Janet and I woke up for the second time on day three. We didn’t have as early a start as what would become the usual, so I had a lovely hot shower since it would be my last for three days. For breakfast most people had omelettes but I, along with David, had fried eggs. It was a pretty run of the mill morning with us relaying our fan issues of the middle of the night. We changed buses that morning since Etienne was taking another Intrepid group back to Tana, but we would be reunited with our big bus and Etienne on the coast.

We got into a smaller bus and drove on the last bit of good road that we would see for six days! The road hadn’t been great anyway, with the previous day’s journey ending after sunset, Etienne had navigated some pretty enormous potholes. They weren’t really potholes more like craters, someone described it as potholes loosely held together with bits of tarmac. Etienne would build up speed only to slow down again and then zigzag his way round the craters every 200 metres or so.

Our new bus driver was taking us to the cross roads and there we would transfer into a minivan since the road was unpaved, sandy and uneven. That road would lead us to the river and the boat for the next 3 or so days.

I sat by the sliding door at the front of our new transport. It wasn’t as bumpy as sitting at the back. I had begun to feel not quite right but I couldn’t put my finger on it. I don’t usually get travel sick but these roads were enough to test anyone’s constitution. We stopped for our last bushy bushy and then onto the village by the riverbank.

At the village we got out and we were swarmed by little kids. I was close to Jon and when kids asked him for his water he said no as it had something in it. I didn’t click until much later as to what that substance might have been.

We split into two groups and while others played games and sang songs with the children, I went with Lisa, David, Linda, Jen and some of the luggage in a vehicle open to the elements and dust to the riverbank where the boats docked. It was about a 10 minute journey further downstream since the water level by the village wasn’t high enough for the boat to dock.

Just like in the village we were followed by children. They shouted comment t’appelle tu (What is your name?) and “bonbon” for sweets. Generally they wanted things from us. Barnabas had been clear with us – don’t give anything and definitely don’t give anything if you haven’t enough for the hordes of children. It didn’t stop one of our group who had brought a few keyring koalas and kangaroos .

Sickness Strikes

While this was happening, I wasn’t feeling on top of my game. I told the others that I felt as if I was about to be sick and I headed off to the lower deck. Barnabas had stayed with the other group at the main village and as I was telling Diebe our guide for the boat that I wasn’t feeling well, I vomited. My relief at making it over the side of the boat was palpable, there was even greater relief when I saw my sick quickly disappearing taken by the river current. Though… the kids who had been hovering around Linda had followed me to the front of the boat and unbeknownst to me at the time had witnessed my vomiting. The others on the deck above hadn’t seen me being sick but they had certainly watched the reaction of the kids as they had watched on in enthralled horror.

At the time I thought it might be heat and period related as I appeared to feel fine after the spewing session but I definitely wasn’t as fine as I had been the previous day. Once everyone was on the boat, I told Barnabas and reassured him I was ok. I didn’t get to tell Janet about the incident until later in the morning as I retreated to the top deck to the sun loungers and lay down in whatever shade I could find. And it wasn’t just me on a sick bed… Jon had been suffering with the other end since the early hours of the morning. I would recover after 24 hours, but for Jon it wouldn’t be until nearly the end of the trip when he would say things were normal.

When Martin and I moved apartments in June, I had found a stash of sachets of electrolytes that he had for a race. He told me that I should take them to Madagascar with me as a just in case. I may have looked at him sceptically but I had packed them. They were taken and when Jon had run out of his supply I gave him the rest of mine. The bottle of water that he had been clutching that morning had been full of electrolytes.

Views from the boat

With the boat loaded we set off. Just like how we zigzagged on the road avoiding the potholes, we meandered down the Tsiribihina River avoiding sandbanks beneath the river surface. We had bushy bushy stops on sandbanks, we saw chameleons, Nile crocodiles, zebu and barn owls over the course of the three days. I even spotted a croc without it being pointed out! Also dotted along the riverbank we saw settlements and a number of people going about their daily lives of rowing boats, fishing and washing. Most of the children we saw would wave and and were genuinely happy when we waved back. Some members of the group even danced after we saw a group of children dance on the riverbank.

