While the ocean was quite rough with onshore winds, a passing herd of zebu provided a different beach experience.
Manakara was a major shipping port, with about 400 km of man made canals bringing coastal produce to the port on top of the railed in produce. This changed however in 2004 when a major cyclone destroyed much of the port infrastructure, including the barges used to take goods to and from the ships anchored offshore.
Today, pirogue trips up the river and canal are a major tourist activity for thr residents. We set off on such a trip in the morning. It was all paddle power.
We went to the river mouth...
..where lots of hawkers were also congregated. Still 20 stalks of vanilla for $5 was worth haggling over.
There was also plenty of fish to be bought.
The kids were persistent with their hassling for sweets or any sort of gifts from the tourists, but eventually we got away.
We were paddled past Kerala like fishing villages...
..stopped to see medicinal plants and a guy extracting medicinal oils...
...saw a Madagascan pitcher plant, not sure how the gecko got on...
...went to a fishing village for lunch..
...where of course they also sold handicrafts.
These guys had a novel idea for a swimming pool.
Back in town we visited the markets..
...found bags at hall the price of the village..
..and were tempted by the home made watering cans.
The main part of town had a bit of character...
...and we revisited to scene of the crime from last night..the railway station...
..and were taken by this roadside sign which basically tells what to do to avoid malaria, plus what will happen if you get it. Something to take seriously as we were told the death rate from malaria used to be 30 %, but was now only 5 % !! Interestingly, the government introduced a major initiative to cut the malaria death rate, including issuing household with mosquito nets. Now nearly everyone has fishing and shrimping nets made from mosquito nets!
No comments:
Post a Comment