Madagascar, Land of Rice Paddies and Lemurs

On December 3rd we went to Antananarivo, Madagascar to train  new Humanitarian missionaries, Ron and Martha Tanner.  They are replacing Elder and Sister Asay.  The Tanners, from Alberta Canada, have previously served an MLS mission in Ethiopia so their adjustment to Madagascar hasn't been as hard as for other couples.  They knew what they were getting themselves into.  Karl and Margaret Blake went with us to observe and see how we train the new couples.

Madagascar used to be a French colony and French is still an official language although almost all of the people speak Malagasy.

Antananarivo, the capital, looks a lot more European than any city we've seen so far in Africa.  Since Madagascar achieved its independence in 1960 however, the buildings and infrastructure have really deteriorated.

Looking out over "Tana" from the mission office

The LDS Church is growing very rapidly in Madagascar.  There are now 2 stakes and 2 districts there.  There is one particularly large chapel there that's as big as a temple.  Lots of people have stories of how that building came to be, but we understand there is a lot of Church leadership that is not at all happy with it.

This large and spacious building seen from our hotel window is an LDS chapel

 We flew to "Tana" on Tuesday and stayed at the Carlton Hotel, which was a pretty nice hotel.  There were really not a lot of choices when it came to hotels we could stay in.

WORKING IN THE TANNERS' OFFICE

Our new missionary training is pretty intensive and takes at least 2 1/2 days.  We go through with the new couple, all the documents in their training manual, discussing with them, how to choose projects, how to manage them and how to take care of paying the bills for them.  We talk about hiring and paying their temporary employees such as translators, Site Monitors, etc.  

We also help them organize their office making sure they have all the supplies they need and that they know where to find all their project files, etc.  We also go over their computer, again making sure they have loaded, and know where to find everything on it they'll need. 

New missionary, Ron Tanner was a contractor and worked with water projects before he came.  He is outgoing and has a fun personality and will  make a lot of friends.  He spent 6 months learning Malagasy before entering the MTC, besides knowing French from a mission to France many years ago.  He likes to do magic tricks and likes to stop and play with the kids that we would pass on the sidewalk.

        

THE TANNER'S CHAPEL, MISSION HOME AND OFFICE

We have always scheduled our training trips for a bare minimum of 4 days because by the time we got back to the office, the work had piled up so badly that it took several 14-hour days to try to catch up, besides the inconvenience to our couples who were waiting for us to get things done.

A big load being pulled down the middle of the street.

Last month though, Walt had an epiphany.  He reasoned that we would probably never see most of these countries ever again.  Therefore we should take an extra 1 day to see and do something while we were there.

We therefore, scheduled a fifth day to be in Madagascar (Tuesday-Saturday).  And it was worth it!

This little boy was begging at my window until I showed him my camera

We decided to go to the Madagascar rain forest to see the lemurs.  Lemurs are small primates similar to monkeys but are not related to them.  Madagascar is the only place in the world where lemurs can be found.  There are many species of lemurs ranging from less than 1 pound up to 20 pounds.

Running through the capital, missionaries call this the 'Poo River' for a very good reason

  Stan and Rosalee Nance are also serving in Madagascar as Public Affairs missionaries.  Fifty years ago Stan and Walt were companions for a short time in the city of Charleroi, Belgium. They knew of a great place to go and made reservations for us six, at a beautiful place called Vakona Forest Lodge.

We left "Tana" on Thursday afternoon for a one-day outing in the Madagascar Rain Forest.

It was laundry day everywhere we went.  Clothes were washed in the river and laid out to dry.

The rain forest is about a three hour drive from Tana.  The traffic getting out of Tana was crazy and the roads leading to the rain forest were narrow and winding, forcing us to constantly pass large trucks in uncomfortable places.

This is a "Push Push" and they were everywhere in the outlying small towns

Stan Nance drove and was very good at getting through all of the traffic

The entrance to the grounds at Vakona Forest Lodge

  

We all had small private bungalows in this beautiful setting in the Madagascar Rain Forest

THE VAKONA FOREST LODGE

We all stayed in little bungalows in the middle of a beautiful forest

The plants, flowers and trees all around the Vakona Lodge were incredible; lots of things we had never seen before.

Lots of unusual trees and beautiful flowers

A whole tree-full of these gorgeous flowers

Bridge across a small stream to our Bungalow

A place of our own

This is the most wicked plant I've ever seen

This is called "Crown of Thorns"

This is called a "Traveler's Palm" because you can cut the fronds and get water

It was so peaceful and quiet there

  

Karl and Margaret Blake,  Stan and Rosalee Nance with Susan

 
Before getting to the rain forest, we stopped on the side of the road and bought two big bunches of bananas to give to the lemurs.  The two, 10 or 12 year old girls selling them, started out by asking $1.50 per bunch (over 100, very small bananas in each bunch).  When we gave them the full $3.00 "asking" price, the girls got huge smiles on their faces because they had scored so big from the silly white people.  Walt then gave them another couple of dollars and you would have thought they had died and gone to heaven.

