Madagascar: Vanilla, Le Vacoa, and more

Le Vacoa Beach, Madagascar

Madagascar showed some of the beautiful beaches, and also flora and fauna that I definitely did not expect here. Most people would at least know that the fine vanilla comes from here - at least that's what I would be using at home. But the actual vanilla plants are not seen around normally, here's a sneak peak.

Vanilla plant in the wild

Apart from the vanilla, there are the cinnamon trees. The bark is harvested, dried and ground (or sold whole) to bring the spice you are so used to in your cinnamon buns. You can scratch off a little bark and smell for yourself. In fact, the green leaves also have a great cinnamon smell, more fresh and vibrant.

And there is the third spice - the clove. For some reason, I thought cloves grew just like they were, brown and dry. They definitely don't! They are red and fleshy. Here is the tree and a fresh clove, smelling absolutely lovely.

This is a fresh clove!

There are enough plants here to make a full table of desserts. But as I understood, they are not very readily used in the local kitchen as these plants are not native to Madagascar. But luckily, they are a major export which is great.

The Iviloina park is all about preserving lemurs and other species, but also beautiful surroundings and nature.

The native species are very special but sometimes endangered. When it comes to endangered animals, some were colonially overhunted and some are just being hunted for food. When many people struggle with finding a sustainable income, this kind of thing can happen. When your kids are hungry you may shift your focus from preserving nature to harvesting what's there. At the preservation center I visited, they made a point about protecting the animals and the historical and socioeconomical reasons for why that has to be done.

A snake in a preservation center

Another place I've explored was the village of Le Vacoa. There is a resort there, but on the way there you will pass a small village. It's of course exciting to see how people live outside big cities. The small houses were sometimes very decorative, but I can imagine that a cyclone does huge damage here. It was however not possible to stop and meet the people out of time constraints and also the integrity - it is not their job to show and explain to a tourist what they do and how they live. A few environment photos to show the small streets though, that can be done.

Local traffic peculiarities

More local traffic peculiarities. A lot of Zebu!

I did spend a couple hours on the Le Vacoa resort and can highly recommend it. There is a decent restaurant, some shacks with sunchairs, and a vibe of absolute chillax. Nobody at the beach except us. It's about an hour (depending on ride, weather and traffic) away from Toamasina, and it's worth the time. The last stretch is best done near the sea.

A conversation is best had when watching the waves and clouds.

Possible rainshowers in the afternoon. That's OK. We were so lucky to get sun at all, and very surprised at the dry day during the wet season.

Small palm shacks in the shade by the beach

The currents may be turbulent and one has to be extremely cautious of the rip tides.

Made for chillaxing

Not a person at the beach

Sun chairs with the sea view, and palm roof again both sun rays and rain.

The waves and the tide had me stay on the sand. There was just too strong currents in the water and it's just as good to dip the feet. Would I stay here longer, it would be possible to time the current.