Ranomafana, Madagascar 
August 18, 2015

Before leaving town today we dropped into a home craft industry where the men make toy bicycles, motor-bikes, rickshaws, trucks etc from waste materials. Used drink cans were fashioned into car and truck chassis’ and bicycle rims. Fishing line was used for bicycle spokes and tyres were made out of disused medical tubing painted black. The overall appearance was quite stunning in its scaled accuracy and detail. Very clever. When people chose to buy a model, our toy-maker cut the end off a plastic drink bottle, placed the model inside, replaced the end and taped them up – once again, recycling available materials. Surely we in the West could learn a thing or two from these environmental artisans. The women produce embroidered table cloths, tables runners and children’s clothes. A number of our ladies brought items for their grandchildren.

A long drive today to a Lemur Forest Reserve. Some of the valleys along the way had watered rice fields with new rice being planted or freshly planted out. Ducks and geese enjoyed the watered fields. Zebu cattle and the occasional goat were tethered here and there across the fields. Later in the day, as the road climbed higher, there were more cattle and the crops were finished.

We slowly climbed our way up into the mountains, until we stopped at the town of Ambositra. Here we visited a wood carver’s shop and admired the fantastic skills of the tradesmen. We watched spell-bound as we witnessed the manufacture of intricate marquetry created on an ingeniously home-made fretting saw which incorporated amongst other things, an old bed spring. The extremely fine saw blade was made from high-tensile steel reinforcing, removed from old radial tyres, each tooth being painstakingly cut by hand with a chisel. In the shop next door, there were lots of marquetry artifacts for sale, including jewellery boxes, letter racks, serviette rings, nativity scenes and religious icons. We didn’t buy anything but I’m sure we would have if we had more time.

Time for lunch at a resort in town. Here we were welcomed by a troupe of dancers and musicians performing local folk song and dance, lining the path to our lunch table. The girls were dressed in white lacy dresses and the boys in black pants and bright red shirts. All were barefoot and wore broad-brimmed straw hats. They were accompanied by drums and accordion. Very enjoyable. Lovely traditional Malagasy food but far too much for any of us to finish. 

A further 90 km drive to Ranomafana Forest Reserve and the Setam Lodge, where we are to stay for the next two nights. Excited about seeing our first Lemurs in the wild tomorrow – in the footsteps of Attenborough.