Day 269, Year 5 Gathering Information
Date: Thursday, July 22, 2010
Weather: Really Gorgeous Day
Location: Nosy Sakatia, NW Madagascar
Mid-morning we headed up to Sakatia Towers to ask John Sheppard, the owner, a few questions. He is like an encyclopedia of information, so we spent the next hour or two asking and getting information. On the deck at Sakatia Towers there is a huge bird cage where two Lesser Vanga Parrots live. Since these are an endangered specieis, my questions was, “Where did they come from?” John explained that a friend rescued the parrots from mistreatment on the wharf in Hell-ville, brought them to John, and then left them there. So they are now residents of Sakatia Towers. Their names are Birdie and Num Num. John reminded us of the scene from The Pink Panther where Peter Sellers walks into a restaurant with a parrot on his shoulder saying, “Birdie, num num.” He wanted food for the bird, but the proprietor misunderstood, took the bird, and cooked him. “Nummy num.” Of course, we had forgotten this scene completely, but now we must see that old classic again just to see this scene. John also talked to us about the current political scene in the country. The once President Ravalamonana was removed in a coup last year. He was working hard to preserve the fragile environment. The current ‘president’ took power after the coup. He is a former disc jockey, high profile with lots of name recognition, who is selling the resources of the country to the Chinese as quickly as possible. The amount of rosewood headed to China everyday is shameful. And every tree that is cut down diminishes the home for many animals found only in one place in the world-Madagascar. What a disaster. But for now that is the way things are here.
In the afternoon we worked on planning our trip from here to South Africa. Writing down all of the possible anchorages, the mileage, and the dates for the various options is helping us to get closer to a decision. And we have also found out that it could possibly be time for sea turtle hatching on Iranja Island with the coming of the full moon. Iranja is about thirty miles from here, so we are contemplating going there for the weekend and then returning here, leaving the boat, and doing inland travel at the end of next week. Seeing the hatching of the sea turtles would be incredible, but no one has a calendar for these things, so we will just go there and take our chances.
We returned to Sakatia Towers tonight to meet some of John’s guests. We particularly wanted to meet Russell and Beverly from Cape Town in South Africa. They just rented a motor scooter and rode it to Ankarana Special Reserve where we want to go inland next week. They are not as old as us, but not far behind, and they fared quite well on a motor scooter. The roads here are full of pot holes, but they really enjoyed seeing the countryside from the motor scooter instead of from inside a mini-bus. But we will probably go the mini-bus route as transporting a rented motor scooter from Nosy Be to the mainland is yet another hassle. Tomorrow morning we will go into Hell-ville with John, make arrangements for the inland travel, make another stop at the ATM, and then return. If all goes as planned, we will leave here on Saturday morning for Nosy Iranja, the turtle reserve, return on Monday or Tuesday, and leave on Wednesday for a four day inland tour.
On the health front, my niece’s daughter Katie made it just great through her surgery so we are thankful for that. And Lynne’s skin infection is getting better. It will take another couple of weeks, at least, for it to heal, but for now all is well.
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| 100722 Day 269 Nosy Sakatia, Madagascar–Sakatia Towers |
