Date: April 2014
Day 1:
After an 1.5 hour flight from Madagascar's capital
Antananarivo, we land on the island of
Nosy Be (also spelled
Nossi-Be). It's name in the Malagasy language means "
Big Island" ("Grande Ile" in French) not to be confused by "Grande Terre", which refers to mainland Madagascar (which is of course itself an island).
Nosy Be is situated about 8 km (5 mi) off Madagascar's north-west coast, in the
Mozambique Channel. It is by far the most touristy place in Madagascar, with large, all-inclusive resorts. However during our 15 minute car ride it looks anything but touristy. No hotels in sight, just greenery and lovely lush scenery.
The roadside is lined with the peculiarly shaped
ylang-ylang trees, which give Nosy Be it's nickname of "
Perfume Island". The ylang-ylang is the source of aromatic oils used for perfume production, including the most famous one, Chanel No. 5. The driver stops the car to pick a couple of flowers for us. Their scent is way too sweet for my taste, but my 10-year old daughter loves it, and will carry the flowers in her bag for days.
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| Ylang-Ylang tree, Nosy Be, Madagascar |
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| Ylang-Ylang flowers, Nosy Be, Madagascar |
But the ylang-ylang wasn't the main reason for our stop. The driver spotted a
chameleon in one of the trees, so we all get out to admire it. I have never seen a chameleon in the wild, and this one, with it's bright coloring, is absolutely magnificent. I estimate it to be about 25 cm (10 inches) long and, except for it's grumpy facial expression, is an absolute beauty.
According to Lonely Planet, more than half of the world's chameleon species can be found on this island. They are often considered as reincarnations of ancestors, and as such a
fady (taboo).
Ancestor worship is extremely important for Malagasy people. It involves rituals which can definitely seem strange to us on the outside, such as exhuming their dead and then dancing with the corpse. As spooky as this might seem to us, for the people of Madagascar this is a ritual of respect for their dead ancestors (
razana). According to their belief they are not really "dead", but have instead achieved a superior stage of life, the
hasina. Another way of respecting them is to adhere to the numerous restrictions these ancestors place on the daily life of the living, in the form of taboos (fady).
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| Chameleon, Nosy Be, Madagascar |
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| Chameleon, Nosy Be, Madagascar |
After this brief stop and more lush scenery, we arrive to the island's main town of
Hell-Ville (
Andoany). I can't say that the town looks especially appealing to me. But to be fair I should mention that it's name does not derive from anything evil in it's history, but from the name of
Admiral de Hell, a 19th century governor.
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| Andoany (Hell-Ville), Nosy Be, Madagascar |
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| Canon on display in Andoany (Hell-Ville), Nosy Be, Madagascar |
We are not staying on Nosy Be itself, but are heading to one of the several smaller islands nearby, called
Nosy Komba. The port where we board our motor boat is anything but fancy, in fact there is no way to climb into the boat without stepping into the water first.
There are plenty of people around to lend a hand, unfortunately they are the same pushy porters we encountered on Madagascar's airports. We have been in the country for a couple of days now, long enough to realize that the porters here are more relentless than anywhere else we have been so far. In many poor countries, like Burma, it is extremely difficult to say no to a porter who insists on helping with suitcases. But in Madagascar there might be an entire group surrounding your luggage within seconds. And they expect to be paid even if their sole contribution was to gently rest their hands on the suitcase while someone else does the actual work. We find this extremely annoying, at the same time we understand that it is economic desperation which makes them behave this way. Because of this, we make sure never to be unfriendly or rude toward them, while being firm about only paying the porter who does the actual work.
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| Port, Nosy Be, Madagascar |
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| Port with Nosy Komba in the distance, Nosy Be, Madagascar |
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| Port, Nosy Be, Madagascar |
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| The boat taking us to Nosy Komba, Nosy Be, Madagascar |
It's a pleasant 20 minute ride to the small volcanic island of
Nosy Komba. A bit bumpy, but not too much, just enough for our 10-year old daughter to love every minute of it.
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| Approaching Nosy Komba, Madagascar |
Nosy Komba is only 8 km (5 miles) in diameter and has approximately 4,000 inhabitants. Our hotel, the
Tsara Komba Lodge, is also small. It consists of only 8 lodges. By the time we reach it
it's
getting darker, the sun sets early here. But we can still make out the charming little cabins on the lush hillside. Lovely.