The scenery also changed from sandy riverbanks to cliffs such as where the barn owls nested even some of the rocks looked as if they wouldn’t be out of place at a Disney ride because they looked perfect.

Food on the boat

For the next couple of days we would have breakfast, lunch and dinner on the boat. The chef really had very little room to prepare three meals a day on the boat but the food was delicious, though I can’t attest the first day’s lunch and dinner. At lunch on boat day one Jon and I made an attempt to sit with the others and watch them eat. I had zero appetite but managed a bit of dry baguette but its dryness while good for settling the stomach was as unappetising as it sounds. For dinner day one, they had soup and a main course. I had retreated to the tent as soon as it had been pitched and when Janet told me what dinner was, I thought I could manage soup and a bit of rice. Barnabas brought me a tray later to the tent. I didn’t want to leave the warmth of my sleeping bag, but drinking soup from a bowl on a tray with a spoon without a table in a tent was extremely challenging.

There was a time when on the boat a few of us heard a chicken. We had eggs for breakfast but whether they came from this chicken we don’t know. At some point we thought that chicken would be served at either lunch or dinner but that never happened. We didn’t hear the chicken again, but some time later we were told that our boatmen had sold the chicken.

On day two as we were about to leave our makeshift camp, some visitors came up to the boat. The young people had been fishing and had come to our boat to sell their wares. The chef inspected the fish and bought gambas (large prawns) which were served to us for lunch and were absolutely delicious. Thankfully I had my appetite back!

Waterfall and Wildlife

Our first proper stop from the cruise on day one was a waterfall. We had been told we would see lemurs but they weren’t around when we went up. There was also a sign to the “Grande Piscine” a 25 minute walk/hike from the smaller pool but we didn’t venture up that far.

Most of us changed into swimming togs and went in. It was refreshingly cold and I felt much better just having a dip and putting my head under the falls which don’t look much but the water that was falling pounded my head as I dipped under. We had the pool to ourselves and while we didn’t stay long it was long enough to be refreshed in the shade and get onto land for more time than a quick bushy bushy.

On our way back down to the river, a chameleon was spotted and pointed out. I had left my big camera on the boat so I just had my camera on my phone but it captured the creature ok.

The chameleon kept his tongue in his head but we were just enthralled with seeing it in the wild, and as we left the chameleon we were shushed by the people in front of us. We moved on to be greeted by the promised lemurs. We were sceptical how they just turned up and we figured that possibly the lemurs had been lured down by food or they knew the sound of tourists and the possibility of food. Anyway, regardless of how they appeared, they appeared and we spent a lot of time with them and got super close. I was even able to go to the boat, get my camera and return.

Camping

We arrived at a sandbank and docked. Our boatmen alongside the group put up the tents, mattresses, blankets and pillows were put in, and we made ourselves comfortable. I crawled in and lay down to rest, while the others went to a local village. Andrea had given Barnabas money before getting on the boat in the morning and he bought bananas and rice for the local villagers. The sun set early and by the time Janet came back to the tent at 9ish, the stars were in full view. Going to the loo by starlight was lovely and the Milky Way was super clear. On day two of the camp, Rowe and I did some photography with our Go Pros, but having experimented we went back to using our iPhones. We were joined by Janet and we showed her how to do long exposures on the iPhone. Rowe had an iPhone 12, me a 15 and Janet the 15 Pro. The same view taken with three different iPhone cameras was very different, Janet had colours in hers that neither Rowe nor I saw in our photos.

Camp Toilets

Not everyone would have been happy to camp, but all of us signed up for this trip knowing we needed sleeping bags to spend 2 nights under canvas. We had a toilet tent complete with a plinth with a piece of wood over the top and a bum shaped hole cut out of the top with a deep hole dug out below. The question that remained unanswered was did people sit on the plinth or squat on the plinth. We think that potentially people took both approaches as some people reported sand on the seat area, but no one claimed the “correct way”. Barnabas has suggested to the boat company that they invest in a portable chemical toilet but for our trip and probably for subsequent trips it may not be a suggestion that will be acted on since this has been a suggestion made on many trips before.

Coming up… Canoes, Caves and Karsts.