Day 4-5 – 11-12.10.2026 – Morondava

In front of the hotel was a slaughterhouse which I didn’t know about and that morning I saw half cut pigs and zebu cow being loaded on rickshaws 🙁 quite a sight… I birdwatched from the hotel and we left for Morondava at the seaside, where we had 2 nights before leaving for Bekopaka. So a bit of time by the sea before the bumpy roads again 😀

Along the way we had again a few stops to walk over some bridges and see how people go about their life fishing, washing clothes or bathing. Quite interesting to see. The kids were waving at us. People from our group would take photos of the kids and adults and Fina explained to us later that they would expect something in return. But for kids for example it should not be money. Also you only give something if you actually ask them to do something. And ofc not all of them want to be on a picture so some of them would hide their face, especially if they see a big camera. At some point we stopped to check a waterfall out and all the kids from the nearby houses came running at us and one of the ladies in our group had a lot of small colouring books and coloured pencils she gave away. They were so happy

As we drove by we saw our first Baobab trees and especially one that was on the road, we just had to stop and go see it from up close, it was A-MA-ZING! Such awesome trees and people keep joking with me why I take so many photos of trees but they are all unique and I want a photo of them all! 😀

Anyway, we parted ways with our driver Mimi and porter Julienne sadly at the beach side. They would spend a few days there in Morondava and pick up another group of the same company. Mimi told me he checked our schedule and it seems we are scheduled to meet in Isalo. Quite nice to see a familiar face and after spending days with the same people you kind of click with some and Mimi is one of them for me 🙂 I had to rush to the center to catch an ATM and a pharmacy to buy different malaria pills, so Fina came with me and we went with rickshaws and we were just about to go to the pharmacy a bit further, when they called Fina that our bags arrived in Tana!!!

Hoooraaay! But we were leaving for Bekopaka after our 2 nights in Morondava so couldn’t take them, but they were going to be delivered to our hotel in Morondava where we would be back in a few days. So then we didn’t have to go to the pharmacy and instead went to buy water, but we had to buy for 4 days for 16 ppl so that was A LOT of packs of bottles, which couldn’t fit on one rickshaw so we split and got onto 2. I rode on one with some bottles and Fina with the rest on another. As I was being driven to the hotel I got called out by name pretty far from the hotel and it was Mimi 😀 Funny 😀 So while I was “rickshaw”-ing the city, people were enjoying themselves and swimming at the sea, I hope to be able to do it also on the second day but not sure it will work as this may be my last chance to withdraw money and I may need to as expenses seem to be growing rather fast and the ATMs have a limit , I managed to get 2x 800000 (2×160 EUR) Ariary and then it didn’t give me any more and my Maestro card didn’t work.

Day 6 – 13.10.2026 – Baobab Alley & drive to Bekopaka

After our 2 nights in Morondava, IT WAS TIME! For the Baobab Alley. We wanted to see the sunrise at the alley so we had to leave at 04:30. The Baobab alley was AMAZING, I soo loved it, we had enough time to walk up and down and sideways and to birdwatch a bit. These trees are mighty and beautiful. So, understandably, I couldn’t stop myself from buying a Baobab tree from the nursery at the alley haahah, it was only 15000 Ariary = 3 EUR, I mean COME ON… 😀 It probably won’t survive but I will try but I forgot to get a receipt. Luckily we pass by for a sunset there on the way back again so I will ask.

So… we then went on to Bekopaka. We switched to 4×4 cars and the road got progressively worse. Eventually we had to take a ferry. During the ferry ride, a young boy came to me to talk because he studies English and wanted to practice. He wants to become a tourist driver. His school is only in the afternoon and they have three classes of 1.5h each per day. He is from the Sakalava tribe and speaks 5 other dialects of Malagasy besides his own plus English and French. Such a polyglot! I didn’t feel the time because it was so interesting to learn more about the Sakalava people and their life. However, with the scorching sun, I think I got a sunstroke. I felt sooo tired, as if my body weighed 5 times more, my heart was beating and the worst thing is I only realized it after I went off of it and felt almost like fainting.

At the same time I was hungry and had an appetite so it was really likely the early wake up + the sun, sort of cocktail. During the trip we had to take a second ferry and there one of my fellow travellers, a woman I drive together with, accidentally dropped her phone and it went straight into the murky reddish-brown water below. She, ofc, panicked and all angry at herself, all normal reactions… but as soon as our driver Nirina heard about it, he told all the kids to go search for it and they ran into the water. They searched for maybe 10-15 min and guess what! They found it! And guess what! IT worked!! I was totally mindblown, it’s an iPhone 12 with a good case and after so long in the water it worked as if nothing happened.

She should write Apple and tell them she did the ultimate test and they should pay her for the job. 😀