After I had a fun, lovely wholesome 9 days hanging out with family and dragging my parents and aunty & uncle to every op shop we could get to, I managed to find some some great second-hand gear perfect for hiking. My favourites were my oversized Helly Hansen Hoodie for $5 and my Foxfire lightweight hiking pants which were EXACTLY MY SIZE! I guess that’s why I like op shopping in Japan, the length of pants actually fit me and I don’t need to hem them like everything I find in Australia (unless they’re 3/4 pants or children’s). Aaaanyways, I found all the things I needed, included a second-hand North Face Terra 65L backpack for about $70AUD which was perfect for me to take to camp so I didn’t have to cart my giant suitcase. Fortunately, Emirates allows 2 x checked in luggage at 23kg each so for this trip, I needed it. Oh and I got a new pair of binoculars (Nikon Sportstar 8×25) which is compact, lightweight and has a decent zoom for spotting wildlife.
So my flight was from Haneda International Airport which was lucky since it’s only a 30 minute drive from my place in Tokyo. If I had to cart my 2 x checked in luggage plus my carry-on to Narita, I would have failed. My uncle was home so he kindly drove me to the airport and my parents waved me off like it was my first day of school haha.
My first flight was to Dubai, it was a long flight but since it was such a late one (12:05am) – I slept a bit so it went pretty quick. I always try and change my body clock to the timezone on the flight so I did try and stay up and watch a few movies before I actually went to sleep. 2.5hr stopover in Dubai, but really it flew, by the time I got off the plane, went through security, grabbed a bite to eat then found my gate. They also then started letting people into the gate area like 30 mins before so it was a pretty quick transition. So if you also have a stopover in Dubai, make sure you keep an eye on the time! Don’t get drawn into all the duty-free shops haha.
Next flight was my Dubai – Antananarivo flight with a stop in Seychelles, which the view was amazing! We weren’t allowed to get off the flight so the stopover is on the flight while the cabin crew changed, and the cleaners and meal people came on board to clean and re-stock. The poor flight attendants kept telling everyone to stay in their seats but there were a few people who just felt like these rules didn’t apply to them and wandered around, one man went onto the landing for where the meals get delivered and go into trouble. The cleaners are like trying to vacuum and clean and all these people are just walking around and getting in their way. It was ridiculous!!
Next and last flight to Antananarivo! Make sure you have contact details for the people / place you’re staying so you can add it onto your disembarkation card. I forgot and did not know Debra’s address. Luckily my Emirates flight had free wifi (just for text if you’re a frequent flyer) and managed to text both Debra and her husband and got the address. Phew!
It was only a short flight to Antananarivo and once we landed, it was a quick process getting through immigration (although according to Debra this is the quickest anyone has got through). Gotta make sure you have some EURO or USD on you as you have to pay visa money on arrival. For me it was $10USD as my visit was under 15 days. Then you hand your visa document to the police officer, who then stamps your passport and puts in the visa sticker, then you go to another policer officer who then checks that off and stamps that also, then you have to show another police officer your passport with the visa, THEN you can go through to baggage claim. I can definitely see it being a bit of a disaster if it’s busy though! I said ‘Salama’ (hello in Malagasy) to each person I met and they loved it, then I would say ‘Misatra’ (Thank you) and they would correct my pronunciation – they were all so friendly and smiley, it wasn’t an intimidating environment at all which was great. The Visa sticker police man asked me if it’s my first time, and then said Welcome to Madagascar! It was just so nice cos I was a little bit anxious about getting my visa and going through immigration, now I actually will have a fond memory of my immigration experience hahaha
Got my bags off the carousel, then went to go to put my bags in the customs scanner, but then the man just waved me through, so I was OUT! Found Debra straight away cos she’s tall haha
We then jumped in the car and Debra’s driver Olivier drove us to get my FIRST MADAGASCAR MEAL – PIZZA hahaha it was mother’s day so it was Debra’s pizza dinner! Tomorrow I will actually eat native food – I have no idea what it’ll be, I’m very excited!
It is now 8:30pm (Madagascar) which is 3:30am (Brisbane) and after 23 hours transit, a good feed and a nice hot shower, I am EXHAUSTED! Hopefully I am still invincible to jetlag and will get a good night sleep ready to head off to our field site in the morning! La Mananara here we come!
