#3: [08-Jan-11]

#1: [16-Sep-04]

19-Feb-2006 -- Roger and I have already made the front cover story on this website, when during our honeymoon, Roger was arrested whilst trying to reach a confluence point (see 19S 49E). This confluence point in Fort Dauphin was fairly easy compared to some we have tried. It is late afternoon already; Roger has just finished work, and says: "Let's try for the confluence point..." So, we get out our GPS and see that we are four kilometres from the waypoint...

In our taxi, we are able to get as close as 1.6 km off the mark. It is at this point that we have reached a lake. We walk through a Malagasy village, and Roger negotiates with the locals, to take us out on the lake in a canoe. We think the waypoint might be somewhere towards the end of the lake; the sun is going down rapidly, the two Malagasy canoeists are paddling like crazy...

We reach the end of the lake, and there is still 600 meters to go before we reach the waypoint, it is now nearly dark. Roger decides that we must reach the waypoint in any event. We climb over sand dunes (the sea is on the other side), and practically run the 600 meters to the waypoint. It is totally dark when we get there. Roger takes a photo of me and Julian, he is one of the canoeists, and he helped us reach this spot. We try taking pictures of the area, but it is too dark. So we have no choice but to come back to this point in the daytime and retake the photos.

We canoe back in total darkness; the canoeists tell us that there are crocodiles in this lake, that especially like eating "Vazahs" (white people). We decide to take a different route the next time we come back to this spot.

It is two days later before Roger is able to get a morning off work, we decide to try and reach the confluence point another way, by driving our VTT along the beach. Seen from Fort Dauphin, the waypoint is on the other side of this bay, somewhere in front of those mountains.

Wendy Christen