Maryse, the hotel manager originally from Normandy, France, welcomes us on the beach. Again, there is no way to get off the boat without stepping into the water, so at this point our shoes come off. I hope they will stay off for the rest of our stay.
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| Tsara Komba Lodge, Nosy Komba, Madagascar |
No complicated check-in procedures here, we head straight to our beach-front cabin. It's lovely and spacious, and so open that it's hard to tell where the indoors ends and the outdoors begins. Having just come from big cities this is quite a shock for the senses, and takes a bit of getting used to.
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| Our cabin at Tsara Komba Lodge, Nosy Komba, Madagascar |
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| View of the beach from our cabin, Tsara Komba Lodge, Nosy Komba, Madagascar |
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| View of the beach from our cabin, Tsara Komba Lodge, Nosy Komba, Madagascar |
We watch the sunset from our cabin terrace, then at 7 pm head for dinner. We have full pension here, which is just as well, because I don't see any other dining options in the area.
The food is good, prepared by a French chef, which of course means it's not only tasty but also nicely presented. According to the hotel website it is "one of Madagascar's finest restaurants".We can choose from 3 appetizers, 3 main courses and 3 desserts, and we conclude that the sorbet here is the most natural tasting we ever had. Much of what we eat comes from the hotel's own gardens and is very fresh.
The hotel website advertises this as "
Slow Food" cuisine. I have no idea what this means so I look it up. According to Wikipedia, Slow Food is a movement aimed at counterbalancing "fast food". It was started in Italy in the 1980's, and "it strives to preserve traditional and regional cuisine". By now it has 100,000 members in 150 countries, apparently the hotel's chef being one of them. The Tsara Komba being an ecolodge, the Slow Food approach seems to be a perfect fit.
The air is lovely fresh during the dinner. There is some lighting in the distance, but not here. Here the weather is perfect. There aren't as many mosquitoes as I expected, but this being a malaria region we are covered in repellent head to toe.
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| Sunset from our cabin, Tsara Komba Lodge, Nosy Komba, Madagascar |
After some stargazing on the beach we head back to our cabin, where we nickname the resident lizard PJ (simply because my daughter is holding her pajamas during the naming ceremony). We don't mind lizards in our sleeping quarters at all, as they are always the first line of defense against all the buzzing and creeping creatures in the tropics.
And here we need this defense. We are sleeping under mosquito nets and covered in repellent, because we just realized that the cabin itself provides no protection from the bugs. While we close all the doors and windows for the night, the entire space under the roof is still open to the outside (with no bug screen!), so insects and even some quite large butterflies can fly in and out as they wish. Considering that we are in a malaria region I find this strange.
There is a reason for this opening of course. And that is the circulation of air, as the cabin has no air-conditioning. Only two fans, one on the ceiling and a standing one. This comes as quite a shock, as in a 4-star "luxury lodge" one would expect the rooms to be air-conditioned. At least I would. And some other guests too, so when we chat to a couple of them later, they also express surprise (and displeasure) that there is no air-conditioning. No TV and no phone is great, but we are simply not used to the humid heat of the tropics, and it will be more difficult to deal with it if there is no relief even while we sleep.
In all fairness to the hotel, it does advertise itself as "rare and authentic charm, in perfect keeping with Nature" and the Sustainable development section of it's website does mention no air-conditioning. I guess we just didn't pay enough attention when we booked.
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| Lizard in our cabin, Tsara Komba Lodge, Nosy Komba, Madagascar |
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| Large butterfly, Tsara Komba Lodge, Nosy Komba, Madagascar |
Day 2:
A couple of bug bites later we wake up to a beautiful, sunny morning. From the bungalow terrace we watch some kids fishing and local women setting up a display of table cloth for sale on the beach next to us. Then we head to breakfast.
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| Textiles for sale next to our cabin, Tsara Komba Lodge, Nosy Komba, Madagascar |
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| Local woman walking on the beach, Tsara Komba Lodge, Nosy Komba, Madagascar |
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| View of the beach from our cabin, Tsara Komba Lodge, Nosy Komba, Madagascar |
The hotel's restaurant is in the main lodge called
The Divine House, on top of a long set of stairs. Any inconvenience caused by having to climb these steps before every meal is more than compensated for by the view from up here. It is magnificent.
