Exploring Africa’s ‘Most Primitive’ Country: Monkey Bread Trees and Ring-Tailed Lemurs

The original Madagascar, here with no water or electricity

Madagascar is one of the 'least developed countries' in the world. The country's only main road is bumpy and uneven, leaving weary travelers with a sense of fatigue; mobile communications are mostly ineffective, with occasional messages; 80% of the land remains unexplored, which is a mysterious land for the world. However, here, 80% of the species can be seen worldwide; in the rural countryside, the wild grasses lie scattered with pink crystals; ancient lemurs roam among the branches of the rainforest; the age of the monkey bread trees stands upright in the sunset wilderness; the red earth carves out the ancient landform of millions of years ago, witnessed by stone trees and shellfish fossils, silently witnessing all the ancient times. It has many names, Golden Island, the fourth largest island in the world, the last Noah's Ark, a forgotten island of time…

From Mauritius, I flew to the capital of Madagascar, Antananarivo. It's a magical country, and there are very few tourists coming to visit.

Upon arriving on the first day, I contacted a local driver to take me from Antananarivo to Morondava, a distance of 300km, which took nearly 12 hours. The entire journey was on dirt roads, and the further I went, the more primitive it became.

There is no water and no electricity, and there is no modern civilization. They still maintain this long-standing lifestyle, living by the sea so they won't starve; they have many fish and seafood to eat.

The children here are very innocent, I brought many candies to give them, and they really like to eat candy. Their clothes are very dirty, and the sizes are very large and tattered. But everyone is happy.

Perhaps happiness is a remedy, even if they lack many material things. But they are living a more carefree life than most people.

In addition, I also went to look for lemurs, this special species has lived here for a long time.

Each lemur seems very interested in me, staring at me blankly.

The only way to lure them out is to pour a little water on the ground in a bottle, and the sound of water will gather them to drink,

In Morondava there are many monkey bread trees, monkey bread trees have many varieties, such as this one, you can only see this kind in Morondava; they can live for hundreds or thousands of years,

Like the guardians of the earth, they have always guarded this magical land. In Madagascar, in such a remote country. In a world with extreme water scarcity, these trees can still survive and grow so strongly,

Monkey bread tree avenue, sunset. It's like being in a painting or a movie scene, like entering a painting as beautiful as I am,

Extreme drought has caused Madagascar to be severely water-scarce. Collecting water is the only fun for the children. Thin figures, carrying a large bucket of water, which makes people feel sorry for them. They can't go to school, and they can't live in luxury,

I saw them carrying many large buckets, walking to the first water point, blowing for a long time without water coming out, only to discover that this water point is timed supply,

After a long detour, I finally found water here. They were very happy and finally found a water source. In Madagascar, most water points are built by Chinese aid, and Chinese people will come here to dig wells,

Not only boys but also girls come to collect water. The weak little girl can't even lift this large bucket of water, so she can only move slowly step by step,

It seems to be a very arduous journey. Perhaps everyone is unfair, perhaps this is just life,

I was overjoyed, I thanked nature for this beautiful scenery and for nurturing so many people,

The little girl took her brother to drink water, but there was no water coming out for a long time, even in this place, water is a luxury,

A large area of monkey bread trees are neatly lined up, sunset reflects their silhouettes. I often think that the poorest places have the most beautiful scenery. There is no smog, no traffic, here there are only original plants and the most original sky,

The sunset dyes the sky red all over, and it casts its last rays of light, and the monkey bread tree is most beautiful at this time,

From Morondava back to Antananarivo is also the same, took 12 hours in the car, which made me want to vomit,

I came to the Madagascar chameleon conservation park, you can see many lizards and various small animals here, it's very interesting,

The chameleons twist and turn in the trees, waiting for the prey to fly past them,

The little red frogs are very cute, jumping around on the ground, almost stepped on by me. Don't look at it as a small body, he is a national symbol protected animal,

Chameleons are indeed really able to change color, very good at camouflage themselves,

Of course you can also put them on your hands, which looks scary, but it doesn't matter. They will not harm humans,

In addition to chameleons, I love this side's lemurs, although everyone knows the Julian king in 'Madagascar' . The ring-tailed lemur is particularly famous,

There are dozens of species of lemurs living in Madagascar, each one is very cute,

It looks like a monkey and a fox. And it's not afraid of people, it will jump on your body, it really likes to eat bananas, each one is fluffy,

And each lemur will jump on your shoulders, in your hands, it's super cute, it makes people completely dumbfounded,

About accommodation, tourism in Madagascar has not been fully developed, there are not many hotels to choose from, and it has not been added to the international star rating system. There are only two local five-star hotels on the whole island, which are built by Chinese people. For people who are used to living in cities, it's a more interesting experience. Experience a different rural life,

About transportation 1. Antananarivo is the transportation hub of Madagascar, flights and buses all start from here. 2. Air transportation: Madagascar Airlines is the only airline on the island, but it is often unreliable, with a history of temporary flight cancellations and changes in departure times. 3. Road transport: Madagascar roads are very poor, there is only one road in the country, which is bumpy and uneven. For the same distance, the driving time is usually twice or three times that of domestic driving. If you suffer from motion sickness, please bring motion sickness medicine. 4. From Antananarivo to Morondava, you can choose to fly or hire a car/bus. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages, if you can endure it, you can experience both ways. Hiring a car to travel is painful, but it can give you the opportunity to understand the remote villages more deeply.