25th June Port Afiny to Tana

Hotel Boabob at Port Afiny- Views from my room, the deck outside and that huge bed.

Three more views of the hotel and the surrounds. This will be one of the places that we will stay on the tour package I'm putting the final touches to for next winter. As I've now found out the Dematoid garnets are found about 40 minutes drive away.

We try to get a hold of a dealer in sapphire in Ambunja, but he is out on the fields. I'm going try to get him to come to Tana or failing that I may take a two day dash up here towards the end. His wife tells my driver he has many good yellow/blues because no one wants party coloured stones. Just may be my lucky day if I can arrange it.
We decide to get back to Tana in one day, mainly because its the 50th Anniversary of Independance this weekend and the driver would like to be with his family. We should get there just after dark, but that has made no allowance for all the early celebrations. It seems every ville is having a parade and there is partying in the streets.
We arrive back in Tana at 10.45pm, to my oasis the Tana Plaza. Too late for food but I have a cold beer and retire to what is becoming my standard room, 210.
Thinking back its been pretty disappointing. I've got enough sapphire to cover the cost but I was expecting both more of it and some other types of rough. The gold panning has really knocked the gemstone mining in the north for a six. Any future trips north will just be for sapphire and will be quick in and out jobs.
I have the weekend off to get some clothes washed and relax before seeing some dealers on Monday and heading south to Antsirabe on Tuesday morning.

24th June Vohemar to Port Afiny

Some more images of around the Sol Y Mar Hotel in Vohemar and my room, nothing flash but it all worked.

We set at about 6am and are told at the servo that there has been no rain since we arrived and road has dried out, boy I hope they are right. Early indications are that they are correct. We make good time to a ville about 3 hours away, no name, where I am going to be looking at some sphene. We stop breifly to let a convoy of 4 landcriusers and a hilux go past. Two cruisers front and rear with weapons obvious and the hilux is so weighted down on its springs. the driver tells me its a gold convoy. Now Garry will be able to tell you what at least a tonne of gold is worth and by the way the hilux is sitting on its springs there is more than that.
The sphene is very nice but the miner must think its like diamonds in value, nothing I say can budge him on price, $50us/ct. Its a lovely lime green colour with some in spectactular crystal form, arrowheads, but not at 1/10th of that price. In the end I laugh, throw up the hands and give up.
As we are walking past a small roadside food stop I get a hello from two Canadian backpakers that have been waiting all morning for a bus. pleased to hear another english speaker I offer them a lift to Ambolibe. Dave and Lisa have been visiting a small reserve and are now headed back to the other side of the island. They've been here for about a month in various places and have a week or so to go.
The journey across is a lot quicker, there are graders working on the worst sections. We stop at Ambolibe for a late lunch, and after lunch they decide they are going to the Island of Nosy Bey for some diving. Since its on the way back to Tana they come with me, and I'm glad of the company. We get to the junction of the road to Port Akiney, where they will catch the boat to Nosy Bey, and Ambanja, the place I stayed at the polices request. I know there is bugger all accommodation there so decide to take them to Port Ankiny and see if there is a decent hotel there, its only 17km.
Great decision Hotel Boabob is a beautiful sight right on the beach. Individual bungelows, mine had a king and a half bed, it could have slept 5.
No time to settle in as Italy and Ghana have just kicked off. Nosy Bey has direct flights from Milan so there are a few Italians staying here. Since the Italians knocked us out of the last world cup, I'm supporting Ghana with locals. Its a pretty good couple of hours with lots of beer and wine. The Italians are good sorts, although I'm probably lucky I don't understand some of the things they say when I'm cheering the Ghana Goals. Afterwards they invite us to look at chamelions at night with their guide, fun blundering around with some half cut Italians, but we only saw one.
The food is great and as usual cheap, even in an up market hotel. I go to sleep to the sounds of the sea, literally at my doorstep. I've found out I have the honeymoon bungelow, hence the huge bed.

23rd June Andapa to Vohemar

Three more shots of the road to Andapa and then two of the view from my room at the Sol Y Mar hotel and last a native pirogue, a canue carved from a tree trunk.

Its raining quite heavily in the mountains but clears as we get closer to the coast. I've found the camera, its was wedged under a seat, so I am taking lots of photo's so Sandra doesn't get upset with me. Its a slow trip because of the rain so any thought of attemping the road back across the island today are quickly dashed.

We arrive back at the Sol Y Mar hotel in the faternoon and they have a room so I'm happy. I go for a walk on the beach, check out the catch in the returning pirogues and generally have an afternoon off.

Tomorrow we start early on the horror road back, we have ordered an early breakfast so we can try to get back in daylight.

