Life at this camp is a little more relaxed than at Mandrare River Camp. After breakfast, we walked down to the “marina” which is on a mouth of the river where the resort keeps their boats. Here are some pictures.
Then we came back to the villa and relaxed and blogged. While at lunch, we noticed friends, Karen and Dave, from Mandrare River Camp had just arrived. We didn’t know they were coming. I went over to say hello. They were scheduled to go to another camp with tree houses, but the camp canceled on them. I believe someone wanted to book the whole camp so they said yes to them and canceled all the existing bookings. Anyway we are happy they are with us. We arranged to have dinner with them.
At lunch there were sifakas in the trees right on the dining area deck. There seem to be a couple of troupes that live right in the resort. I actually got a picture of one of them jumping. The coquerel sifakas jump foward, while the sifakas we saw down south jump sideways and the ring tailed lemurs just walk on all 4 legs, how boring. I watched the coquerel sifakas eat. They hold on with their feet and then grab a branch and bring it to their mouths.
After lunch we had scheduled at trip to the local village where they build boats. We have seen several small sailing boats off the beach fishing. Yesterday when we were out for a walk several villagers passed us carrying a large yellow fin tuna which they were bring it to the resort to sell. We took a short ride to the marina and then a boat across the mouth of the river to the village. There was a small boat just coming in and they showed us the fish they had caught.
The village looked deserted. I asked our guide and he said people were at their gardens or out fishing. It had a very different feel from the villages in the south where the houses were really just for sleeping and they lived outside. In the south we were swarmed when we entered a village, particularily by the kids. In this village we saw one lady with her 4 month old baby inside the fence of her yard. The houses are much bigger. There is no cooking house and no grainary for storing food. They store food and cook in their house. They decorate the outside of the house with plants.
Our guide showed us the partially built boats. They are all hand made, including hewing and planing the boards they use with hand tools. It typically takes them about 4 months to complete the project.
We also saw the school and one room medical center, but it was Sunday, so both were closed. There is no church and the people practice animism. They had built a fence around a tree which was supposed to be a protected area for the spirits to reside.
On the way back to the camp, I asked our guide what he did during Covid. Turned out he worked for an Amazon contracted call center. He said it was quite challenging but he enjoyed it. However, now that tourism is returning, he is quite happy to be back working as a guide. He is married and his wife and newborn baby, that he hasn’t met, are living in Tana. That must be challenging.
We returned to the resort and that evening has a very enjoyable dinner with Karen and Dave.