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| The Divine House restaurant, Tsara Komba Lodge, Nosy Komba, Madagascar |
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| Stairs leading up to restaurant, Tsara Komba Lodge, Nosy Komba, Madagascar |
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| Restaurant, Tsara Komba Lodge, Nosy Komba, Madagascar |
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| View from the restaurant, Tsara Komba Lodge, Nosy Komba, Madagascar |
Even after almost a week, our 10 year old is still having trouble taking her malaria medication. Yes, she is from the generation of liquid Tylenol, who had never had to take a solid pill in her life. It's not easy, and this morning there are even some tears involved.
But all this is quickly forgotten when a beautiful bright green lizard appears on the table, wanting to share in our breakfast. It is especially interested in the honey jar, and we have to constantly rescue it from falling into it. Our daughter dips her finger in the honey, and the lizard licks it off. The child is ecstatic. I can't help but wonder if lizards can develop diabetes too.
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| Lizard on the honey jar, Tsara Komba Lodge restaurant, Nosy Komba, Madagascar |
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| Lizard, Tsara Komba Lodge restaurant, Nosy Komba, Madagascar |
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| Lizard on the breakfast plate, Tsara Komba Lodge restaurant, Nosy Komba, Madagascar |
After breakfast I enjoy the lovely view, while my daughter and husband play with the gigantic peg solitaire on the terrace.
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| View from Tsara Komba Lodge, Nosy Komba, Madagascar |
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| Pirogue by Tsara Komba Lodge, Nosy Komba, Madagascar |
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| View from Tsara Komba Lodge, Nosy Komba, Madagascar |
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| View from Tsara Komba Lodge, Nosy Komba, Madagascar |
We don't do much today. It's a lazy day on the beach and reading in the shade. Even though Nosy Komba is nicknamed the
Lemur Island, we are told that all lemurs moved away from the area around the hotel, so we need to take a boat if we want to see any. Tomorrow.
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| Beach of Tsara Komba Lodge, Nosy Komba, Madagascar |
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| Beach of Tsara Komba Lodge, Nosy Komba, Madagascar |
We completely loose track of time, so at 2 pm a hotel employee comes to warn us that lunch will not be served for much longer. Time to climb the steps again.
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| View from Tsara Komba Lodge, Nosy Komba, Madagascar |
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| View from Tsara Komba Lodge, Nosy Komba, Madagascar |
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| Pirogues by Tsara Komba Lodge, Nosy Komba, Madagascar |
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| View from Tsara Komba Lodge, Nosy Komba, Madagascar |
For the first time I get to try the meat of
zebu, the local cattle we have seen everywhere in Madagascar. I am surprised, because to me it tastes more like lamb than beef. It's very good!
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| Zebu meat, Tsara Komba Lodge restaurant, Nosy Komba, Madagascar |
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| View from Tsara Komba Lodge, Nosy Komba, Madagascar |
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| Pirogue by Tsara Komba Lodge, Nosy Komba, Madagascar |
It's much muggier than yesterday, so, without air-conditioning the inside of our bungalow is quite unbearable. Doesn't really matter, as we spend the rest of the afternoon outdoors.
At 5 pm my husband's surprise birthday cake arrives. It's very nice and much more sophisticated-looking than I expected, especially since I only ordered it yesterday afternoon, which I think is quite a short notice. To top it all of, during checkout we will find out that it's on the house, a little gesture from the hotel for my husband's birthday.
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| Birthday cake, Tsara Komba Lodge, Nosy Komba, Madagascar |
We end the day with a bit of snorkeling in the sunset. The water is so nice and warm, and by now it is again almost completely at the foot of our cabin. The difference between high and low tide is really quite remarkable here.
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| Sunset, Tsara Komba Lodge, Nosy Komba, Madagascar |
At 7 pm we head for dinner, where my husband opts for the zebu meat again. I am still quite full from the cake, so I am skipping the main course all-together. My appetizer is a local fish and bamboo stew called
Shabu Shabu. It's very nice. My stomach is a bit off from all the eating, so, even though I don't really like beer, I try the local brand called
THB (
Three Horses Beer). I find it pleasant and light.
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| Shabu shabu, Tsara Komba Lodge restaurant, Nosy Komba, Madagascar |
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| Zebu meatballs, Tsara Komba Lodge restaurant, Nosy Komba, Madagascar |
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| THB beer, Tsara Komba Lodge restaurant, Nosy Komba, Madagascar |
During dinner it starts pouring, and the rain brings out a new group of local creatures, the
giant snails. Are all creepy-crawlies huge in this place?
