Tenrecs, dogs and walking adventures

Today I found a tenrec. What the hell is that, you might ask. It's just like a little hedgehog. In fact this little guy is named, funnily enough, a hedgehog tenrec. Poor thing, it was curled up on the grass, in the sun, after the hotel's dog brought it over. It really didn't look very healthy. Neither would you if you were normally sleeping all day. I went and hid him in the bushes, hoping he'd escape the clutches of those curious canines for a while.

One of them turned out to be a very good travelling companion (well mostly, when she wasn't hassling the island's other canine inhabitants) for our walk around the island. The three of us set off reasonably early this morning, headed north and then out across the island toward the east coast. We'd walked for 2 1/2 hours and attempted a bit of tyre rolling before feeling a bit like we had no idea where we were ... which was actually true. So we tried to find someone to point us in the right direction - how the hell do we actually get to the east coast?! We could see it but we were skirting it, and knew there was a lagoon to negotiate if we wanted to swim...

I fortunately came across a lovely old gentleman who was a headmaster at the local school, and could speak both French and English, so we got along fine. He suggested that further down the road was the Paradis d'Ampanihy, where we found some great hospitality and the 'specialite du Chef': Poisson avec Saus Coco. WIN.

Enroute to the mangroves after lunch, we discovered what a vanilla plant looks like. It's actually a liana, a rainforest plant that's classified as an orchid, but looks like a vine; the locals boil the pods up and then set them in the sun for three weeks to dry out and blacken. All I wanted to know was who discovered that then?! Unfortunately vanilla season isn't til September. boo. But vanilla is one of Madagascar's biggest exports, and while every mug on the street wants to sell you some, it's hard to know what's fresh and the best value. We keep asking different people to find out! And in fact, I don't even know if I can bring it into Australia or not. Quarantine is really strict on the importation of any type of plant material. But I like the idea of making my own rhum arrange - vanilla flavour - and knocking the socks off my housemates in Sydney.