Madamax

A fun week end on the Ikopa river, south of Antananarivo.

Typical male dominant attitude and usual maried couple set-up!

Good flow, very average weather with a last gust of winter trade winds plus a light rain.

Saturday night camp under grey sky!!!

Ikopa actually flowing through Tana is a cool weekenders favorite spot.

A fun loving group celebrating a 40th birthday.

Typical Ikopa's riverside scene.

Being that close from city and that isolated is sheer luxury.

Super crew to handle the logistics and crates of beer, …

Heads feels heavy as lead.

Sunny sunday morning to heal hangovers from a very late lasting bonefire and Three Horses Beer (the local brew) carnage!

Crisis in the boat industry

2009 political troubles led to a change in Madamax boat renewal policy, …

We even took the time and the energy to do a bit of reforestation. With the beginning of rain season, it’s time to start planting.

Locals planting new trees

Fruit trees are our favorites for this kind of pico action.

And that’s what we do with our guests. Every day out during wet season is an occasion to put in a few more trees to develop agroforestry ideas and help locals (more info on our actions on woodenstock.org , In french only, sorry!)

Outsiders do their share!

Visitors always enjoy the chance to do their little bit of work towards a not so gloomy future.

I love those hours spent in peaceful Imerina countryside, away from city noises and troubles, 45′ away from downtown!!!

Boat's garage

Playful day on Ikopa's beach

Will be back on it with 100 paddlers in two weeks, stay posted, …

Despite the desesperatingly gloomy touristic scene in these troubled days, we managed to launch a mini expedition in the Isalo canyons at the southern tip of central highlands.

Pioneer expeditions had sent a couple of Brit girls for a 10 day expedition down Benahy, Imaloto and Onilahy from Isalo range to Tulear.

titi, my daughter!

I talked a few friends in it and we all threw in handfuls of kids to end up with a large group of 16, 8 adults and 8 kids.

muddy waters

Rowdy crowd down this calm river.

the river guard

Low waters of the dry season ends up in a lot of walking, towing canoes through sandbars and maze of dams erected by local saphire diggers.

camp 2

This stretch of wilderness remains an exceptionnal trip, taking passengers to spectacular canyons and sceneries.

Floating at last

We parted with the Pioneer people at the end of the canyon and let them row for survival on definitely more serious Onilahy rapids.

kakou the crazy pirat

The locals pulled out after 5 days deep down Gondwanaland, eyes sparkling with high walls and blue skies.

Saphire search

Can’t wait for the next buddies trip,

Geoffroy n'est plus à la barre.

I got to love them too much, …

I love those canyons and hope to be back there as often as possible.

Nady, our local river guide

One of my very favorite playground around the island.

Simon Osborne and Sylvain Lelong just arrived from their last paddling/driving trip which ended up in Majunga.

For Simon, it was in a way, completing its malagasy venture started in 2007 and finishing up where it started, was something he really wanted to complete.

Miles wide overflown river

He didn’t paddled round the country as originally planned but that was a serious attempt with close to 2/3 of the distance paddled over 2 seasons.

Incidentally he managed to rack the first Zomandao kayak descent and although he didn’t found Majunga changed in any way, he, himself felt totally different as traveling through all those remote places had given him an other vision of the surrounding world.

Check his blog for indepth feelings and details on seakayakingcornwall.com

Sylvain had a different goal in mind and also a strong motivation. He is now the very first visitor to have paddled a local river, from head to spill.

Near Maevatanana, narrower than elsewhere

After his expedition with Brad, Rush and friends on the upper betsiboka, he has, now, completed the descent. Congratulations.

Along Ankarafantsika National Park forests

Leaving Tana was hectic, caught a full day at the bus station, only to get out of bus at 2 am in Sleeping and rainy Maevatanana. That meant a night in the rain, again!!!

The shuttle cart to Betsiboka, …

The river was largely spread all around.

Most land was covered for miles around the villages and finding the actual river bed was one of the challenge of this 240 kms stretch.

Camp on an isolated family dryland!!!

Current was strong and they averaged over 100 kms on the first and second days, with relatively little effort.

Muddy take off at low tide. Just pray you don’t step on one of those huge crabs, …

They landed in Majunga on day three having paddled the whole length in a record time close to 20 hours on the river, …

The highlights of the descent was floating down along Ankarafantsika National Park and overall, the rescue of a chameleon swimming miles away from land, …

Flamingoes  flight over a cuckoo paddler

More original than a mermaid, a chameleon at prow, …

Although they do swim quite well, this one was really far away from anywhere.

Unusual water movements and waves maintained the necessary pressure to paddle in scorching 41°C

Definitely, one of my greatest night, so far! A solo night ride on the lower Mangoky, last saturday night was certainly a nerving experience. it all started with a classic line of taking geologists out there for research.

Riding up the river with an engine was a challenge, with insidious sand bars and dead channels to get lost but that’s the kind of stuff we manage and there was nothing that special.

An indecent rigging job to motor up the flow!

For some reason, I ended up 30kms from pull out at night time although I had to be there by 6 am the next morning in order to drive to the airport and fly out to Tananarive.

So, here I am loading my ARK inflatable Croc boat at 7 pm on a moonlessnight and a good 4 hours of paddling laying ahead.

needless to say that I was moderetaly enthousiastic to leave by myself and leave my gun behind in camp!…

I had always thought that finally there wasn’t that many crocs on the Mangoky and I know the river well enough to handle this ghostly night ride.

How wrong I was to be, ……..

Less than 100 meters from camp two splashes and waves sharply remembered me that we were not in winter and females were laying eggs on the banks!

The rest of the trip was a thrilling and terrifying experience. i had to repeat myself the malagasy saying “crocs don’t attack dug outs” at least a thousand times every hour. I tried to avoid flashing the light to see how close those very inquisitive animals were as I needed to keep the little night vision a brilliant starry sky gave me . I spoke out loud and sang silly songs. I even (shame on me) spilled some gas on the boat to deter them. I peed on it!

An early evening visitor, …

More were to come!!!

Nothing did it I couldn’t appreciate the beauty and the grandeur of the scene. I had a few sections of great happiness when floating away from the shores I forgot for instants the presence, so massive, of predators to be respected, but the paranoia was hitting back at every occasion. Chasing crocs from sand banks on which I drifted inadvertly on too many occasions, having to drag the boats between reeds islands, lost on a mile wide river. I even rowed upstream for at least 15 minutes before realizing I hadn’t moved a meter!

Around 10.30 pm a young female, kind of “flew” over the stern, chased from a higher river bank by my noisy passage and that’s when my nerves decided to take a break. I aimed at a sand bar and tried to find a spot without too many close tracks, gathered dried wigs and reeds, built a wall with my bags and even my shoes, again, peed everywhere, spilled more gas, and finally crashed out in an uncertain sleep.

Back to life with the sun burning the last bits of morning fog.

I woke up after a night of refueling fast burning reeds, listening to splashes and crocos noises in a rather good mood.

They were all gone when the temp dropped late in the night.

The 2 remaining hours were really cool with all the beasts sleeping in their holes and the river for myself.

Arrival at pull out was certainly noticed and locals still wonder if I’m totally stupid or a real nerd!…

I do too, ………..