Pirogues (canoes) at the beach in Vatomandry, on the east coast of Madagascar. We spent one day at the beach and basically had the entire place to ourselves. There were no tourists; just a handful of locals.
This is in the village of Andasibe.
Sunset on our way back to Andasibe from Vatomandry.
A look a the trees in the rainforest. It was surprisingly cool on cloudy days in the forest, as low as 15 C/60 F.
Somewhere betwen Andasibe and Vatomandry.
This is a good look at the traveler’s palm on the road to Vatomandry.
Beauty of Vatomandry. There was almost nobody here. It was perfect weather; not too hot, and not humid at all.
Our driver explained that breadfruit is more of a staple in the diet of people living in the Vatomanjy area, as there is less rice that’s being cultivated.
In Vatomandry we lunched on the beach at an ecolodge. The hostess, Jeannine, spoke excellent French and made us several platters of food: rice, fish, and vegetables.
A marsh of elephant ear plants (Alocasia genus) on the way from Andasibe to Vatomandry.
The expanse of forest. The Andasibe region is hilly and some of the hikes had strenuous parts that offered great views.
My sister and I called this the Dharma Station of Madagascar (if you’ve seen the show Lost, you’ll understand the reference). We think it’s some kind of abandoned lighthouse.
This appeared to be some kind of community recreation center in Vatomandry that had recently been used by some scout troops. Vatomandry is a sleepy town with not much going on, and few or no tourists.
This was a part of the beach at Vatomandry where there was a body of freshwater.
This is an old and now defunct train station in the village of Andasibe, near the national parks. Our driver explained that the train station was active until the 1990s.
