Transport in Tana

(I don't blog here anymore, but this post was published on my other blog The Great Escape, and is relevant here, so I thought I would reproduce it.)

I am on day 4 of my nine-day trip to Madagascar. These were just a few photos that I snapped on the way from home near Ivato airport to the Jumbo Score supermarket on the Digue road ... This is by no means a complete example of modes of transport on the roads of Antananarivo (the capital) but very typical of what one might come across at any time on any given day. Rory, one of my readers and a friend from back home, told me I should use more "manly" subjects if I wanted to attract more men to my blog. Well, this is one of those ...

Running repairs (I wonder what he's planning on doing with those scissors?)

These carts are used to transport pretty much anything that can be transported in Tana.
This man is waiting outside the local supermarket Shoprite for potential clients.
That is one vintage Peugeot next to him - in fact, I think my great-grandfather may have owned one...

 

Another photo of the patient transporter

A smaller cart than the previous one, as well as a man with his wheelbarrow transporting charcoal.

A Citroën 2CV from yester-year but very much still in use...

And when all one has is one's own two feet ...

Horsepower? No, manpower...

Not particularly big or tall ... but seriously strong for his size.

See "More of Tana's traffic" and "Weird Rides" for other examples of Tana's weird and wonderful transport methods - but which were not gathered in only a day, like the ones for this post.

Dreaming of Madagascar

Tana, my old hometown, has been on my mind a lot lately. It's raw, wild, alive and difficult to get out of one's system. Almost a year on, but it feels like yesterday since I was last there... Here are a few random photos from just before I left in June last year.

(This post in a slightly different form was originally on my other blog The Great Escape: Life from behind a lens but as it's about Madagascar I thought I'd duplicate it here.)

Night time in Talatamaty

I took these photos (after driving my friend Anri-Louise home) just down the road from where I used to live - where the night scene is a vibrant one, and where the urine smell is a strong one ...

What a story - the scavenging dog, the old lady filling a bottle and the customers waiting for their road-side stall food...

Now that's a bar! Drive through, park, sit ... You choose

But, to be honest, I prefer Anri-Louise's night-time homeward-bound photos.

Out of words this Wednesday

This post is originally from my active blog over at Rambling with a cantankerous old mule.

I'm out of words this Wednesday and oh so irritated with the lethargic Internet, which leaves me defaulting to a semi "Wordless Wednesday" post. (As usual, they are probably better bigger... Just click on the individual photos.)

Stormy skies over Tana at night

A scene across the marsh-land from where I'm staying

A Grade 2 in a warm Malagasy winter

The second lyn singing the school song with all the other junior school children

Second-eldest Midgley: Boy in a box

There should be a law against this

Click on the picture to see the fine print

This post was originally published over at my other blog, but I thought it was appropriate to leave a copy here too...

I was chuckling at this sign at the airport here in Tana (Antananarivo, Madagascar) yesterday afternoon while waiting what seemed an interminably long time for the harried check-in staff to open the counters.

Firstly, the introductory sentence: “Any infringement of these formalities is liable to prosecution and sanction in accordance with legal provisions into force.” I’ve lived abroad for so long I’m not even sure if that’s correct English! Is it? I don’t think so…

I also loved this line: “Transportation of species of fauna and flora threatened of extinction without authorisation.” Sounds like a good Google translation to me. So, plants are not authorised to become extinct? Or does it mean that one cannot export plants where authority has not been given to make them extinct. Oh, it’s all so confusing.

Clearly drug trafficking isn’t too serious an offence on this island of lemurs, incurring a mere fine of between $1 and $500 dollars and, lest one missed it, “work forces for a time”. And that’s only for “high risk drugs”… Any other drugs would be fine to traffic, it seems. And what is a high risk drug? Would cough syrup qualify? I’ve heard of people developing severe addictions to cough syrup. I’m just pleased they didn’t nab me with all the medication I have for my chest problems.

We were also wondering whether marijuana would fit into the fauna and flora category – that carries a $50,000 to $100,000 fine and/or imprisonment from 2 to 10 years. That would be one expensive joint, if caught!

I’d love to know how they came up with the monetary values on the sign. I mean, when it comes to trading in animals and animal products how do they get fines of between $72 and $1620 … Why not just round up or down? Oh, and what is “animals food”? Should that read animal’s food, animals’ food, or food made from animals? Whichever way I look at this one, I have a problem with it. "Animals food" ... I just can't wrap my brain around it.

I definitely wouldn’t want to be caught transporting “armaments of 2nd or 3rd categories without authorization” which carries a $20 fine (or 6 months in prison)… Six months or $20? Man, I’d pay the $20, especially after what I’ve heard about the conditions in Malagasy prisons…

Weird rides

I have often mentioned the varied and bizarre modes of transport one finds in Madagascar - from the antique Citroën 2CVs and Renault 4s, to the ox carts, to the bicycles with more passengers than what they were designed for, and to the modern luxury vehicles. Here are just a couple of pics I snapped while out on the road - either on my motorbike, my bicycle or while driving a car (therefore not great pics). And I've seen many more bizarre things that I haven't had the time to photograph. All of these photos, bar the one of the two ladies in the rice paddies, were taken on the main road to the airport here in Tana. Yes, the main road. This incongruous mix of wheels invariably causes unamusing snarl-ups. The Malagasies have a saying, "slowly, slowly." You can see why..