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| Large snail, Tsara Komba Lodge, Nosy Komba, Madagascar |
For a little while the rain brings relief from the heat. But once all the water starts evaporating it becomes even more muggy. I don't know how many degrees it is, but it is the sort of humid heat which covers you with sweat as soon as you step out of the shower.
Day 3:
Last night there was a huge downpour, with very loud thunder hitting quite close, keeping us up for a while. During breakfast Maryse, the friendly manager who always stops by for a little chat, explains that this is unusual at this time of the year.
By the morning the rain stops, but now the air is unbearably muggy. Luckily we are heading out on the water, where it should be much better.
Our first priority while in Madagascar is too see lemurs in the wild, and that is where we are going this morning. Even though Nosy Komba has it's own population of lemurs, we will be taking a boat to a different island. In addition to the three of us and two crew members, there are two more passengers on the boat, a young French-Malian couple.
Before we board the boat at 8 am, we spend a couple of minutes on the beach, rescuing stranded
jellyfish. There are plenty of them who did not make it back to the ocean when the water receded. We are not sure if they are still alive, so returning them to the sea seems like the right thing to do. And when I say "we" I am exaggerating a bit, as the only one who doesn't find them too disgusting to touch (after confirming with the locals that they don't sting) is the young French man. The contribution of the rest of us is to point them out to him.
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| Stranded jellyfish, Tsara Komba Lodge, Nosy Komba, Madagascar |
We set out on a 45-minute boat ride, and it surprises me how very few other boats we meet. And no modern vessels. Except for our motor-boat, only traditional
pirogue-s seem to be cruising the water around here.
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| Pirogue by Nosy Komba, Madagascar |
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| Boat ride from Nosy Komba, Madagascar |
At some point we pass a strange phenomenon, the meeting of two types of water. There is a sharp line between the darker, brown river water and the clear blue Ocean.
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| Meeting of two types of water, boat ride from Nosy Komba, Madagascar |
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| Pirogue, islands around Nosy Be, Madagascar |
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| Boat ride from Nosy Komba, Madagascar |
After about 45 minutes we arrive to our first stop, a village with a resident
lemur population. As I don't know the name of either the village or the island, I will refer to it as "Village with lemurs" in this post.
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| Village with lemurs, Madagascar |
Madagascar has an astonishing variety of fauna and flora. But by far the most "must-see" creatures of the country are the
lemurs, which can not be found anywhere else in the world. Apparently there are some 99 species and sub-species of them. Not sure what type the ones in this village are (tried to find the name on the internet, but gave up after a while), but I am pretty sure that the black ones are male and the brown ones are female.
They are hanging out on the trees by the beach, and it's quite obvious that they are not afraid of people. I wonder if the villagers got them used to being here by feeding them. Perhaps for the amusement of tourists like us? While that might be the case, the nice thing is that there is no mass tourism here. At the time of our visit there is only one other boat visiting, with two passengers on it.
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| Lemur, Madagascar |
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| Lemur, Madagascar |
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| Lemurs, Madagascar |
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| Lemur, Madagascar |
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| Lemurs, Madagascar |
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| Lemur, Madagascar |
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| Lemurs, Madagascar |
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| Lemur, Madagascar |
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| Lemurs, Madagascar |
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| Lemur, Madagascar |
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| Lemur, Madagascar |
We feed them bananas, and they repay the favor by jumping all over us. My husband and daughter love having them crawl all over their shoulders and heads. I am screaming "get them off me" during the whole time. Not that I am scared. But I find having the rubbery little fingers on my skin and the furry tails brushing up against my face about as appealing as having rats crawl all over me. So I prefer admiring them from a bit of a distance, while my husband gets scratched, my daughter gets bit (an accident, the lemur was going for the banana she was holding), and even pee-d on by a lemur. I guess what you would call a successful day.
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| Our guide with lemurs, Madagascar |
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| A lemur on my husband's shoulder, Madagascar |
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| Lemur, Madagascar |
In addition the to lemurs, the village is also home to two huge, approximately 100 year old
turtles. They are so large that our 10 year old can sit on one of them (at the urging of the locals), and the turtle doesn't even seem to notice. I have seen large turtles before, and I have even touched their shell. But this is the first time that I get to touch the neck, and it feels like really thick leather.
