Madagascar

Striking zebu’s and wearing a sweater with 36°C

The next day my travel mate and I had picked our 4WD to visit a next valley. A valley who had found a smart, though arguably correct way, of making some extra money. Each village had created a barrier across the road which they opened after paying 10.000 ariary (€2,5). After paying this toll, you would expect a perfectly flat rolled out layer of asphalt, but it turned out to be the worst toll road in the world. With 4WD in full action we could reach an average of 10km/h, not taking into account the farmer of which we had to pull up his cart. His two zebus were striking to climb up the steep hill for the 7th time that week. The farmer and his wife were visibly thankful. The only thing I am afraid of is that we set the standard for the zebus to go on strike every time they see a 4WD with tourists coming their way.... The next morning, I woke up early to climb the nearby mountain. It was a relatively easy stroll, but at the way down I found the next way of the local community to make some extra money. They had founded a guide agency two years ago and had made it required that everybody hiking in the mountains should take a guide. When they discovered that I had done without, I was friendly escorted to the bureau to still handover the guide fee “for safety reasons”. The guide who escorted me back turned out to be a super friendly 15-year-old boy who grew up in the valley and had never left it. After having explained him that he didn’t have to play guide for me, but that we could just talk about his and my life, the walk became actually quite entertaining. Most funny element was when I asked him why he wore a sweater on top of his T-shirt while it was a blistering hot and humid 36°C. His answer: “the T-shirt pictures the president who I don’t support. In my village people know that so I can still wear the T-shirt I got for free, but outside my village I want to hide it, so I wear this sweater on top :D”.



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