Oh my goodness I can't believe how long it is since I have put up a blog! Sorry to my faithful readers (especially YT!).
So what has been happening? Well to be honest, not a huge amount of any world significance here in Fort Dauphin - although if you follow media headlines you would think that it was chaos over here. All I can say is that I am now feeling officially cheesed off by politics and especially politicians! They seem incapable of realising (or should that be caring?) what their squabble over the Presidency and hence the loss of international aid and support is doing to Madagascar.
For those in the Anglophone world who may have missed it - in May there was unfortunately another incident in Antananarivo (the capital) - a small break away group of police were suppressed with force by the army. I think that the police were complaining about corruption within their ranks, although their reasons were not widely reported (unsurprisingly). This lead to headlines on the BBC of 'Gun battles in Madagascar'. You can have a read at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/africa/10130758.stm. The incident, although really minor in the grand scheme of things, has seriously affected tourism again and hence is another blow to Fort Dauphin and normal people here in sleepy southern Madagascar. The few tourists that were arriving have now dwindled to just a trickle. So many local people are now out of work that the whole town's economy seems to be slowly grinding to a halt which is really sad to witness...
So what are Fort Dauphin's locals doing - fighting, demonstrating??? Not a bit here!! Other than grumbling to each other a bit, people just get on with life as best they can. The council arranged some fun events in the run up to the 26 June to celebrate 50 years since Madagascar became independent from France (including a surf competition arranged by us, supported by the council, Azafady's Mampisina project and Mark from Straing who all gave some great prizes - thank you!). Even on the 26th itself lots of people were out having a happy time, but noticeably few of them had any money to spend. The Kermaisse (the bars & stalls that pop up each year at this time) was only half the size of last year. Poverty I am seeing, yes, but have I seen anything that would worry me for my safety? no!
Now I love the wonderful Gasy trait that they would rather talk than fight. I just wish that the international media (and embassies to some extent) would look outside the capital Antananarivo and stop making the whole of Madagascar sound quite so dangerous! This is simply putting off the tourists, that places like Fort Dauphin rely on, from visiting Madagascar at all ... which ultimately makes things far worse for poor people in rural and coastal areas who are now really suffering the impact of the lack of trade & aid, a whole lot more than people in the capital ever will.
The plan at the moment (although dates may well be postponed again!) is a constitutional referendum on 12 August, parliamentary elections on 30 September and presidential elections on 26 November... but these are currently being organised without international observers or support so I don't know if these will help stabilize the country or simply give the ruling classes yet more to squabble over. Most normal people don't really care who is the President, they just want stability so they can get on with their lives without politics making things even harder for them.
Advice and a small plug as Surf Born Naked would love a bit more business to come this way too!
Trust me, it is still absolutely fine to visit southern Madagascar! Take a few sensible precautions as you pass through Antananarivo (in the same way that you would if you were visiting London or any large city) - the airport is a 40 minutes drive outside the city so you don't even have to visit there, stay near the airport and fly south asap! If you want to visit Antananarivo or any other city - just avoid crowds, don't flash your cash or belongings, have a good guide and don't travel at night or on your own.
I recently chatted to a couple who were here on their honeymoon, they have had a wonderful time - they have had the pick of the waves, beaches to themselves and the choice of accommodation. The only impact the politics has had on their holiday was that their internal Air Madagascar flights were delayed a bit... This is the land of 'mora mora' (slowly slowly) so just program into your trip some flexibility and all will be fine!
Come over - this is the Great Red Island, the 8th continent of the world, the countryside spectacular, the beaches are beautiful and the waves will take your breath away... and at the moment you will have it pretty much all to yourself - now how's about that for an offer!!