LOTS OF BANANAS IN ONE BIG BUNCH

We cut the bananas off the stem and divided them up into plastic bags for each couple to carry.

  Different species of lemurs are found on little islands in this beautiful and lush forest. We rented canoes and a guide for a few hours to take us up a small river to the different islands where the lemurs are found.  Lemurs do not like the water, so even though the river is not very wide, the different species of lemurs do not cross the river and mix.  Consequently, each of the islands had only one or two species.

Up a lazy but incredibly beautiful river, in search of lemurs

Stan and Rosalee

At one of the islands there were signs posted saying:  "Careful, They Bite."  We were told not to stop there, but to take pictures and keep on moving.

THE GOLDEN LEMUR

On one of the islands we saw Golden Lemurs.  These are the largest lemurs found in this forest.  They were more shy than the others and we had a hard time enticing them to come near to us.

GOLDEN LEMUR JUMPING OUT OF A TREE, AFTER A BANANA

It doesn't get much prettier than this

This is also crocodile country

When we got to some of the islands we were told not to get out of the canoes but we could stop and take pictures.

A Ring-Tailed Lemur

On this island we found these "Ring Tailed Lemurs."  They were very friendly also and we stopped here but didn't get off the boats.

For some reason they liked the front of our canoe

These guys are so cute

At another one of the islands we got out of the canoes and "visited" with the lemurs.  These were unbelievably friendly and cuddly and would eat the bananas out of your hands.

Friendly little guys

SURROUNDED BY LEMURS

Ron Tanner bent over to take a picture and found a new friend

These two large black and white lemurs liked to hang upside-down while asking for a treat.

These lemurs will do anything for a banana

 Susan told everyone that she wasn’t going to carry any bananas because she didn’t want lemurs crawling all over her.  Ron Tanner was taking lots of pictures because he was making a slide show of our adventure together.  After we had been standing there for a few minutes and lemurs were crawling over everyone else, all of a sudden one of them jumped on Susan's back.  She let out a blood curdling scream that Ron did not get on video.  But within another minute he got his chance when another one jumped on her. 

Susan does NOT like little animals crawling on her.  She blames it on her children because of terrible things they did to her many years ago.  One day, as she was bent over in the refrigerator, Michael came in the back door and put a big rat on her back. While she was screaming, the rat crawled all over her before Michael took it off.  Another time Walt took the kids skiing and they came home with a vole (looks like a mouse).  They thought they should scare mom, and as they came in the house, they saw she was sitting in a rocking chair holding baby Rick.  Without saying a word, they placed it on her chest.  No words can describe!

As we were paddling around the islands, Margaret Blake dropped her little red camera into the river.  Not seeing any crocodiles nearby, she jumped in after it.  The camera never worked again after that, but at least she rescued her photo card and that's what really mattered.

A BRAVE MARGARET

Back at the Visitors' Center we saw lots of cool displays including this skin from a 20 foot Croc.

NOW THAT WAS ONE BIG CROCODILE!

We drove back to Antantanarivo ("Tana") Friday afternoon and did some more training with E/S Tanner.

All the rice is planted by hand

Working in the rice paddies

The countryside in Madagascar is beautiful

In several places we saw these huge piles of hand-made bricks.  The people know just how to stack them so they can be "fired."

These stacks are made with "built-in" chambers for wood so the bricks can be fired.  

                    If the bricks are not fired, they will disintegrate after a while from the rain water.

The wood goes here when they build a fire.

Once again we had a delightful time in another country.  We have loved learning about and visiting the countries in Africa.  We are very grateful to be on this mission and help the people here.

The Gleaves are in Africa

It is always wonderful to see our family come through these doors at OR Tambo International Airport.

Our living room was full of air mattresses, there were seven of us trying to have showers and we ran out of milk, but our flat was full of love and we loved every minute of it.

            We took them to ‘Neighbor Goods Market’ for breakfast Saturday, then got in the van and drove to Bela Bela, two hours to the north.  We went there to see and ride on the elephants at "Adventures with Elephants."

STILL SEVERELY JET-LAGGED

  Megan made a good pillow for Mallory and Matthew.  Oh wait! Maybe that's Mallory.  Natalie didn't find such a nice pillow.

