Madagadcan Old Town

During our stay in Fianarantsoa, we had a morning guided walk through the old town. Relative to the other parts of the city, it is significantly nicer, likely the result of the additional care taken to maintain it. Although blatantly more historic and old, the buildings are more substantial and well-built. The people in this part are much wealthier, and therefore, there is a lot less begging. That's not to say there was none, just less. The lady was very informative and helpful to walk us through the history of the city. Although interesting, it was very much the average colonial experience. The French came, took over the government, implemented Christianity to the people, built churches, suppressed the people, and then left. Though they left, they made sure to keep their foot in the door to maintain a strong hold on their natural resources, thus stifling their independent growth. Though, this is now dominated by the Chinese. Madagascar only got its independence in 1916, presumably post-WW1. The tour left the old town so that we could continue into the more rural areas. You don't have to travel far until it feels like you're in a completely different region. We walked down the hill and through a small valley to arrive at a vast area of rice fields. Even as an environmentalist looking out across the ecological desert that are rice fields, I can't help but be taken away by them. The bright green of the crop and the layering of the fields all the way up to the top of the hill feels like the beginning of a stairway to heaven. Walking through the fields with crops on either side and a city off in the distance was a great way to spend the day. We timed our walk with the end of school on a Friday, and so the children all ran up to us to follow us to their village. We were visiting a local home and being blessed by having a family cook us a traditional meal. We arrived and sat on little cushions while we waited for our meal. Not long after, a lady came out with plate after plate of vegetables, beans, rice, Zibu, and more. It was an amazing and incredibly immersive experience into the everyday lives of Malagasy. She was then gracious enough to allow us to walk through her home and understand the lifestyle a bit more. We observed the small kitchen in the attic as well as the little bedroom in which a lot of them sleep. Though the house was quite large, there were about 11 people occupying it, and as such, many sleep on the floor of any room with space, no beds it would seem. After a quick dance with the family, we once again had to move on to head back to the bus and on our way to Ranamofana National Park.

Once we arrived, after a couple hours of driving, we dropped off our stuff and headed back to the bus. We drove briefly back up the road in which we came to the starting location of the night walk we would be completing to try and spot Chameleon. They are much easier to spot at night using the light reflection of their eyes. Though this was the main purpose, many of us were focused more on the prospect of seeing the nocturnal mouse lemur. Almost straight away, we saw ome right up close on a vine at just about perfect eye height. He was incredibly shy, however, and so it was difficult to get a great photo of him, but it was beautiful to watch him regardless. Although constantly running away at the sight of movement before returning shortly to continue to eat, eventually, he did run off for good, and we had to continue our trek. We ended up seeing many Chameleon but only small species. This is slightly disappointing, but we had seen much larger species earlier in the trip, so we couldn't complain. On our way back to the hotel, we felt slightly hard done by. Although we had seen the mouse lemur, it was only briefly, and other than that, we only spotted a few small chameleons. This was until the spotter managed to see a snake slithering along the road. We stopped to observe, and I even got to hold the little baby Boa. This was enough for me to feel satisfaction in the walk as I love holding snakes, and it was the second time I had gotten to do so on the trip already. A great way to end a very nice day in Madagascar.Read more