22 June Sambava to Andapa

The first three are where I stayed in Sambava, the beach in front of the villa and their pet Lemur. The next three are random shots on the way to Andapa. Its very tropical but all secondary growth as the forest have been cut down.

We left early after a good breakfast. I am puzzled by the setup at the villa. Its owned by a frenchman and he has 3 drop dead gorgeous girls working for him running the place. I had a beer with him last night and coffee this morning. At various stages he has had all three girls sitting in his lap and not as friends or workers.

We drive up to Andapa which is located in a valley deep in the mountains. There is a National Park next to the road for most of the way and the scenery is fantastic. Rains off and on throughout the day as well. As I was to find out a couple of days later, this is one National Park worth seeing but it has no accommodation, its back packing only, with guides, cook and porters of course.

I check out a couple of dealers in Andapa, but its the same old thing quartz or picked over old parcels. The Andapa region was known for its top colour aqua, but that seems to be before gold panning days. We take an afternoon drive up to some of the villages around the valley but its the same thing. I did see some spectacular quartz crystals, all over one kilo in size. They were a smokey centre phantom, with a clear area around it and then another phantom created by red hemaitite flakes. Bit hard to fit them in the hand luggage. I gave the guy the address and number of a dealer in Tana that would be interested.

We stay in Andapa for the night and its quite cold up in the mountains. I have a jumper on for the first time on the trip. Food is good and cheap, and I wash it down with some gin and tonics, (I drink it solely for the quinine in the tonic, medicinal) and watch South Africa knock the French out of the world cup.

21 June Vohemar - Sambava - Antalaha - Sambava

The first is the view from my room at the Sol Y Mar Hotel. The next five are some shots taken along the coastal road.

Up bright and early, 8am, to an amazing view. Right outside the front door is the beach and you look across a large bay. Fishermen are already out in their pirogues, carved canoes, and best forgotten yesterdays trip, at least for a few days.
Had a lazy breakfast because I told the driver I didn't want to see him until after 9.30. The roads on this side of the island are supposedly the best in Madagascar, so it will be plane sailing.
We set off and I have to admit the road is ver good. Its missinf all the twist and bends and is reasonably straight. Lovely tropical views, villages, palm and banana trees with the occasional beach. Sambava is a lunch and bank stop. They'll only let me change 1000 euros and I'm there nearly an hour.
On to Antalaha where I have a couple of dealers! to see. Well the first shock is there are no real hotels here. It used to be only a dirt road until they upgraded it and no hotels for visitors. We'll have to go back to Samvaba for the night.
The dealers are a wash with only quartz and picked over aqua and garnet.
We locate a villa at Sambava, right on the beach with good cheap rooms and food, but no a/c. Its quite hot here in the high 20's C. Bed early as we hope to go to Andapa and back to Vohemar all in one day tomorrow.

20th June Antsiranana - Vohemar

That teal sapphire and the photo doesn't do it justice.


Left early to see the sapphire, the tour group was also leaving and heading south, a fact i was to regret shortly.
Arrived at the designated place at about 8am and started to look at stone. As per usual they show smaller pieces first to check out what your paying and of course there had to be one that showed me some glass. 3-4cts of material just like Australian material, green, yellow, blue and party only the blue is lighter. Also dogs teeth were plentiful.
They were just getting out the bigger pieces, I'd just bought a spectacular 15ct blue/yellow and a very unusual but beatiful teal coloured stone, when who should turn up. I have never seen 11 people, the miners, move so quickly. They disappeared from around me and reappeared around the french tour group so quickly.
I could only watch the frenzy from the outside. One gentleman I watched parted with a 1000 euro's for about a 10ct blue piece of rough. The miners were having a field day and I realized I'd be lucky to see any quality stones left. Had to laugh as the guy who tried to sell me glass disappeared after managing to sell it.
One of the smart tourist ask me to check a 10ct orange sapphire he was being offered. A quick check confirmed it wasn't a sapphire, but dichroic (orange and orange/brown), natural and with what looked like part of a manganese spectrum, crystal sytem was all wrong as well. I was hoping he wouldn't buy it as I would like to have a play with it but he did. It was the only one the miners had of that colour, Bugger!
There wasn't much left after they departed, I took one more piece and then started seeing all the ones I'd already rejected again so I moved on. 50 - 60 grams of quality rough so I was reasonably happy. Again I was told all the miners had moved onto gold panning.
Arrived at Ambilobe at about 9.30 where we would turn east across the island to Vohemar. Picked up some food as there is nowhere to stop to eat on the trip across. 164km that the driver was telling me we'de be lucky to do in the daylight.
Right from the start I realized that the road was really that bad. Also every creek and river we crossed had so many people panning for gold. I wanted to stop and take some photo's but as soon as we started to slow groups of armed young men would appear so we moved on.
OH what a road, at one stage we covered 2.7km in an hour, with me walking out front and guiding him. 12 hours later with me twice having my head slammed into the roof of the 4x4 and with an aching neck we reached a hotel at Vohemar, the Sol Y Mar. The worst thing was I realized we would have to go back that way to get back to Tana. Thankfully the owners were still up watching the world cup and got one of the staff to whip us up some dinner. The room was basic, I could hear the water lapping on the beach, and it had a mossie net and the beer was cold the perfect end to the day.

