Madagascar Diaries - Number One

The first picture I took! Stunning.

Hi everyone, I’m back!

I’m gutted I wasn’t able to update every week while I was in Nosy Komba, but to be honest, the Wi-Fi on such a tiny African island wasn’t quite strong enough. So, I’ve decided to write three posts about my time there, which are as much about preserving the amazing memories I made as they are about telling you guys about my time in the beautiful Madagascar. 

Madagascar is such an amazing country, but it isn’t very well known, most people have seen the film starring Chris Rock and Ben Stiller but there is a lot more to it than spotting King Julian (though I did see my fair share of lemurs). It was a French colony up until 1960, and in fact the country’s Independence Day was celebrated the day I landed back in England (26^th June) so I just missed it! The French influence is still very much apparent; mainly through the language, which is spoken by a large proportion of the population but also it’s easy to find lots of baguettes, croissants and good coffee. 

Malagasy still remains the principle language of Madagascar however, there are many dialects which vary based on the region. I was in the northern tip of the island and everyone spoke Sakalava Malagasy. It is such an interesting language and I thoroughly enjoyed learning it. I keep randomly blurting words out in an effort to preserve the vocabulary, as sadly there’s not much demand for Malagasy here in Bristol. If you’re interested here is some of the basics:

Hello: Mbola tsara
Goodbye: Veloma
Please: Azafady
Thank you: Misoatra
What’s up?: Ino vovo
Not much: tsis vovo

The sunsets in Madagascar are breath-taking

The people of Nosy Komba are incredibly friendly and you are expected to say hello to everyone you see on your walk through the local villages, this is followed by a short exchange of ‘ino vovo? Tsis vovo. Ino mareska? Tsis mareska?’ (which is basically asking 'what's up?' twice). It was so lovely being able to wander around Ampangorina or the other villages and interact with the locals. I miss the friendliness as it’s certainly not the same back home.

The motto of the country is ‘mora, mora’ which literally translates to slowly, slowly, and this is abundantly apparent in the day to day life. Everything is very laid back: boats from Nosy Be to Nosy Komba often run an hour late, without anyone so much as batting an eyelid. This style of life was a big change from the bustle of Paris but after a few weeks I got used to it, even if sometimes on the boat I shouted ‘malaky laky’ which means quickly, quickly!

This is Nosy Komba and you can just see camp hidden in the trees!!

For anyone who didn’t see the photos I uploaded during my time there, the country is absolutely stunning. Nosy Komba is a tiny volcanic island with no roads, so I hiked through the forest and climbed over rocks to get to my classes. We had to check the tides before we started our commute to work, and let me tell you, walking in high tide is not an easy task! I was incredibly lucky with the weather while I was there, it was boiling hot everyday with some rain at night. My tan is already fading though!!

Next post will be about teaching and the trips I went on!
Thanks for reading
Han xxx