Mahajanga to Terres Blanches, Madagascar 8 - 10 Apr 08

Jacky Cauvin's Paradise

This time there was no problem with getting transport to Mahajanga. We went in the comfortable, air-conditioned mini-bus of Ankarafantsika park. At Mahajanga our driver made a little detour to show us the ‘famous’ 800-year-old baobab tree.
At the airport, we met Jacky Cauvin, who was in town with his Rallye airplane for shopping. He departed half an hour before us and as we had agreed that the ups and downs of the airstrip of Lodge des Terres Blanches were a bit too much for our dear Honeymooney, we did a high-speed low pass over the Terres Blanches airstrip 12 NM before landing at the smoother strip for Anjajavy.

Jacky then took off and flew to Anjajavy to pick us up in his Rallye, which, thanks to its high drag and lower approach speed, is much better suited to the strip at Lodge des Terres Blanches. He landed less than 10 minutes after us in Anjajavy, and flew us in his Rallye aircraft to Terres Blanches. There we met Jacky's wife Claudine, their 4-year-old daughter Sandy Anne and the managers Alain and Alicia. Then it was time for an apéro and a delicious lunch. Jacky was born in Madagascar and has lived most of his life here. He had a huge concession of land by the sea which stretched as far as Anjajavy. Together with his father, he planted coconut palms there in the 1960’s and in 1995 built his first lodge there. Later he sold the concession at Anjajavy to a Frenchman, Dominique Prat, and dismantled his lodge and bungalows there and transferred them to Terres Blanches. Jacky is a bon vivant and great raconteur with many fascinating tales not only of Madagascar but also of his 11 years of adventures by sailboat all over the world.

In the afternoon we watched sifakas in the trees near our bungalow and went snorkelling. Angela was luckier than Flemming this time and saw a puffer fish and a couple of turtles.