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News – September 2011 (Tamatave/Madagascar, September 30th, 2011)
- Website statistics: In August we were able to welcome 28'838 visitors who did 1'046'997 hits, according to 'Webalizer'.
- 'Google-Analytics' showed 29'775 Pageviews during the same period. The visitors are from ~185 countries!
- (July = 29'535 visitors – 953'371 Hits / June = 37'206 visitors – 947'122 Hits)
- ('Google-Analytics': July = 29'025 Pageviews / June = 26'127 Pageviews / 210 countries)
- Record day since 12/17/1998 = the birthday of our website: on 11/5/2007 = 13'407 visitors and 787'456 hits
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- Although we arrived already on September 13th, 2011, in our 171st country Madagascar, we haven't seen more than the port city of
- Tamatave yet. What is the reason? – In reality, we are under time pressure, because mid-November the rainy season is supposed to
- start. And as the 4th biggest island in the world (226'658 sq.mi.), the distances have to be taken into account, particularly as during
- the monsoon a huge part of the road network is simply not passable.
- But it started very normally: Our vehicle was containerized in its 23rd container on September 8th, in Port Louis/Mauritius. After a
- three-days sea journey via Réunion on the ferry "Trochetia" it reached its destination port of Tamatave, also called Toamasina, on
- Madagascar on September 14th.We flew the day before with Air Austral also via Réunion to the same place. The morning after the vessel -
- used also as a freighter - arrived and having all the necessary paperwork done and with us, we expected to drive already in a nutshell
- on Madagascan roads: It became Friday, September 23rd, shortly before nightfall, when we finally were reunited with our Toyota.
- Nine full days to release a car, which was admitted already before to visit the country temporarily – a new record in our nearly 27-years
- long worldtrip. Why has it taken so long? Nobody could or wanted to explain it thoroughly; but we must accept that we are again in
- Africa. And without an "extra tuition" the procedures don't run smoothly, and we didn't want to play the game in the expected extent.
- Madagascar made it anyway into the "top 5" of the charts of "total entry costs" – it didn't necessarily have to become No. 1.
- Unloading happened also the "African" way: Within the harbor area, where there are cranes and forklifts, unloading a container isn't
- allowed. Therefore every container has to be carried outside. Unfortunately there's no forklift available in Tamatave, which is capable
- to lift 6 tons from the truck to the ground. Hence we had to find an appropriate platform from where it's possible to drive afterwards down.
- Easier said than done because the opening of the container is only half an inch wider than the height of our car – there is just a very small
- margin not to get stuck. But – as it's the rule in Africa – it works out finally by improvising.
- Either it was the big excitement of destuffing or the stress of the nine previous days (we checked really seriously to divert the container
- to another country), as soon as we reached our place, Liliana felt miserable. Two hours later the fever thermometer indicates already
- 102.4°. Because there was no considerable pain besides of shivering, we assumed at first malaria, as Liliana caught it the same way just
- after arrival in Papua New Guinea. An immediate test at the Medical Service in town showed a negative result. But the woman doctor
- meant that it could be possibly still too early to respond. Thus we waited until September 24th. That night was horrible, only a lot of
- Paracetamol kept the fever below 104°.
- On Saturday evening we received a second negative result. Simultaneously a major signal popped up: Sharp pains like needles in the
- chest during breathing. Aha, once more pneumonia! A glorious perspective for the patient's birthday next day! Fortunately, with our
- LandCruiser we have back also our "dispensary". As it's not Liliana's first pneumonia, we always carry some antibiotics against it. Medical care
- in Madagascar is anyway next to inexistent (the closest x-ray machine is 230 miles away in the capital Antananarivo) and we didn't want
- to have repeated the "hospital mess" from Tonga. Expatriates and all those who have the money are flying immediately to Réunion if it gets
- serious. Hindsight the self treatment was the right thing to do; once we will discover an x-ray machine, we shall re-check of course.
- Liliana's "milestone birthday" will be celebrated later on a nice spot. We are hoping now to leave Tamatave over the weekend in search of
- the lemurs and baobabs.
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Tongatapu Island |  |
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Rarotonga Island |  |
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Temples, Pagodas, Shrines | |
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| The visit of 14 Pacific Islands with and 1 without our LandCruiser | Pacific (Febr. 2008-Jan. 2010 + Aug.-Sept. 2010) |
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| The visit of 13 Caribbean Islands with our LandCruiser | Caribbean (June 2003-Dec. 2004) |
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| + added from the United Arab Emirates: | Fairytale Wedding in Dubai (March 1999) |
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| + added from a earlier visit to the USA: | Las Vegas (Millennium change) |
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| + added from our Arabian Peninsula round trip: | Pictures from Yemen (May-June 1996) |
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| + Flashbacks of our Worldrecordtour: | Pictures from "all the continents" (Oct. 1984 - April 1997) |
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