Andasibe - here we come

Back on the road although it is only a single day of driving. Took a while to get out of Tana. They don't really have roads here - it's single lane all over the place. But it seems that the traffic is much less hectic than in Africa
Old castle outside of Tana. King used to live there. Reminded us of something from the Viking age. Originally only a small wooden house for the king and one of his 12 wifes. The other wives had their own castles on 12 seperate hills in the area around the castle.
Walls for the castle quite impressive - 16 million eggs used for constructing the walls. Hard as concrete. Another trivia fact - North east is the most sacred corner of the house also in present days. It is the one direction towards ancestors. So thats where the king had his bed.
King himself- small man - 1,45 meter. Did one shower a year with his wifes. Water for the royal shower was collected in another sacred place in the valley by 70 virgin girls and carried in buckets on their heads to the pool at the palace.
Beautiful view from the top of the hill overlooking the countryside - just able to see parts of Tana in the horizon.
Lunch stop a bit late after having driven through some beautiful hills. Right next to a small river. So different from last trip where lunch and every other meal was always "hurry hurry". This was much more relaxed and our guide told us we could walk a bit along the road. Then the bus would come and pick us up. Yet another nice surprise just to be walking there and enjoying the scenery. Could be a bit a like the alps - mountains, trees, small river, lots of green grass and plants.

Arrived at the camp site and got the key for our bungalow at 16:30. Not a long day but so many nice new impressions.
First impressions of Madagascar - it seems more organised, definitely less touristed (very small international airport indeed), people are very friendly and most importantly you are not constantly pestered with people who wants to sell you souvenirs or simply want money. A bit laid back. On the downside. Tana was really smog-covered in the afternoon. It turns out the the majority of people still use charcoal or wood to cook food so it was very easy to spot when it was dinnertime.
Went on evening walk to find some nocturnal lemurs - partly successful but we also spotted a lot of other animals and it is always an experience to walk in the forest at night with all the different sounds and smells.  Came back for dinner. End of day.