Madagascar Series: Ile Aux Nattes

For the last leg of our journey in Madagascar, we visited Ile Aux Nattes, which, as mom likes to call it, is an island off of an island (Ile Saint Marie) off of an island (Madagascar) of Africa. It is a tiny little island, and can be walked around fairly easily. However, the inhabitants are extremely nice, and so are the lodges there. It was very nice to kick back on the beach for a week or two, compared to our very busy schedule for the week before. While there, we did a fair amount of snorkling, swimming, and relaxing, as well as some adventurous hikes. In my opinion, it was one of the highlights of the trip. The water was the perfect temperatue; it wasn't so cold that you didn't want to go in, but it definitely cooled you off. On the final day on the island, the owner of the bandas that we had been staying in, who we had befriended, took us to Ile Saint Marie, which is much bigger, and much more industrialized. Contrary to Ile Aux Nattes, it is bustling with people and there are hundreds of road-side kiosks. To get there, you have to take a ride in a pirogue, which you paid like a taxi. Well, that's all for Madagascar.

Adventures with Johnjoe and Ollie

Over the spring break at ISU, Johnjoe, one of my mom's old friends, and his 15 year old son Ollie decided to take a vacation to Uganda from the UK. While they were here, we were able to take multiple safari drives in Queen Elizabeth and the two of them and matt, dad, and myself went rafting on the Nile. Even though all of this is old stuff that we have done and seen before, Johnjoe and Ollie were mesmerized by the animals and activities that are simply not available in the UK. On the Queen Elizabeth trip, we were able to see many of the main animals that they wanted to: Baboons, cool birds, chimpanzees, water buffalo, alligators, hippos, and cob (similar to deer). However, we weren't able to see some very interesting animals such as giraffes, zebras, gorillas, or any cats (lions, leopards, cheetahs, etc.) Even we haven't seen any cats here! I wish we would! Anyways, then we took the same rafting trip as the first time that dad and I went. This was with the other 5 father-son couples. It was just as fun as I remembered, and is still one of my favorite things to do here.
This will probably be the last post until summer so see you then.