                                                                    What a cute baby

  

OFF WE GO1

 Kevin had a hard time when he got on top of the elephant.  He said he pulled his groin muscle and was yelling at the guide that he was going to jump off.  It is a long stretch for the guys.

On Sunday a group of the girls in the ward stayed after and visited with Megan and Mallory.               We think maybe they would have rather talked to Matthew. 

  We left home at 3 o’clock and went to the Apartheid Museum.  We stayed until it closed, then stopped at the office to give them a little tour.  

            Monday morning Susan drove the Gleaves to the office so they could attend the weekly Devotional.  We squeezed 6 into our little Toyota Corolla.  Kevin and Susan in front and the other four in the back seat.  Walt had taken the van to the office early that morning because Susan didn't want to drive it.

            Looking out the window, we could see there were a lot of dark clouds in the sky.  On the internet the forecast was for rain, but we decided to take our chances and drive to Lesedi Village.

As soon as we arrived, our guide said we had to hurry because the 'rains were coming.'  He passed out umbrellas to everyone but we never had to use them.

KEVIN WITH WIFE NUMBER 2

Natalie (number 1 wife) had to give Kevin permission to take a second wife.  She said 'no' but he took her anyway.  I think it was because number 2 wife came with a darling little girl.

Kevin and Matthew were very brave but were looking for water to wash down the Mopane worms they ate.

"Come on girls, it tastes just like chicken."  Mallory took one of the dried worms but it never made it to  her mouth.

  After the program, Walt drove the van up to the gate in case it started to rain.  Just as everyone got in, it started to rain and it was a downpour.  It even hailed some of the time.  It was raining so hard, we waited in the parking lot before we left.

DANCING WITH THE "NATIVES"

                                                    

   Tuesday morning we had a meeting with Elder Ellis so we left the Gleaves home.  When our meeting was over, we came back to the flat and had ham sandwiches they had made. We then went to ‘Constitution Hill’ and waited outside while they walked through it.  We had been there before and didn’t need to pay to see it again. The main reason Susan didn’t want to go in again is because it is very depressing to learn about how they treated the prisoners, mostly the blacks.

            Wednesday morning at 6:30 we left the flat and drove to Medikwe Game Preserve.  We arrived at the Mosetlha Bush Camp right at 12:30.  We told Matthew that he had the challenge to find as many animals as Tanner had found.

We got up at 4:30 for our morning game drive.  Our guide was Jonny and we were happy to see him again.

TAKING A HOT CHOCOLATE BREAK MID MORNING

                         
 We stayed in different cabins this time. There were four of them together.  We slept 2, 2, 2, and 1.  We were so close we could hear Kevin snoring (or was that the lion?).

WE SAW SOME ADORABLE CUBS WITH THEIR MOM 

CUTE!

                                                                                                                      

UP INSIDE THE HEAD IS A LITTLE HARDER TO GET AT BUT IT SURE IS YUMMY

                     
Earlier, the mother had killed a wildebeest.  While we were watching the little family, some jackals and a hyena were trying to sneak up and help themselves to her kill.  The mother lion chased them away, then laid down and helped herself to more of the head,

ONE OF THE JACKALS LOOKING FOR A TASTE OF WILDEBEEST

DADDY SLEEPING ON HIS BACK WITH LEGS WRAPPED AROUND THIS LOG


The father of the cubs was sleeping right across the road from the mother and babies.  He woke up and looked right at us, as our vehicle was parked directly between him and his family.  Susan was very nervous and Natalie said she had been terrified.  We just put our trust in Jonny who has been guiding game drives for 16 years now.  The huge lion decided to just ignore us.

WHAT A BEAUTIFUL ANIMAL

We came upon a large breeding herd of elephants.  This little guy was the cutest of the bunch.

STAYING CLOSE TO MAMA

SEBASTIAN IN OUR CAMP AND RIGHT NEXT TO KEVIN & NATALIE'S CABIN

           Sebastian is a huge Cape buffalo.  He comes in to the camp every night to get a drink.

ZEBRAS AT THEIR "DIRT" HOLE

Evidently, Zebras sometimes need to eat dirt in order to keep a balance with their nutrients

A PILE OF POOP

Dung Beetles lay their eggs in the dung of the Cape Buffalo.  Because Sebastian had been in our camp they found a nice supply right behind our cabin.  They roll up a little gob of dung then start pushing it

                  They make a perfect round ball about the size of a golf ball, then "take" it home.

They push the ball while upside-down and with their back legs.  Every so often they stop, climb up on top of their ball and get their bearings.

                                                       Ready for another adventure

WE SAW A LOT OF BABIES THIS TIME

                                                      The warthog is Walt's favorite animal

"I'M BIGGER THAN YOU"

                                                  

 It was very hot during the day.   It had been well over 100 degrees a couple of weeks ago and for at least one day this was the hottest spot on the earth.  On both of the night drives it started raining which helped to cool things down.

