Q & A

I’ve been asked some excellent questions by my friends back home about life in Madagascar. Some of these questions are so creative and well thought out… well, I figured I would answer them just in case other inquiring minds want to know… So, the following is a list of my most favorite questions I’ve received to date:

1. “Can you shoot **** over there?”
- Um, I don’t know. Maybe? If you get caught, I suspect you need to be prepared to pay a huge bribe or die…whatever the police are in the mood for that day.

2. “What kind of big game is there to shoot?”
- No real big game in Madagascar, at least not what you think of when you think of Africa. That’s all on the mainland. In Madagascar, the animals are way less dangerous. There are really no huge predator animals like lions and cheetahs, etc.


3. “So…what is there to shoot over there?”
- W.T.H.?

4. “Have you seen a lot of people with spears?”
- This isn’t Bill and Ted’s Excellent adventure. I didn’t jump into a time machine. Life is hard for the Malagasy, particularly in the remote regions, but it’s not like we’re making contact with lost tribes, lol.

5. “How many lemurs have you seen?”
- Zero. Unfortunately there are very few in the region I am headquartered at and the region our project site is. There are lots of species of lemurs, but you have to go to certain regions and national parks to have a decent chance of seeing them. Hopefully I’ll get to visit one of those parks before I leave.

6. "Is it really inexpensive over there?”
a. Yes and no. Veggies are cheap. Fruit’s cheap. Flour’s cheap. Coca Cola’s cheap. Rice is very cheap.
b. But imported stuff like olive oil, cereal, etc. is expensive (meaning it’s about regular U.S. pricing, which is extremely expensive for Madagascar).
c. Hotels are generally inexpensive compared to America. When I go out to the field in the coastal region, I can eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner at a hotely (restaurant) for about $5-7 a day.
d. Pousse-Pousse’s (rickshaws) cost about 500 Ariary depending on the distance (2000 Ariary is equal to $1 USD). So, about 25 cents to be carried across town.
e. Ben and Gil hired a personal masseuse for about 5000-7000 Ariary an hour.
f. We hire a housecleaner every Friday for 3000 Ariary for 3 hours.

Anyway, those are the questions that immediately come to mind, if I think of more, I’ll add them. Feel free add questions to the comment section…although I’m ignoring all gun-related/shooting questions from here on out, lol.