kiteboarding madagascar

shannon · Since 15 Aug 2006 126 Posts Bolstad Clan

hey has anyone ever kited madagascar or seen it happening there? i'm interested in finding out about some cool kite spots there as well as any kite shops. thanks

BigR · Since 05 Jul 2005 372 Posts White Salmon Obsessed

What I do know is that it's REALLY REALLY windy there, other than that , who knows?

Google some of the wind stats and you'll find it is about one of the windiest places on earth

Sasquatch · Since 09 Mar 2005 2103 Posts PNW Bigfoot

KidCorporate · Since 10 Jul 2007 563 Posts Addicted

Think I could train a lemur to launch and land my kite?

BigR · Since 05 Jul 2005 372 Posts White Salmon Obsessed

http://www.kitebeaches.com/beach/sakalava_bay.html

30-40knts! Shocked

BigR · Since 05 Jul 2005 372 Posts White Salmon Obsessed

look whats happening there right now!

http://magicseaweed.com/Mozambique-Madagascar-MSW-Surf-Charts/57/wind/in/

BigR · Since 05 Jul 2005 372 Posts White Salmon Obsessed

eeeeeek!

i wanna go!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUSd3yUACyg

Surprised

brass · Since 15 Jul 2006 152 Posts Stoked

bulae99 · Since 12 Jul 2006 1692 Posts XTreme Poster

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_957.html#safety

pdxmonkeyboy · Fri Jun 13, 08 12:30 pm

Uhh ohhh, another mandatory safety check. '

news flash, safety is for pussies. Some of my favorite safety quotes.

"The trodden path is the safest”

“Insisting on perfect safety is for people who don't have the balls to live in the real world.”

"The wise man in the storm prays to God, not for safety from danger, but deliverance from fear”

“When you're young, your whole life is about the pursuit of fun. Then, you grow up and learn to be cautious. You could break a bone or a heart. You look before you leap and sometimes you don't leap at all because there's not always someone there to catch you. And in life, there's no safety net. When did it stop being fun and start being scary?”

bulae99 · Since 12 Jul 2006 1692 Posts XTreme Poster

Make sure and wear a ton of jewlry and talk shit to the locals about your horn.

brass · Since 15 Jul 2006 152 Posts Stoked

Holy s$#t enough already. I'm with monkeyboy. It's unsafe to walk outside too! Travel in the US is dangerous as well. man.....

and didn't someone just post something about a kite getting ripped off from there vehicle in Gresham?

lance_k · Since 04 May 2005 565 Posts Hood River Photographer

Cimeron Mooslery(sp?)- a writer at Kiteboarding Mag was there I think recently and had a blast.

Worlds smallest monkeys... not far from Mauritius. I definitely would go check it out.

cosmodog · Since 06 Oct 2005 205 Posts Stoked

Ill ask Cimmeron for the scoop or get her to post here.

lanej · Since 22 Jul 2007 8 Posts New Member

I spent a month in Mada in Febuary and had a blast. I was actually kayaking though and wishing I had a kite too. I saw some photos of people kiting Mada in a South African magazine and it looked sick.

I dont have too much beta on the kiting there but I do know the southeast end of the Island is where most people go. You might want to consider avoiding the cyclone season, which usually lasts until April-May. When we were there we had two cyclones hit which totally closed down 90% of the roads in the country. If I were to go kiting there I would definatley do it in the dry season. 85% of the roads in the country are dirt/mud so therefore inaccessable in the wet season.

