In Soanierana-Ivongo I rent a dugout canoe (called a ‘pirogue’) with an oarsman, and crossed the river. From that time on the route became tedious. There was a lot of sand, which often made cycling impossible. I even had to walk the bike for a few kilometres along a sand dune. I came across wooden bridges spanning over smaller rivers – it was impossible to cycle over them, as they looked just like the one in the picture below. The bridges were quite ancient and some planks crumbled when stepped on.

There were no bridges at all on larger rivers, so I had to use pirogues three more times to arrive at the village of Anove after an all-day-long travel over a distance of 60 km. The hotel I found in the village cannot be compared to any hotel in my country. One half of the cottage was a one-bed hotel, while the other - the owners’ apartment. There was neither electricity nor water. When I asked ‘Aiza miszi kabine?’, which means ‘Where’s the toilet?’, the owner pointed towards the ocean and neighbouring hedges, suggesting that I could take a walk over there. This inconvenience, however, was compensated for by the hospitability and friendliness of the Malagasy people, as well as with the possibility of watching children laugh and play.

I was happy to help some youngsters who asked me to lend them a bicycle pump – they wanted to inflate a ball. I told them that it would be problematic, as the pump needed a special needle to fit in the inflation valve. However, the Malagasy are full of clever ideas (which are – I daresay – almost as good as Polish ones). They found a piece of pipe, pumped the ball, and were truly delighted! After swimming in the river, I sat in front of the hotel to take some snapshots of children at play.

When the sun set I admired the sky studded with stars. The sight was simply amazing! I could clearly see every tiny star, and there were so many of them that I felt as if I was in a planetarium. The Milky Way right before my eyes!

The following day proved even more difficult. It took me 12 hours to cover a distance of 70 km! On the way I had to face two more river crossings by pirogue, and one collapsed bridge. The workers who were repairing it helped me get to the other side. Obviously I had to pay the so-called 'kadu' – donation. Later the route became nightmarish, the road being covered with stones instead of sand, and becoming hilly as well. Laterite mud appeared from time to time, effectively immobilizing tyres and SPD pedals. I don’t know for how long I had to walk the bike, as I lost all sense of space and time.

It must have been over 20 kilometres, which will stay in my memory for a long time. I had to struggle with my psyche, sinking deeper and deeper into depression. I also had to struggle with the pain in my muscles, especially in my arms, not accustomed to pushing such a heavy weight (40 kg) uphill. And finally, I had to struggle with the passing of time. Night was approaching and I still had a long way to go. When I reached Mananara at last, I was completely exhausted. I only kicked off my boots and went straight to bed, falling into a deep sleep. Next day I realized there was no point in continuing my ride along such a road. As a result, I changed my itinerary, deciding to return to Antananarivo and go southwards from there. I caught a plane to Tamatave, this time being able to take my bicycle on board without any problems. Large airplanes offering such comfort arrived there only once a week. Smaller planes usually came instead, seating only a few people. A minibus took me from Tamatave to Antananarivo in 6 hours. Thus I was given yet another chance to admire the views I had seen two weeks earlier. And that’s how the first part of my journey ended.