We arrived in the village, a long 12 hour day, the sky was dark and we were wet. A villager had offered us a place to stay, but said we should first meet the chief for his approval. He disappeared and after a while through the

Lifting into the air it came, smoke bellowing from everywhere and misfiring repeatedly, the whine of its engine screaming under the strain as it flew over the crest of the hill. Bits and pieces seemed to be falling off in the process, but on it came

I have never seen roads as challenging as I’ve seen in southern Madagascar. I remember travelling from Fort Dauphine to the start of the run at Cap St. Marie. The main road was asphalt for 20km, then it turned into 50 -50 pot holes and asphalt

Living on my budget, big cities are not the place for me. There is no escape from the harsh reality of poverty and suffering of thousands flocking to city life in the hope that they will find prosperity. I am living on the underbelly of the

It had been about 30 minutes slowly fighting our way through the undergrowth and I experienced the first feeling that something was crawling up my leg. I brushed my ankle, but nothing happened, the leech was still there. I looked down and there was a long

Nick and I had finally got to the extraction point where the crew were waiting. It had been an eight hour slog through mud driving rain and dense forest. Nick was staggering in a semi haze nauseous and suffering with his stomach not being well, his

Sprawled on the banks of this massive muddy river that seemed to be the main exit point for all the water collected in the rainforest was a rickety rundown village, its main road consisting of runny slurry of bog, mud and whatever else could run down

It had been another 12 – 14 hour stint and the days have begun to add up. The main problem has been food, nothing but boiled rice and the odd bit of fruit that we have foraged in the jungle. The rain is unrelenting with the

The rain has begun to play havoc on the trip as well the support crew. We had reached Ranomafana at the foot of the jungle and rain forest. We can go no further the only option is to head up 200km through the forest and jungle

It had been 15 hours of hell through the forest, 2 hours after dark an we were still crashing trough the undergrowth to a remote village that was to be in one of the valleys, but nothing, no glimmer of light in the distance, no smell