Vacation with JB-Tulear

After many days of long road trip, plus 3 extra hours of dirt road through dessert, we finally got to Tulear. It was peaceful, we rented a two story high bungallow by the beach. Woke up to a brand new scenery that the low tide brought us. Leo played hours in mud, looking for shells(tek-tek,) water cucmbers, crabs, and starfishes, while Laiyane played in sand with local girls. We tasted delicious Baobab honey with bread in the mornings, and enjoyed lovely sunsets in the evenings.

Vacation with JB-Rahohire

What an amazing site, Ranohire! After hours of completely flat landscape of dessert with millions of ant hills, we stopped at various rock formations. In the middle of these huge rocks stands a harmoniously built resort, Jardin Du Roy/Le Relais de Reine. Kids enjoyed horse back riding though the wild fields surrounded by rocks, while I and JB walked along the horses admiring the magnitude of it all.

Vacation with JB-Ambalavao

It took us good 4 hours to Andasibe, one night sleep, then 3 hours to Tana, then 3 more hours to Ambalavao. There we stopped at a hand made paper studio, where they also weave silk. They soak tree fibers, and hit it with wooden hammer until the fiber becomes all blended. Then they dilute the dough into water, and layer it down on framed net. Then once the bottom paper layer is done, they pay down dried flowers to decorate. It gets top layers of pulp then sun dried in their courtyard. The sun was just right for us to walk around and sit outside for lovely lunch. I saw Laiyane enjoying steak for the first time there! We took off again after lunch to continue the road to Ansirabe for the night. Scenery was picture perfect everywhere. Green rice patches through red earthed hills, with red brick houses, under beautiful blue sky. Even a very good painter could never paint this beautiful scenery that we saw along the road.

Vacation with JB-Andasibe

A few hours of winding road through mountains would take you to this beautifully situated resort, Vakuna Lodge. We had our first night sleep there, and enjoyed the afternoon at the lemur island. They have one very old Sifaka(the dancing one)lemur, and we were told that he only drinks fresh morning dew on clean leaves. In the evening, we had cozy meal by the wood burning fire, followed by children's little game of billard with halabajee(grand father), JB. We were cold, even with longs pants and jackets un in the mountain. The next morning, we couldn't even see a few inches in front with thick fogs in the mountain. It was very serene, and smelled nice.