Traveling West from La Reunion, Madagascar lies at the threshold of Africa and is the fourth largest island on Earth. It also ranks tenth on the list of poorest nations on Earth. How can a country, so beautiful, so rich in resources and biodiversity–– of which 90% of the species of life on this island are endemic to this island–– be so underdeveloped?

I have been conflicted about writing this post for a day now, because 79% of its people live below the poverty level– poverty defined as those making less than $2.15 / day. I took over 200 images on our excursion and selected the following, offering only a window, of one room, of all that Madagascar has to offer.

But it was during the editing and curation of those images that I began to form the true Madagascar in my mind. Cropping some of the images allowed me to see the people and not the poverty around them–– and that is the story which needs to be told.

Our excursion started from the pier in Port d’Ehoala on a rustic jitney with no AC and scratched windows protesting our efforts to open them. The seats were thin and the arthritic gears ground their way along a bumpy road as we passed our ship and headed towards the town of Fort Dauphin and not prepared for what we saw.

There is as famous Sci-Fi novel written by Phillip K. Dick called, “Do Androids Dream Of Sheep” (later made into the movie, Blade Runner) and when I took this picture of a young man in a t-shirt that said “Jamaica” I wondered if he was dreaming as well.

This is what I meant earlier, that I was not able to filter out the poverty from the people. I will begin here and let the people of Madagascar tell you their story:

No matter the culture or language, Graffiti is universal.

People are resourceful and you get the feeling that nothing is wasted and in some ways, more sustainable than first world nations.

Why is it that when visiting a US city, Black is the fashion of choice. It’s as if no one is allowed to stand out, yet they are dying to be unique. Ironic that the poorest nations are always more fashionable

And then there is the landscape of Madagascar, where the beaches are pure, the waves a surfer’s paradise and better than anywhere we have visited to date, which I think is because there is not a soul in the water to surf them and not a surf shop to be found.

While at a market where the children swarmed like mosquitos, vying for our dollars, I found a vendor selling some amber.

I was not sure if these pieces were real because they can be forged by synthetics. The way to tell real from fake amber is that real amber floats in salt water. It was not until I got home and tested this piece, concurring that it was indeed real, that I regretted not buying all 10 he had to offer.

Amber is fossilized tree sap and millions of millions of years old. Whatever life could not escape was forever preserved and becomes a looking glass well into the past…

Back onboard and settled in, our ship steps away from the pier and we look back at the landscape, leaving this sleeping giant as we found it, hoping one day it awakens and its people help it to stand.

To wrap up this beautiful country of Madagascar–– “We are all like flies in Amber; where the Amber goes, we go.” Taken from a friend, James Bath, who was in my circle of friends during G+ years.

Never forget the dress…..