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Madagascar trip: Cute villagers and cute half monkeys

Madagascar - child women culture - travel
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Madagascar trip: Cute villagers and cute half monkeys is written by Lene Kohlhoff Rasmussen

nature

A dangerous night on my Madagascar trip

"It is very dangerous tonight. There are the highway robbers, and they are in cahoots with the police," says my companion on the bus. "The police lend their weapons to the robbers in order to share in the loot. There are even policemen among the robbers.” Before my Madagascar trip, I hadn't heard the warnings about night driving until I'm on one of the infamous night buses.

Inside the bus station, 5-6 minibuses wait until they are all ready to go. They will be followed so that they can help each other if we should be stopped by a group of highway robbers in the dead of night. My sidekick is a young engineering student. He says that he has always dreamed of becoming rich. Seeing that policemen always had a lot of money, he decided that he wanted to be one when he grew up, but his father wouldn't let him. They make dirty money, the father had said.

"Your father is a wise man, it was good that you listened to him," I reply.

"Yes," says the young man and nods. "During the day they catch criminals, but at night they are themselves. It drives many of the policemen crazy. They drink, and several of them end up committing suicide.”

Fortunately, we avoid being stopped by police officers and highway robbers that night. The local buses I rode on my Madagascar-journey, however, were regularly stopped by the police, and I noticed that the drivers always gave them banknotes before we were allowed to drive on.

The infrastructure in Madagascar is miserable to say the least. The roads are potholed and the overcrowded buses are a nightmare to ride. They regularly break down, or the drivers forget to fill up with enough fuel. A few times I ended up sitting on the side of the road waiting for the next bus.

Madagascar - cow cart agriculture - travel - animals madagascar-travel

What is the penalty for stealing a cow in Madagascar?

I thought it might be more relaxing to continue my Madagascar journey by boat on the Tsiribihina River. I imagined sitting and getting fresh air and wind in my hair while enjoying the nature that slowly slips by, but I soon wised up.

The river barge is more crowded than the buses and it is unbearably hot. It stinks of diesel, and the noise from the engine is deafening. Next to me sits a police officer with a criminal. The criminal is handcuffed and has a metal chain around his feet. He has just been arrested for stealing a cow. The punishment for stealing a cow in Madagascar can be up to five years in prison, the officer says.

The criminal's wife and child are also in the boat. She has a basket with pots, pans and pans. For the next five years, she is the family's sole breadwinner, and at the same time she has to bring food to her husband in prison while he serves his sentence. Her fate impressed me greatly, as she bears as great a punishment as he, and I do not know whether she has been complicit in the theft or not.

The only one in the family who is definitely innocent is their two-year-old son, whom she sits on her lap. Five years in prison for stealing another man's cow sounds like a very harsh punishment, but in Madagascar an animal like a cow has a very high value. Cows are also used as dowry, and a beautiful wife costs four cows.

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Madagascar - child women culture - travel

Five years in the throttle for a beautiful wife

The population of Madagascar is divided into 18 ethnic groups or tribes. In one of the tribes of southern Madagascar, theft of cows is very common, and young men steal them solely to go to prison. The women want a strong man, and someone who has survived a prison stay is considered to be strong and enduring.

However, the criminal in the boat on the Tsiribihina River is from a different tribe. He has only stolen the cow to enrich himself, and he probably doesn't have enough money to bribe the policeman to avoid prison time. The meeting with him and his story is something I will not forget from my Madagascar trip

Madagascar travel - woman culture nature - travel - villagers

Cute villagers and cute half monkeys on my Madagascar trip

I didn't want to take the river barge after dark, so I get off the boat at a small village halfway. Here I am lodged in a miserable hut built of coke boxes and with a roof of palm leaves. But the village is an idyllic and authentic place, so I decide to stay one more day before continuing my Madagascar journey. There is only me, as the only wandering tourist.

The villagers are very welcoming and they treat me as an honored guest. I see the children playing by the riverbank while the women wash clothes in the river. Many of the women had smeared their faces in white face masks to soften the skin.

It should make them more beautiful. The men row out to catch fish in their canoes, which are built from hollowed logs. Everyone has livestock, and chickens and goats run free around the houses. The family with whom I live had found an orphaned lemur cub in the forest, which they had bottle-fed, and now it was the family's much-loved pet.

I saw several lemurs of different species when I visited some of the national parks. Here I also saw some of the many other animals in Madagascar, which are also not found anywhere else in the world. In fact, 80 percent of the island's plants and animals are unique to Madagascar. But the lemurs were the main attraction and they are some of the cutest creatures imaginable.

They look like a mix of a cat, a dog, a fox and a monkey. Their sounds give a unique atmosphere in the national parks. They grunt, whistle, sing long stanzas or sound like police sirens. When they are down on the ground, they jump sideways, and in the trees they jump from branch to branch. It was precisely to see these amazing lemurs and the special wildlife that I ended my 15 month long journey in 2014 on this beautiful island in the Indian Ocean.

Madagascar is an obvious choice if you really want to experience some unique nature and culture and wild animals.

Really good trip to Madagascar!

5 good reasons to plan a Madagascar trip

  • The unique wildlife
  • The island's flora - in fact, 80 percent of the island's plants and animal unique for Madagascar
  • The cute lemurs
  • Beautiful beaches
  • Experience the island's unique and exciting culture

About the author

Lene Kohlhoff Rasmussen

Lene Kohlhoff Rasmussen travels to meet new people and learn about other countries' culture, history and religion, but also to get some great personal challenges. Therefore, she travels on her own to places that are far away from the usual destinations. She will experience some of the few places in the world where mystery and adventure still exist. Read more about her adventures at www.kohlhoff.dk.

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