October 2001  February 2002   Past   Present

Snapping shots

Sorry, no more photos for the time beeing. At least, until we find a solution to load our photos on our new portable. The reason is simple. We were using the "old" portable (that we haven't got anymore) with a serial port to load our photos from our old digital camera. Our new portable (Mac G3) is too sophisticated to load them. We hope to find a solution soon. Why don't we have it anymore? Because "Minuit" was broken in on December 22, 2 short days before Christmas. We were anchored in front of the beach of Ambatouloaka, south-west of Nosy Be ( the most touristy island of Madagascar). At the end of the day, we went to a tiny restaurant near the beach and that's when they decided to step on the boat. They broke the door and stole: - the old portable computer (luckily, the new one was hidden), - the outboard engine (we did put it inside the boat before we left to paddle to the beach). - the dish of a brand new radar (they will not be in a position to sell it since they didn't take the cable, nor the display). - the guitar, - the scuba-diving fishing gun. - a scuba-diving mask, - solar glasses (with prescription lenses, so they will not be able to sell them either). We are disappointed and we feel bitter since we spent 7 months in total in Madagascar and praised it so much. In 1999, the national sport was the stealing of outboard engines. The "yachties" could easily go round the problem by pulling the dinghy up at the back of the boat or putting the engine inside when they wanted to go out in the evening. They only needed to paddle to the shore because they don't steal dinghies. In the last 4 months of the year 2001 (the new mullenium...), the thefts went up and reached another scale. The robbers seem to be organised in gangs and they don't hesitate to break in boats to steal anything (or everything) inside. Our South-African friend got his cooker and all power-tools stolen. Another one, his 2 engines, a generating unit and his diving equipment. They even break in boats which have been in Madagascar for more than 10 years, like 'Aysling of Sark". They stole all the audio-visual equipment, including all CDs and the digital camera, and, this, during the day. They even break in houses. Litchio, an italian who works as a carpenter in Hell-Ville got his house broken in 11 times. European residents are also saying that it got from bad to worth. Nosy Be has gotten more touristy with the years, bringing in a growing numbers of thieves. They are out of control of the police which is disorganised, badly paid and inefficient. We unfortunately experienced it, even offering ransoms to the public and the police itself to find the track of our material. Moreover, the bad economic situation, the political unrest, the briberies and the exponential growth of the population make things even more complicated. Too many youngsters in the streets, too many unemployed fathers, too many children to feed. The situation is getting worth with the years. Our recommendation is simple: avoid all touristy places, especially Nosy Be and all major towns. We were very pleased to discover the "real" Madagascar back in 1999 but, after this, we will probably never come back. We left the country with a tarnished memory notwithstanding the beauty or wilderness of the "big island". We obviously reviewed the rates given to Madgascar in our classification.

October 2001   February 2002   Past   Present