If like me, you knew very little about the island of Madagascar, apart from the fact that it was an island off the east coast of Africa, then John Henson's talk with slides about the holiday he took with his wife Maureen, was a real eye-opener.
They went with Saga Holidays and there were 17 in the group. The island is twice the size G.B. They only covered the lower part of the island and it involved 15 days of continuous travel. The French originally owned the Island and when they left, they took almost everything of value - the people are still very bitter about this. The population is extremely poor and their diet consists mainly of rice three times a day. Natural resources are emeralds, vanilla and cinnamon but the emeralds seem to disappear as soon as they are mined (black market). The area is guarded by gentlemen with kalashnikovs and photography of these mines was forbidden!
There were no shops where they travelled, just makeshift stalls and fruit on sheets on the ground and everybody walked - only in the big towns were there a few cars.
John said they had gone in the wet season so the temperature was very humid. In spite of the fact that the island was so poor, all the hotels were excellent. Beggars were a problem but they were asked to bring small gifts with them and Maureen had bought a football from England and the kids went wild when she gave it to a group of youngsters. John said they did not see any old people but with a life expectancy of 48 years, perhaps that's not surprising.
There are no large animals except for Zebu (horned cattle) and John said they tasted like beef. Lemurs are the most prolific animals (about 36 varieties). Their plaintiff calls constantly echoed through the trees and bushes). Having seen some of them in nature programmes and Banham Zoo, I think they are the most delightful creatures. Plenty of creepy crawlies, butterflies and flowers abounded in the dense vegetation. They visited a tea factory which was very interesting. The men seemed to be mostly recycling metal to make into cooking pots - but they wear no footwear when they are heating the metal up! The women mainly weave scarfs etc. John and Maureen showed us some fascinating items they had brought back..Altogether a very memorable holiday although travelling time of 24 hours to reach the Island was a little tiring.
Our next meeting is on Wednesday 10 April at 7.30pm in the Community Centre when Mrs Pat Alker will be coming and giving a talk about the Tribes of Southern Ethiopia - another chance to find out about another part of the world.
As usual, visitors are always welcome and if there are queries, please contact Veronica Brett, President on 01508 493029 or Lesley Sanders on 01508 492155.
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