Dear followers and
friends
This is it! We finally
arrived at our last stop, Madagascar, three days ago. Getting here was not that
easy though. We could have taken the plane but then we would’ve had to travel
north again from Tanzania to Kenya. We decided to travel by cargo boats, which
is much cheaper by the way. We travelled to Zanzibar (the coast of Tanzania),
took the boat and set sail for the Comoros Islands. From this point we were
able to take another boat to Toamasina, Madagascar.
Before visiting
Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar, we decided to keep our backpacks on
and go for some trekking in ‘Parc National de Ranomafana’. This rainforest is
made for tourists and shows the beauty of nature. With the help of a guide we were
able to visit some small villages in the woods where we had the opportunity of
taking a hot tub, an opportunity which we took of course. In this village we
spent the night in a cosy hotel and we even had the chance to meet Dadalira, a
106-year-old local man who has so many stories to tell. Unfortunately we didn’t
understand what he was saying because he speaks in Malagasy, but our guide was
able to translate some of the sentences.
Most people here are
poor as well but that doesn’t influence the fact that they will always be very
hospitable. Because we spent less than we initially planned thorough our trip
around the world, we decided to give something back to these people. Before
arriving we did some research and found out that there is a place called ‘Akany
Avoko’ in the capital of Madagascar, Antananrivo. This is the home for
approximately 120 homeless children. Here, these kids are educated in making
clothes, screenprint T-shirts, and taking care of gardens to learn how to grow
vegetables. When we visited this place we were able to meet the children and
spend some time with them in their classes. Before leaving, we threw together
some money and gave it to the English director, Steve Wilkinson, as a donation.
It was about 70 euro; not that much but we sure think it was more than welcome.
From now on there’s
only one week remaining for us to spend some time in Madagascar before leaving
and continue our lives in Belgium. It was one hell of an awesome trip and
something to never forget. I would like to encourage people to definitely do
this when they have the chance, it’s unbelievable.
One last time: Take
care my friends! Veloma!
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