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| Turtles, Madagascar |
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| Lemur and turtles, Madagascar |
We take a little walk in the village, and this for me is just as interesting as the fauna we just saw. This is not a touristy place. It's an authentic fishing village, where local people live and work, and being able to peek into their way of life is fascinating. There are no souvenir sellers and no-one asks for anything, so I assume that the hotel compensates the village for our visit. It is probably a much needed supplemental income, as the poverty is quite palpable here. But poverty or not, the place has such an amazing natural beauty that I can't describe it other than being lovely.
Despite what it looks like on my pictures, the village is not deserted, we do meet a number of villagers. But out of respect I don't take any pictures of them.
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| Village with lemurs, Madagascar |
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| Village with lemurs, Madagascar |
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| Village with lemurs, Madagascar |
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| Village with lemurs, Madagascar |
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| Village with lemurs, Madagascar |
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| Drying fish, village with lemurs, Madagascar |
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| Fishing nets, village with lemurs, Madagascar |
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| Drying fish, village with lemurs, Madagascar |
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| Pirogue, village with lemurs, Madagascar |
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| Pirogue, village with lemurs, Madagascar |
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| A local family arriving to the village with lemurs, Madagascar |
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| Village with lemurs, Madagascar |
On the way back to the boat I almost fall when I slip on a large, stranded (and hopefully already dead) jellyfish. There are plenty of them in the water too, and we can admire them from the boat while our guide jumps in and tries to harpoon our lunch. No luck though, so we move on.
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| The spot where our lunch is being caught, Madagascar |
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| Jellyfish, Madagascar |
We stop at a different spot, where we all jump in the water. The guide finally catches lunch, while we snorkel in the area. I can't really say that this is my favorite snorkeling of all time. To be fair, I know that I am spoiled, having had the opportunity to explore some under-water paradises, such as Bora Bora and Palau. This one does not compare. Visibility is not great, water a bit too deep, and on top of it my mask is misbehaving until it finally falls off completely, forcing me to return to the boat. On the upside, my 10 year old loves every minute of it. And our new under-water camera passes it's first "wetness-test".
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| Coral, Madagascar |
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| Our lunch caught, Madagascar |
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| Our lunch being prepared, Madagascar |
We take off again, my husband rubbing his side in pain. He slipped while climbing back into the boat, and, as an x-ray will confirm back home, he fractured one his ribs. Ouch!
The boat's next stop is a small and unbelievably beautiful island. I don't know it's real name, but the locals nicknamed it "
Mosquito Island", so that is how I will refer to it in this post. Contrary to the nickname we don't see (or feel) any mosquitoes, but there are a huge number of crabs and birds.
It is so quiet and calm here! Time to time a pirogue passes in the distance, but other than that it seems like we are completely disconnected from the rest of the world. The only people we see are a couple of local women fishing (or catching something else in the water, I can't tell). It is so rare these days to find such a secluded spot, and we are enjoying every minute of it.
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| "Mosquito Island", Madagascar |
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| Our boat by"Mosquito Island", Madagascar |
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| A local woman on "Mosquito Island", Madagascar |
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| "Mosquito Island", Madagascar |
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| "Mosquito Island", Madagascar |
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| "Mosquito Island", Madagascar |
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| "Mosquito Island", Madagascar |
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| A flock of birds on "Mosquito Island", Madagascar |
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| Local women walking on "Mosquito Island", Madagascar |
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| Crabs, "Mosquito Island", Madagascar |
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"Mosquito Island", Madagascar
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The only human structure we see is a small fishing hut, used by passing fishermen. While our lunch cooks over the fire, we combat the heat by sitting in the shallow water. The water is warm, warmer in fact than I ever experienced in an Ocean. The most shallow part is so uncomfortably hot, that we have to hurry through it because it is burning our feet.
We settle down in the shade for lunch, and I must say, it is one of the best grilled fish I ever had. It's amazing. There are about 4 types of fish (even though my picture below only shows one type), and I sample all. And have doubles. I wish I could eat like this every day.
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| Our lunch cooking on "Mosquito Island", Madagascar |
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| Our lunch cooking on "Mosquito Island", Madagascar |
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| Our lunch on "Mosquito Island", Madagascar |
We don't want to leave, but it's time for our last stop of the day, a village with a number of large
baobab trees. The baobab is Madagascar's national tree, of it's eight species six are endemic to this country. The best place to see them would of course be the famous Baobab Alley near Morondava, but we are far from there.