19th June Antsiranana

Just some of the local inhabitants - a chameleon and a gecko

Bit of a sore head but after breakfast we spent the morning feeling out the gemstone situation. I've got good leads on material on the east coast, aquamarine, sphene and a reasonably new deposit of of green garnet, supposedly dematoid.
We have also arranged for some miners working a small sapphire field to the south to meet us on the main road tomorrow with what they have available. I wanted initially to go out to them but it involves quite a hike through the bush and time tomorrow is a problem.
After lunch its out to do a few tourist things. There is a nice national park to the south where its easy to see lemurs and there are a number of attractions around the harbour that are worth looking at. When I go to get my camera, my daughters actually, its missing. It could of gone walking when the police checked all my gear at Anbanja, I was keeping my eye on the money.
The harbour is very big and well under utilized, supposedly the biggest in the Indian Ocean.
Over dinner I hear that tourism has plunged from 500,000/year to less than 30,000 since the coup. The tour guides tell me that this is their first tour in 3 months and its now the hieght of the tourist season. Watched Australia draw in football and off to bed, we have a very early start at 6.30 tomorrow.

18th June Ambanja - Antsiranana

Finally they arrive back at about 10am. I have to call the official and I'm told that their is a small fine involved, even though I have done nothing wrong plus I must visit him when I return to Tana, he wants that to be the 25th June but I get it changed to the 28th June. My fine 20 euro disappears into a pocket, no receipt and I'm also told not to go back to that field.
We head north at about 11am with an escort out of town, it seems I don't get to stop for food either. Thank god for bananas. After 24+ hours I finally get a meal at Ambilobe. The quality wasn't great, and I had to wait nearly an hour as its made when ordered but by that stage I didn't care.
Seeing signs of panning or actually panners in a lot of creeks running off the central highlands. I wonder if there are and mining companies prospecting up here yet?
The last 131 km to Antsiranana takes 2 1/2 hours as the road is very poor in patches. I end up at the "Le Grand Hotel" and it is certainly that. I wouldn't normally stay in this quality hotel as I dislike wasting the money ($110/night) on what is essentally just a place to sleep but they offer me a great discount ($60/night) and I figure I deserve a night or two of luxury.
The only other tourist there are the older gentlemen and a group (16) of younger french couples.
That night at dinner I get to talking with the chef and his french girlfriend as well as the group of french tourist. We are over in an area by ourselves as the rest of the place is taken up with the older men and their local partners.
When we get onto the subject of sex tourism the chef's offer to take us to a disco which is an eye opener. As everyone else is going, and its bloody boring at nights here, I go to. I know something is up as they are conversing to quick in french for me to follow, and I'm getting little laughs with the looks. Thirty seconds after arriving I know why. There are about 50 older gentlemen, mainly french but I hear some german as well and about 200 18-25 year olds. Just getting to the bar was an effort, slapping away hands literally groping for my attention. The french, between laughing their heads off, tried to help but it was like fighting off a frenzied pack of sharks with a tooth pick. I made it through 1 drink before heading back to the hotel bar with some of the french acting as escorts. They failed miserably as there were not too many places left untouched by the journey out. We all had a good laugh back at the hotel about it, even the waiters got in on the joke. The female Matre D even offered to take me to disco where the girls were even more hospitable. Finally headed off to bed, alone, at about 1am. Wishing I hadn't told the driver to be there at 8am.

