Day Twenty - an uncomfortable encounter

I didn’t sleep very well last night. I was just about to go to bed when from the corner of my eye I saw a shadow slip into a space between the wall and the door jam. I thought it was one of the resident geckos and peeped in. I got quite a shock when I saw an enormous giant centipede hiding in the shadows. These animals have a very painful, venomous bite so I was less than enthusiastic at the thought of sharing my room with one! The millipede looked well wedged in and I didn’t want to risk injuring it or making it angry so I left it where it was and withdrew to my bunk. I tucked my mosquito net in very firmly all around my mattress. I woke up frequently and I shone my torch across the room into the space to see if the millipede was still there. Needless to say, on one of those occasions it had disappeared. I had no idea where it had gone so there was no chance of getting to sleep for the remainder of the night!

It looked like I had chosen a good time to leave Ivoloina. This morning I tried to draw off a bucket of water from the rainwater tank to flush the toilet and the tank was dry. There had been no rain to speak of all the time I had been in Madagascar and it was badly needed. Christof was philosophical about it: he said he would take a bucket down the hill to the lake from now on and draw some water from there for washing and other basic needs. It was a steep walk back up again though so I hoped it would rain soon.
I packed up the remainder of my things and swept out my room. I could feel something watching me and turned around carefully in case it was the millipede. It wasn’t - it was a large brown spider that was clearly unimpressed with my housework because it ran aggressively towards the broom. I gradually manoeuvred the spider towards the doorway and eventually it scurried off outside.
At 7.30 the MFG truck pulled up outside the bungalow and I stowed my bag in the back. As we pulled away I looked back at my little room for the last time.

I had plenty of company on the journey to Tamatave. Christof and two student volunteers who were staying in the dormitory wanted to go to do some shopping. As we got to the Parc entrance an intern and a couple of staff were also waiting for a lift. It was quite snug!

My domestic flight wasn’t until the evening so I spent much of the day at the MFG office, catching up with some work.

At 5pm the truck was due to go back to Ivoloina so I said farewell to the team in the MFG office and got a lift to the airport. Tamatave airport was small with few facilities but I got chatting with a Norwegian girl in the waiting room so I had some company. She lived near Lillehammer and was going home from 30C+ sunshine to snow!
The flight was on time and 45 minutes after takeoff we landed in Tana. I had booked a room at the same hotel I stayed in on my arrival. At that time I had considered it to be very basic but this evening when I arrived it felt like total luxury. Running water! A flushing toilet! And a light that came on when I flicked the switch! I took my first proper shower for almost three weeks. It was total bliss.