Had a good trip back to Tana in light rain with no mishaps.
Spent time catching up with family emails, and laundry and meeting new people in the guesthouse. This is always a good time to trade information.
When John was researching flights to Madagascar he noticed that they were offering 50% discount on internal flights if you purchased a flight with Air Madagascar to get to the island. We decided to fly from Tana to the south and work our way back to Tana overland using public transport.
Our flight was in the evening and we were able to contact the shuttle bus driver and were picked up at the door. I don't think they will make any money from the shuttle as there were only two other people on the bus to the airport. It was nice to travel the same route back in daylight and sunshine and with little traffic on the road we were early for our flight. We could see the rice paddies close to the city. Some had rice ready to harvest while other fields were being hoed ready for planting.
Sometimes I have to stop and think where I am as so many of the locals look Malaysian or Indonesian with their high cheek bones and women with long straight hair. When we hear local music it sounds Polynesian with its harmonies and even when accompanied by drums it doesn't sound African to my ear. The language looks Polynesian with its vowel and consonant mixes. About 1500 or 2000 years ago the first Indo-Malayan settlers arrived on this uninhabited island in their boats. They introduced terraced rice paddies to the island, as well as other Asian food crops. Cassava is as popular as rice. In the 9th century the Hindu-Sumatran empire of Srivijaya ran much of the sea trade in the Indian Ocean and so it is a place that doesn't look African as such.
Once we had got our gear sorted we took a flight to Tulear (aka Toliara).