17th June Mahajunga - Ambanja

Left without breakfast as they still hadn't set it up 30 minutes after I asked for it to be ready. This is not a problem as its quite easy to get fruit, bread rolls, tomatoes at roadside venues, plus I have a lot of water on board.
I'm seeing a few parcels of stones but the quality is poor and they have obviously been cherry picked already. The common theme I'm hearing is no gemstone mining, gold. There has been some large discoveries of aluvial gold in the north and most of the gemstone miners have moved on. Thankfully I have some parcels arranged in Tana and the south.
Just south of Ambanja we are told some miners are still working a small sapphire deposit so we follow the directions and eventually find them. They don't have many stones with them but we can view the rest at their ville. As we are about to depart the police arrive. What do they want to see of course my DSTM which doesn't exist anymore.
After much discussion its decided that we WILL! accompany them to the outskirts of Ambanja so we can get in touch with the official whose number I have. He's not in and so I again have to accompany the police into Ambanja. We stop at a small hotel, it doesn't rate any stars even negitive, no running water, food, or power after dark. I'm basically under house arrest and must wait until tomorrow. I arrange for the driver to bring me some food, I have water. He doesn't come because, as I find out later, he has been forbidden to by the police.
I spend a very hot, dirty and mossie infested night.

Wednesday 16th June Tana - Mahajanga

Photo's are of rice paddies on the outskirts of Mahajunga and everyone moving there produce to market day by zebu carts.

I've got a new driver, wish I could keep the same one all the time, and we head north. I have never been north, I know where some mining takes place but a lot depends of the driver talking to locals in every village/town we go.

There is some great scenery on the first part of the drive, lots of mountains and the country side looks like Australia in a lot of places, red dirt and gum trees. After decending off the plateau we stop at Maevatanana, at a local restaurant (for want of a better name) for lunch and it is quite good. Small meat portions but lots of sauce and rice. Who can argue with the price 8000ar ($4) for two people with drinks.

Its a hot high 20'sC and a very tropical look to the landscape, with lots of creeks and river crossings. At one I copped quite an eyeful, about seven 18 year olds? washing in the river. They certainly weren't shy happily waving to me and the driver. Every water point we are crossing has the locals bathing, so nudity is very casual here.

Reach the junction where I can either continue north or head for Mahajanga on the coast. The driver tells me there is not much in the way of hotels north, that we can reach before dark, so we head for the coast. The road is bad in stretches but we eventually arrive about 5pm.

I need to work with the driver on what constitutes a good hotel. The first he takes me to is about -3stars. We eventually end up at the Sunny Hotel which is very good. Great food, cold very cold beer, a/c and mossie nets. The last is a must here as even in winter there are clouds of mossies. The only other tourist were a couple of older French guys with there young companions. This getting to be a common sight, sex tourism.

We haven't seen much stone and what there was was all quartz.

Friday 11th June -Arrival and first days in Madagascar

Well I just knew I was going to have a bad day at the airport in Tana when I realised i didn't have a low domination us$ just before arrival. I've learned that if you put a $1us in your passport there are fewer hassels for business travellers. I wasn't going to put a $20us note in so would just have to suffer. I don't know how many times the customs official shook my passport trying to get something to fall out but she eventually stamped it and then I caught the nod she gave to the other one with her. After getting my bag I walked to the "nothing to declare" lane and who should be waiting. Everything was taken out of every bag and when he was finished he just smiled and signaled that I could replace it. Lesson learnt!
Next shock the "Guichet" where you pick up your DSTM (buyers card) is closed. Bugger that means staying Monday and going to the Dept of Energy and Mines. Settle in to the Tana plaza Hotel.
Saturday and Sunday 12th-13th June
Get sim cards and supplies, visit the Craft Market at the "Dyke" and pick up Sandra's requests.
Monday 14th June
Visit the Mines Dept and am told the DSTM system is gone. They want buyers to set up companies here so they also have to pay taxes, in addition to duties or purchase off existing companies. When pressed as I don't have the required visa to set up a company, the third option is using a customs broker to clear all goods. Third option it will have to be. I will have to spend another day here to call some contacts and find a good broker. The new limit, you can take out is only $500 and now includes cut stones. Its a joke as most tourist buy more than this. The customs people will be having a ball at the airport imposing duties on tourist, most of which doesn't get to the Government anyway
Tuesday 15th June
I have finally found a broker but she will require up to 4-5 days to do the paperwork and get it approved, days I will have to hang around Tana. I'm bleeding days left, right and centre here. At least I'll be off tomorrow.

Just a few photo's of the Island and the hotel area of Post Louis. I have been doing the normal tourist things, markets, shops, food, visited 2 diamond cutting factories etc. People are nice, food is great but taxi's are expensive. I suggest you hire a car, they drive the same side as Australia.

The beach photos are from Flic N Flac on the west side of the Island and the others are taken from my hotel room and around the hotel on the Port Louis waterfront. It resembles the V&A waterfront in Cape Town. I was not initially booked into this hotel, its 5 star, but the hotel I was booked into accepted a convention booking and kicked me up into their sister hotel. I could get used to 5 star accommodation!

Around the island sugar cane is everywhere as are the factories producing the product made from it, RUM.