A half-Century flashback to France - two Citroën 2CVs ...

Need wheels? No problem. (The photo would have been perfect if the car had someone behind the wheel too...)

Zebu cart with its old, experienced driver.

It's the end of the month and time to move house. This cart would cost one between $1 and $2.50 to hire with the "driver".

A similar cart, with similar prices, except that it doesn't take as much (no matter how hard one tries.)

Three siblings on their way home from school (and yes, this one too is on the main road to the airport.)

Motorbike breaks down? Just strap it to a taxi's roof. Who cares about the taxi's brakes, shocks and suspension?!?

Transporting geese. The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals would not approve.

No transport? Our heads will do just fine.

Some of the neighbours

Yesterday I wrote about a little walk I took in the neighbourhood where I'm housesitting. I showed a few shots of some of the "things" in the area - homes, churches, landscape etc. Here are some of the people I met (there are quite a few pics, not all of which are brilliant pieces of photography, but I couldn't decide which ones to leave out!) I'm sure I don't need to tell you that if you click on the pics you'll get bigger, better versions...

Two boys on their way home from school for lunch.
They'll return to school for around two hours' lessons later in the afternoon.

Two little children with an old truck tyre as a play-ring.

A young school girl we came across. She had the sweetest nature.

A side-of-the-road welder. He was welding a cart, a door and security bars for windows
- all just where people were walking. (Now that's walk-by clientele.)
I love the "welder's goggles" - a cheap pair of sunglasses.

A typical old Malagasy man - life etched in his face.

The lady running the local "canteen" - also at the side of the road
- just outside one of the local high schools.

Girl in the cosmos... I love these flowers.
And suddenly she popped up in their midst, beaming!

One of the slightly more "formal" canteens which serves
pretty much anyone who bothers to stop ... Samoosas,
Crepes, bread and the ever-present rice dishes.

And finally... the little girl sitting on the doorstep
to her house eating a delicious, succulent "mielie"

A walk to meet the neighbours

I had been sick in bed for about five days, was booked off school for the week and was just starting to feel human again on Friday, and so I took a little stroll around my temporary community at lunch time (admittedly not the perfect time for taking photos). Here are some of the photos of landscapes, buildings and other "things" I came across. Pics of people will follow tomorrow...

A church. On an opposite hill. I love the ruins to the left. They speak of decay and rebuilding.

A home. Detail in the bricks, the windows. Typical.

A tomb. Another sight seen throughout Tana - some well maintained, others overgrown.
But one thing that is common to most tombs is that they are on prime land -
the Malagasies to a large extent honour the dead much higher than the living. Tragic.

A front door. Yes, true, someone's front door, with their address scrawled across the top portion.

As much as I love the architecture of this land, I suspect I will enjoy posting the photos of the people tomorrow much more. I just love people-pictures - with the depth of life told in their faces, their eyes and (in the elderly) many years of deep-etched lines...

A scene to end the day

I was riding home at the end of the day on the beautiful old beast... I snapped a pic left and one right... Tana can be beautiful in the right light. But then so can anything - it's how you choose to look at it!

Away from the sunset, lone fisherman

Taxi Be crossing between the lakes

Linking to:
Read my feeds weekend

Potholed!

The taxi driver changing a tyre mid-route - one of the hazards of driving Tana's roads

I was suffering from quite a high fever on Monday as I rode to the Seventh Day Adventist Clinic across town to see the specialist in tropical diseases, but I still couldn't help but notice how fast Tana is going backwards. And it's all reflected in the state of its roads. Potholes are now as plentiful as roadside vendors in this town - nothing like when I first arrived and saw regular work being done throughout the town. And it's not only evident in the minor roads (many of which are not tarred anyway), but I was astounded to see them in the upmarket suburbs - the suburbs of diplomats, politicians and the rich and famous. 

In self-same suburbs young men stand next to badly filled holes (it seems with garden refuse mixed with mud), hat in hand, asking motorists to reward them for their good deeds. And the guards at the Prime Minister's residence look on.

Marc Ravalomanana, the previous president, was accused of pursuing his own interests while in power; he negotiated with a South Korean company to lease them large tracts of unused land to grow food for export (Malagasies worship their land, which riled many); and he bought a second-hand airplane for his many official government trips abroad (and business trips, as alleged by his overthrower), all of which were cited as reasons for the coup d'etat. I don't doubt that Ravalomanana was not perfect and contributed towards his own downfall by pursuing his business interests while president of the nation, but this was also a leader who expanded the national parks and other protected areas, banned the export of endangered woods, clamped down on corruption in government and poured millions into basic infrastructure, like roads.

One can only pray, for the sake of the nation and its increasingly impoverished people, that the politicians stop their bickering, mudslinging and selfishness and realise why they are there - to serve their people. Until then, Madagascar will keep sliding ever-closer to the bottom of the refuse pit of the world - with all its unique natural resources squandered, having been sold to the highest bidder. 

One of the many types of chameleons one finds in Madagascar. But how long will they and other unique species last,  what with their natural habitats being devastated for the politicians' gain?  Photo: Len de Beer