The village we visit is very similar to the one in the morning, and we wander through it while our guide points out the trees. Baobabs can grow huge and can live a really long time. One in South Africa is estimated to be 6,000 years old, and we ourselves have seen a 2,000 year old baobab in Botswana a couple of months ago ( for a picture please see my post at: http://ey-itchyfeet.blogspot.fr/2013/10/safari-in-botswanas-chobe-national-park.html). The trees in this village are not as impressive, which means that they are probably younger, but are lovely nonetheless.
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| Baobab, Madagascar |
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| Baobab, Madagascar |
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| In the village of baobabs, Madagascar |
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| Baobab, Madagascar |
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| Beach by the village of baobabs, Madagascar |
After a 1 hour boat ride we are back to the hotel. It's only 2:30 pm, but we are so tired from the heat (and because the storm kept us up last night) that we basically faint into bed. We sleep through the rest of the afternoon. All three of us have been feeling quite exhausted on this trip, and I do wonder if the malaria medication is at least partly to blame.
During dinner the young French man from the boat trip surprises us with a box of Kinder chocolates from his stash stored in the restaurant's fridge. My daughter is delighted, and to be honest so am I.
Back at our cabin we have our first encounter with an XL-sized Madagascar
cockroach we heard so much about. We have seen a couple of "European-size" ones in our bathroom, but this is the first "Madagascar-size" individual we met. Luckily it's not inside the bungalow, just on the terrace. I don't want to make a fuss by taking a picture, because I don't want my daughter to notice it. She already thoroughly inspects the inside of her mosquito net every evening. I am not sure how she would react to seeing this monster.
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| Boat delivering supplies to Tsara Komba Lodge, Nosy Komba, Madagascar |
Day 4:
Finally I slept well. Through experimentation we managed to find a good combination of the mosquito net being closed enough to keep out most of the beasts, but open enough to let in the air of the fans (it seems the net is too thick and doesn't let the air in properly). Also, by now we got used to it that every night (and probably also during the day) there are a couple of power outages. They only last a second or two, not a big deal, but we have to restart the floor fan after every such outage. Other than that we slept like babies.
After a leisurely breakfast we pack. I am in the state of constant itching, both from sunburn and all the bug bites. We attempt to pay the hotel bill with a card, but the terminal doesn't want to work. After many tries and Maryse's call to her bank we give up and pay cash. Luckily the hotel, including meals, was prepaid, so it's not a huge bill.
This hassle with the payment doesn't completely surprise us, as the prepayment during reservation wasn't the simplest either. It was not possible to do it by card, only by wire to a Mauritius bank account. It took a couple of emails between Maryse and us and our two banks to finally get it through, though in all fairness it might have been the incompetence of our bank rather than the hotel's.
At 1 pm we set out by boat to Nosy Be, to catch the flight back to Antananarivo. This time we are traveling in flip-flops, so climbing into the boat from the water is not a problem.
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| Tsara Komba Lodge, Nosy Komba, Madagascar |
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| A pirogue by Tsara Komba Lodge, Nosy Komba, Madagascar |
During our Nosy Be car ride from the port to the airport I happen to mention how much I enjoyed seeing chameleons. The driver immediately stops, and points out two of them in the trees. A smaller brown one and a larger bright green one, which turns dark green (as if by anger) when the driver pokes it with a stick.
I find it uncanny how people here can locate chameleons from the moving car within 10 seconds of me mentioning them. I am staring at the exact same trees, and can't see any unless they are pointed out to me and the branches are pulled aside. These two are lovely, and we spend quite a long time admiring them.
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| Chameleon, Nosy Be, Madagascar |
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| Chameleon, Nosy Be, Madagascar |
We pass a large crowd praying on the street (it is the week leading up to Easter Sunday), and arrive to the small airport. There is no air-conditioning, only some ceiling fans pushing the hot air around. The heat is starting to get to us, and we can't wait to be back in the cooler temperatures of Antananarivo. But not just yet. The plane is 1.5 hours late, which seems like an eternity in the oven-hot waiting room. Slowly but surely everyone moves outside to the slightly cooler street, completely disregarding any and all security screening procedures (which were not exactly strict to start with).
Some people complain to the staff that all checked luggage is left in the baking sun during the whole time, but the airport employees refuse to move them into shade. I can't help but wonder about the chocolate eggs and bunny I hid in my suitcase for our daughter's Easter-egg hunt. So far we managed to keep the tradition going no matter where we traveled, but I have a feeling that this year the Easter bunny will show up with a lot of melted chocolate.
When we finally land in Antananarivo it's a refreshing 22 C (72 F). What a relief!
