Gulliver's Travels 02/26/2024

Madagascar - Part 2

   Here are some more (I hope fascinating) photos of strange and interesting Madagascar.

Being terrified of heights, I (wrongly) assumed I'd never be able to do what the photos show--one of the greatest thrills I ever had in my life.

The guide behind me did not actually help me--but he did have a (hidden) cattle prod that he threatened me with.

This precarious swinging bridge was 80 feet long(approximately as long as eternity)

Olivia took this photo when she was 30 feet above the bottom, so the bridge is actually about 80 feet above the bottom (it looked about 800 feet from my vantage point).

No, I did NOT walk on these rocks.

There are seven species of baobabs, each of a different shape and height.

Baobab Alley, filled trees as old as a thousand years

Two seedlings decided to grow together, how lovely.

A crocodile farm where crocs are sold to zoos and for consumption

Too many to join in a group "discussion"

Plowing a rice paddy with a hand-made plow

Turning over rice stubble with shovels, rather than a plow

Planting rice

Ox carts are common in Madagascar.

Planting some kind of seeds

Planting rice seedlings

Fierce capitalistic competition in action

Colorful garb on a woman living in the bushlands

Ubiquitous potholes lead to enterprising kids earning tips for "repairing" them

Community brick-making is common in Madagascar.

Epilogue

  Madagascar certainly was one of the more interesting countries I have visited.  Being a farm kid, I was highly interested in their agricultural methods, harking back to our country's colonial farm practices.  The tsingys intrigued me for a very long time, so that itch has been scratched.  So, too, for the lemurs and baobab trees.  None of this stuff is in Wisconsin or any other state, so at times it is necessary to spend a few bucks to see something really interesting.  Madagascar is such a place.