Ken Dog Eyes Madagascar 9-20-2014

Interesting sights as we head south on RN7 from mineral city gold rush style towns to the fires burning out of control causing a sickening death of vegetation and what else . Tulear is slightly grimy and definitely sweltering against the humid backdrop of the Tropic of Capricorn, the ‘white city’, so-called by central highlanders because of the light-colored buildings, is becoming southern Madagascar’s leading town. The approaching views are outstanding: you can see vast sand dunes which run along the coast. It’s a sizzling, dusty place, bustling with brightly painted pousses-pousses, refuse-strewn alleys, and disheveled architectural remnants from the French colonial facelift – all slipping into heat-drenched languor between midday and 3pm. The city has broad avenues flanked by tamarind and flame trees, sandy crowded alleys concealing narrow corridors and colonial-era buildings ending abruptly in a wall of rubble. Tulear/Toliara is the end point for travelling the RN7, and you may very well end up spending a few days here waiting for transport ( air transportation )…remember… mora mora or ‘slowly, slowly’ and that’s how we drove here from Isalo National Park.