Matt and Becki Dillingham

Overnighting in Mananara

When passengers want to go somewhere for 2-3 days I often fly them up and stay overnight to fly them back again. This halves the cost of getting them to and from their destination.

Last week two doctors, along with their son wanted to go to Mananara for two days of appointments in Mananara's medical dispensary. Often, in the harder-to-reach areas, the dispensary only opens when the doctor comes into town! Meanwhile, I was left with a day and a half in Mananara. Mananara is a town in the North of Madagascar, situated on the east coast. Half of the (roughly) 30,000 population are farmers, producing cloves, vanilla and coffee. Fishing is another common job for the people in Mananara. So what does the pilot do until its time to take the passengers back to Tana? This particular flight worked nicely because there were people in Mananara who needed to get to Mandritsara (a 30 minute flight) and others who wanted to come back, so the first morning was spent flying back and forth. For the flight back, the three passengers had been told that they would only be able to carry the bare minimum in terms of luggage as the Cessna 182 can only carry 220kg, which includes their bodyweight. They turned up with bags weighing 116 kg! Among their essentials were 15kg of rice, 8 kg tomatoes, bedding, and many hats - 'vondalana' (gifts for the people back home). Most of it got left behind!

James the Air Traffic Assistant

The air traffic assistant at Mananara in keen to practice his English whenever I arrive and as I was sticking around town he also took the opportunity to check out the aircraft (normally we drop off and collect with a short turnaround so there is no time for socialising). He also mentioned he attends an English class in town and took me along to meet them.

Mananara English class

Of course when the sun is shining and you're stuck in a seaside town it would be a crime not to visit the beach. This time it was a lovely experience, walking along the shore and listening to the waves. A far cry from the beach at Fort Dauphin, where I was constantly harassed by people trying to sell me something, steal something or inviting me to their house to ''show me a good time''! I also thought after a year in Madagascar it was about time I built a dolphin out of sand, which the local children loved.

Mananara Nord Beach

Dolphin in the sand

For the last 6 months I have been meaning to have my hair cut so while I had time to kill and was staying next door to Coffuire Ania, I thought "why not?". This hairdressing experience, in a small hut in Mananara, was somewhat different from a hair cut in the UK. There's a water shortage at this time of year so it was a dry cut only. It seems that brushing is not necessary here, you just pull at the part of the customer's hair that you need regardless of how much pain you are causing. Then they cut your hair without worrying too much about how straight it is or isn't!! Next time I'll go to the more sophisticated salon in Tana!

Not quite the same length either side!