I was incredibly sorry to be leaving Cape Town, it was up there with Zanzibar as the best place I'd visited on my trip so far, however my next destination had me guessing as to what to expect. That destination was Madagascar.

A confession. When arranging my itinerary my entire knowledge about Madagascar was based on the popular animated movie and during my travels I had managed to supplement that flimsy and questionable knowledge with the following facts: (1) there are taxis on the island (2) lemurs are the big attraction; (3) there are rainforests; and (4) there are some good beaches. Occupying a full week in Madagascar seemed like a piece of cake.

Things did not get off to a good start when Air Madagascar changed the flight details so instead of a 2 hour connection and a 3 hour flight from JoBurg I had a 6 hour connection and a six hour flight. My first day is ruined as I arrive at the hostel around 11pm. The only good point is that on the flight I bump into a woman called Jess whom I'd met at the Cape Town Backpackers. These weird coincidences keep happening!

The next day sees a referendum in Madagascar and the capital Antananarivo is in lockdown. Absolutely nothing is open and even the street hustlers are keeping a low profile. I'm desperate not to waste another day so check out a war memorial (where I'm accosted by beggars) and the main street in the city (with a similar outcome). During my wander around the city I become aware that Madagascar is by far the poorest country I have visited, with limited infrastructure, where abject poverty is rife and life is simple and hard. The capital city has little to offer by way of "sights", but has plenty of aggressive street children. I had visions of spending all 7 days in Antananarivo under threat of imminent civil disobedience and riots.

In an effort to escape the city I book a 3 day trip to the rainforests visiting the Ranomafan National Park, Andasibe National Park and Analamazaotra Special Reserve. I have to hire a car and a driver (it would take days by bus and there is no train) and a guide for the trip. The first adventure is into the rainforest to find lemurs. We have some limited success as wild lemurs do not interact with humans and live high in the tree canopy. I have more luck in attracting leeches, 8 of which attach themselves to me during the 4 hour trek. One leech I didn't notice, managed to climb inside my trousers and up my leg to behind my kneecap where it gorged itself on my blood and left a painful wound. We also visit some private reserves which hold captive animals, a bit like a wildlife park. Prompted by bananas the lemurs in these reserves leap through the trees and fearlessly attach themselves to humans! The distinction between paying huge park entrance fees and trekking three hours to catch a glimpse of a wild animal and going to a private reserve to see animals close up with no trekking and for a quarter of the price, is stark. It is difficult to reconcile the two approaches and I guess it is better to do both.

I was only one of three guests at the Euphilea Hotel, the very nice lodge that I stayed in whilst on the rainforest trip. It was a great feeling to head there during the afternoon after a day chasing lemurs. The hotel is15 kms away from the nearest village along dirt tracks and only has electricity for 4 hours between 6pm and 10pm. The feeling of seclusion was fantastic. The great food, (I am getting used to eating alone) also helped!

I was disappointed and frustrated at my stay on Madagascar. There is some super scuba diving from the island which I missed out on, but I really didn't allocate enough time to this leg of the journey. Three weeks is the minimum that you need due to the difficulty in travelling around the island. Unfortunately I don't see myself returning in a hurry.