         

The giraffes always seem to know we are watching them.

 This trip to Medikwe was just as amazing as the other times we've been there.  Susan has  always had a hard time watching nature shows when animals are hunting and killing each other.  To be there and to be so close, is hard to describe. We certainly love these beautiful animals and love seeing them in their natural habitat.

            When we got back on Friday, Kevin and Susan went to the grocery store to buy groceries for our visit to Mama's orphanage on Saturday.  Walt went down to the movie theater to check out times for "Star Wars”.   It was opening night and we were excited to see it.  At home, the theaters were sold out.  For the opening, there were only about 20 other people in the theater with us.  Sometimes when we go to a movie, we are the only ones in the theater.

            When the movie was over, Natalie couldn’t find her phone.  She looked all around her seat and couldn’t see it and so she asked one of employees.  She thought maybe she had left it on the counter when she bought us popcorn.  They hadn’t seen it so we all went back in to the theater and looked all around the seats.  We pulled them out and looked for quite a while but couldn’t find it.  She gave them our cell phone number in case it turned up.  We all felt so bad for Natalie because it had all of her pictures on it.

            Saturday morning the Gleave’s all got up early and went to the temple.  The kids did baptisms and Nat and Kevin did a session while we worked in the office to catch up. Afterwards we came back to the flat and made sandwiches for the orphanage.  Just as we were getting ready to go to Mama's orphanage, Walt got a phone call from the theater and they said they had found Natalie's phone!  We went right over to the mall and waited while Natalie went inside.  She said that one of the cleaning girls found it under a seat.   The girl was excited that she had found it and took Natalie back inside and showed her where it had fallen.  Natalie was so grateful to have her phone back and later took them some cookies to show her appreciation. 

  We met Elder and Sister Glen and Leigh Pond at Mama's.  They brought some chips and drinks.  A local business has just built her a building that has a two rooms, one of them is going to be a kitchen.  We had the kids sit on the floor while we passed out the sandwiches and chips.

We could tell that some of them had never had potato chips before.  We finally had to tell them they   couldn’t have anymore because they wouldn't stop asking for more.

THESE GIRLS LOVE TO DANCE AND THEY WERE EXCITED TO PERFORM FOR US

          We also brought a soccer ball for them and Matthew played with some of the boys for quite a while.                                                

WE CAN "RENT" THE VAN FROM THE AREA OFFICE IF IT IS AVAILABLE

                                                           

YOUR HAIR IS SOOO SOFT

   Megan and Mallory sat on a blanket while the kids braided their hair.

NEW SWEET FRIENDS

         

                                                     The Baobab tree at Mandela Square

Kevin and Natalie treated us to dinner Saturday Night and also surprised us with this yummy treat

We celebrated our 47th wedding anniversary and Walt's 69th birthday

On Sunday the bishop asked Natalie, Kevin and their kids to say a few words at the beginning of Sacrament meeting.  They all said some sweet things about South Africa and our ward.  Walt didn’t teach any piano after church and so we came straight home.   The Gleave's requested a nap so we had a nice, quiet Sunday.

  Because of holiday vacations and travel there were very few people at the Monday devotional (couples or employees), so we sang some Christmas songs and a couple of people were called on to speak for a few minutes.  This is when many of the employees take their annual leave because school is out for the summer and the office was pretty empty.

 After the devotional Walt stayed at the office to work while the rest of us went on a 4 hour tour of Soweto.

LEARNING ABOUT LIVING IN THE KLIPTOWN SHANTY TOWN

THE TIN SHACKS ARE HEARTBREAKING

KLIPTOWN YOUTH CENTER

    These girls are playing a game similar to Jacks but they were using stones.

 For our SOWETO tour this time, Angie’s husband Rudie, was our tour guide. We had never met him before and he was a lot of fun to talk to.   He asked about our mission and what we do in South Africa.  When he brought us back, he said they would like to take us out to dinner before we go home.  They are very nice people and we're glad we got to know them.

It was after three o’clock when we got back so we decided to skip lunch and have an early dinner.  We asked them where they wanted to go for their last night and they picked 'Spetada.'

            On their last day with us, we took them to ‘Cambanos’ for some serious souvenir hunting.  They spent two hours shopping and bought a lot of souvenirs.  We also bought a couple of things plus a suitcase so Gleave's could take their souvenirs and also a lot of ours, home with them.

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                                                             "Mike's for lunch

                                                         And then it was time to say good-bye

    Tears were shed; some of sadness, to see them go, and others for happiness, because they came.                          

SOUTH AFRICA