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.