world that hosts them. We continue our journey and find others who are just starting buffissimi from the branches of trees to jump on his shoulders. They are nice and we enjoyed a lot because sometimes they have 2 cars on the shoulder and one in the head! Verse that makes it unique, I swear that I tried many times at home but without result! We have also seen the chameleons, and have taken on the arm for the photo rite. They are beautiful and the colors are incredible. Their eyes turn 360 degrees and can see forever. They are not aggressive. We have seen very small size (1 cm.) And very large. It remains a mystery as do the guides to identify them, especially the smaller ones ... ... mah!
Other inhabitants of the reserve are the crocodiles and there are very many, do not be afraid, are not free.
As the first day we met to take advantage will go to sleep for a while '! We wake up just to enjoy the dinner that I must say is very good. The temperature drops at night and it is advisable to something heavy. In the restaurant we dined with the fire.
The next morning Lupine us to take good time to return to Antananarivo. I had read on the wheel of a Camaleon Farm on its way back and then I asked to accompany Lupine. It is worth it. We are also here lemurs, an infinite number of chameleons and other insects "camouflage", butterflies, crocodiles ecc.ecc.
In the afternoon we return to Tana by car and do a ride for the markets, through the center and the Lake Anosy which is located in the south of the city. In the middle of this lake stands on an island "the monument to the dead" who died in the First World War.
At the end of the scenic ride, we go to our hotel (Tana Plaza) and remain there because we feel safe to shoot themselves in the streets of Tana ... .. we have tried .... We left the hotel and we were immediately surrounded by groups of individuals recommended and not too much we decided to go back. From the window of our room we could see all the-go via the city and I do not know how many thousands of people were on the road, most on foot and went to nearby markets, and one thing we noticed .... Not even a European ! We were told that the night there was a curfew curfew ... but what? People continued to run as in the afternoon and were preparing for dinner .... homeless families that cooked food fornellini of dubious provenance on the sidewalks, others who prepared the cartoons for sleep at night.
The most distressing spectacle that we saw was when the hotel put out the box dell'immondizia and a group of people he is thrown over and started to break all sportin to eat the remains of food. I swear, was not anything, not even the baskets ... ..
The following morning we fly to Antsiranana, Diego Suarez, where a mega-jeep and our driver waiting for us to begin the tour of the north. Accompany us in the hotel (Colbert) who is not as luxurious Grand Hotel a side but it is not even evil. We start to explore the surroundings of Diego and landscapes are completely different from the highlands. Here the ground is red, with canyon carved by the wind, baobab, sea blue and the contrast with the intense blue sky is a perfect combination. Explore the bay of Diego with his "Pan di Zucchero" and the beaches of Sakalava (very windy) and Ramen, very beautiful, where we shoot the first bath in Madagascar! Return to hotel and dinner in the bistro where Colbert have to say there is' a wide choice of meat and fish.
The next morning we start for Joffreville which is 40 km from Diego where we will visit the national park of Montagne d'Ambre ", which involves a massive volcano, whose height ranges from 850 to 1480 meters.
The rainfall creates several waterfalls and make the forest and dense green vegetation. We have the impression of being wrapped up at any moment by some plant parasite and we feel in the face of all this nature, small children. We do a beautiful walk of about 4 hours. We found other species of lemurs and chameleons and birds. After seeing the beautiful waterfalls we reach the point where our guides have prepared us lunch ... .. rice, 2 fish, 2 chicken wings, 2 fried vegetable dumplings and bread .... At that time (thankfully) starts to rain passes unnoticed and our unwillingness to eat. PART TWO FOLLOWS .......