Madagascar is an amazing destination. The coolest, and poorest, place I have ever been in the world. The food in the cities is great though...pizzas, zebu steak, brouchettes...all cheap too. You can feast on zebu brouchettes for two dollars. Lodging is cheap too but it is all getting more expensive so get there while you can. You'll love it!

cimeron · Since 16 Jun 2008 1 Posts San Francisco bay area New Member

That's awesome that you're considering Madagascar! My husband and I went to Madagascar in October and had an incredible time. We were on a 2.5 month around-the-world kiteboarding trip (I know, tough life!) and Madagascar was our second stop - you can read about it in the last issue of Kiteboarding Magazine; I think you'll like the photo of the ox cart transporting our NSI kite bag. Smile

We kited in Anakao, which is on the southern end of the island, and we literally had the entire Indian ocean to ourselves. (Sadly, I could not find any lemurs to either lauch my kite or cling to my head while kiting - trust me, I looked). Prepare yourself for progressively devolving transport - ours went like this: jet, ricket 1970s van which felt like it had one square wheel, rickshaw, ox-cart, hand-made boat with a torn sail. It's definitely a cool adventure!

There aren't any kite shops or schools down that way - heck, there aren't even many hotels with running water as most have 'bucket showers - but if you like seclusion and having the water all to yourself, Anakao is simply stunning. There's also an enormously long left called Flameballs that's about 2 miles off shore, but since it's shallow and reefy, I'd recommend getting some boat-support - there are, I believe, two hotels who have motor boats: the Prince (which is where we stayed, and it was very cool), and maybe Safari Vezo.

Primitive is a bit of an understatement for Madagascar, where the average Malagasy earns about .50 per day, so bring your own suture kit just in case you have to sew yourself up if you tango with the reef (you do NOT want to visit their clinics; trust me on that one). Also, bring Pepto Bismal tablets and chew one or two just prior to eating your meals - it takes care of about 98% of bacteria, and since most places literally wash their dishes by rubbing sand on them, you'll want to snack on the Pepto prior to meals to help prevent the dreaded pee-bottom syndrome.

We had really strong winds while we were there - I was on the 7 and my husband on the 9. There was one day when it nuked so hard that John couldn't even ride the 7 with short lines - he was nearly chucked onto a palm thatch umbrella, but he missed it because the umbrella broke free from its cement block and blew away.

If you can, I highly recommend heading up north and inland to the Vakona Lodge to track the Indri lemur in the forest, and to visit Lemur Island, where former pet lemurs live. It was one of the most amazing experiences of our lives - lemurs were literally jumping off our heads and crawling all over our shoulders and they are the softest most gorgeous creatures on the planet. We put up a video on YouTube - if you type in 'fun with lemurs' you'll find it.

Whatever you do, avoid Antananarivo at all costs - I've been to a lot of nasty 3rd world cities around the planet, but that was by far the worst. They use leaded gas, so all the cars belch out black clouds of smoke, there tons of beggars and people shoving cartons of cigarettes in your face (as if more smoke is what they need in that city), and the hotels are all in disrepair but very pricey none-the-less. But if you do have the misfortune of being in that city, bring Sudafed since your nose will not be able to handle the pollution, and make the most of it by buying a ton of fresh vanilla from the dudes on the corner (one measly dried up vanilla bean is currently running $12.50 at Safeway, so if you want to bring a killer present back for friends/family who like to cook, get the fresh vanilla!)

Oh yeah, and if you go to Anakao, be sure to get all the Ariary you need in advance and bring it with you since they do not have any money changing abilities at the hotels, and they don't take credit cards. Oh yeah, and if you bring US $100 bills with you with the hope of changing them in country, be sure you bring ones that are younger than 2002, as they will not change any that are older than that (which we found out the hard way).

Have a great trip!
Cimeron

Next Element · Since 10 Dec 2007 48 Posts Â

I'm heading out there on the 4th of July and there will be a full write up in the August Issue of our magazine. Will let you know before then how it goes. From all the reports I have seen and read on the net Madagascar is basic. but the surf is EPIC as is the wind...

There are loads of amazing places out there, you just need to step out of your comfort zone to get there...

In my years of traveling I have had some pretty sketchy experiences along the way, but all are outweighed by the positive ones. And i would rather have had a few close shaves and have a bunch of stories to tell, than to of stayed at home and done nothing...

Travel, it makes you a better person and it helps the local economy too and it is really the local people who make a living from tourism that suffer when we don't...

Rou
www.iksurfmag.com