But of all the highlights and diverse challenges I faced in 2011, my time in the remote pirate isles of Madagascar stands out most vividly.
We set out in high hopes of finding ourselves a “real” African adventure; no frills and savagely down to earth. Think ‘Lord of The Flies’ but with tents, cameras and surfboards. Shortly after arrival, it seemed Madagascar was intent on giving us exactly what we had asked for, and the saying: “Be careful what you wish for”, was truer than it had ever been for me.
To get to this remote part of Madagascar we were targeting, it required a mammoth pre-project journey, utilising every form of transport available; planes, rusty cars, motorbikes, a gruelling speedboat crossing, and finally ending with a 3-day, post-cyclonic sea battle. And through it all, I was a mere shadow of my usual self, combating an entirely different obstacle, one only I could fully appreciate. Lying in silent agony on an open-decked boat for 2 days, my only thoughts were of survival, and when the next wave of nausea and diarrhoea would present itself. I quickly become accustomed to both port rail and the stern stepladder of our boat ‘Tuna’, and managed not to fall overboard during those rough days at sea. Somewhere along the line, I obviously picked up some hideous bug that my body did its best to eradicate from within.
Try as we might, nature truly is an unpredictable, and unpreventable force.
AvG
Keep The Faith, Live The Dream