After a leisurely breakfast, I joined a few fellow travellers for a little excursion up the coast. We decided to hire some pousse-pousses to take us to Madiorano, a small hamlet about 7 km further up the coast. We had expected a fairly flat route and an easy ride – and for us passengers, it actually was. The seemingly endless succession of ups and downs was a rather different story for the cyclist – and the other person pushing from behind. In the end it took us a good 40 minutes to get there. Not quite the quick trip we had anticipated!

From Madiorano, we continued on foot towards the beach and Ambolimailaka, home to a small fishing “port” – essentially a few pirogues pulled up on the beach. The closer we got, the more children came up to us, asking for gifts. What started as a few encounters gradually became rather overwhelming, and eventually we decided that we’d had  enough and turned around and headed back for the hotel.