Monday, June 28, 2010

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.

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