Madagascar locally made car
As we were heading out to head up to visit a Zafimaniry village, I noticed an unusual looking car parked next to our Nissan. Lova said it was a car made locally in Madagascar. I didn't realize Madagascar even made cars! Apparently you may visit the factory but you are not allowed to take pictures.
For the second day in a row, we saw a vehicle mired in a rice paddy. People seem to have trouble staying on the roads; perhaps because they are crowded with pedestrians, rickshaws, and bicycle traffic. Better to drive off the road than hurt someone.
Driving into the hills we watched people preparing rice paddies. Started in small, dense plots, rice is hand transplanted to larger plots after turning them over and driving zebu around or with a zebu-pulled harrow of spikes.
The village had a big pile of lumber; for sale, rather than for use locally.
Some houses had beehives. Since the native forests are mostly burned, the bees eat 40 species of introduced Eucalyptus; they flower at different times.
Houses have carved window closures. A spider web design signifies family ties; a honeycomb, community; the sun ... Scissors, circumcision; one for each son.
We were invited into the 72 year old chief's house; it seemed the same as any other. It had a single room, directionally oriented. The NE corner was dedicated to addressing ancestors; the SE, cooking; the SW was reserved for animal pens; and the NW for tools. There was a central firepit, with no chimney or smoke-hole. Smoke helps dry wood and extra zebu meat, hung above from the ceiling. A single-log ladder led to a loft. Walls were a vertical board-batten-board sandwich. Some people had separate food caches on stilts with wooden disks to discourage animals climbing.
The village was responsible for replanting Palisander trees, and guarding them against burning, but they have no paid guards. Someone had set a fire earlier that burned some Eucalyptus trees. They were still looking for who was responsible. It's hard to catch anyone. They put a cigarette in a poop pile and walk away; sometime later the wind comes up and ignites it.
At the end we visited two wood-carvers. The work was simple compared to the fine marquetry we had seen the day before. They made nice three-legged stools which when flipped over could be used as a chopping block / cutting board.
As we left we passed burned Eucalyptus trees. Except for the Tapia (Uapaca bojeri), the native trees are not fire resistant; the introduced Eucalypts are. We saw one sprouting new branches among the burnt ones.
