I'm now back in a sunny but cold (or colder than Madagascar anyway!) England. Unfortunately due to a family illness I had to cut my trip short and come home early. This meant that I was unable to go back to Uganda, which I am very sad about, but I will hopefully be going back in December (by using the excuse that I am writing my thesis on Uganda and need to go back to do research!)
My last few weeks after finishing placement were an exciting few though! I first flew to La Reunion which is BEAUTIFUL! I found it like a miniature France but better! While there I managed to go hiking and paragliding in the short time I had, both of which were amazing, and I also managed to get a free night staying in the poshest hotel I've ever been to in Mauritius due to a cancelled flight- I wasn't complaining though!
Once back in Madagascar, I travelled back down to Fianarantsoa, where the house I've been renting is- not the best journey, hitting a cow on the road about 100km in, resulting in the 10 hour journey turning into a 21 hour journey and not arriving 'home' until 5 in the morning!!! Atleast I managed to make it back though and no one was hurt, and I can add the story to my long list of exciting taxi-brousse adventures!
Once back in Fianar, I choose to go to Andringitra National Park- one of the best national parks in Madagascar due to its stunning beauty and relatively small number of tourists due to accessability issues. Andringitra is set in the mountains south of Fianarantsoa and Ambalavao and I spent 3 days hiking there, making it to the top of Pic Boby, Madagascar's second highest peak and also its highest most accessbile at 2658m!! The walk was incredibly difficult and painful due to my walking boots being a tad too small (I still have the blisters!) and there were many points where I easily could have given up but I persevered and I am extremely proud of myself for making it! On the second day when we climbed to the top of the peak, we started walking at 7 in the morning, reaching the peak and back in 3 hours, after which we walked another 20km to the other side of the valley- I was so exhausted by the end of it but so happy at what I had achieved!
After Andringitra I spent a few days back in Fianar recuperating and seeing friends for the last time, before travelling to Tana where I spent 4 days and met a number of different tourists and people visiting Madagascar for work- it was really lovely to be able to hang out with these people and to exchange stories, and my taxi-brousse journeys provided a lot of entertainment!
I left Madagascar on Tuesday, flying to South Africa and then to the UK- I was shocked at just how sad I was to be leaving Madagascar, these past 3 months have truly been amazing and I've had some amazing experiences and met some life long friends. My placement has also taught me so much and I am so glad to have taken the opportunity to go there.
Something which really pleasantly surprised me during my time away has been the genuine kindness of some people, which I have felt wherever I have travelled in Madagascar- from a small act of giving me some food when our taxi-brousse has crashed and we're waiting for a replacement, to offering me a lift free of charge when I'm stranded! I'll never forget all those acts of kindness and my experience in Madagascar in general, I will definitely be going back as soon as I can!
