Around Madagascar on My Kayak

by Manser, Riaan

• ISBN13: 9781868423682
• ISBN10: 1868423689
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-03-15
• Publisher: Jonathan Ball Pub

Summary

Riaan travelled around Madagascar during a period of the country's most significant political turmoil, which gave him unrivalled insight into the exotic island's psyche and even earned him two nights in prison on suspicion of carrying out mercenary activities. Riaan rose to prominence when he became the first person to cycle around the entire perimeter of Africa. For over two years, he pedaled a mammoth 37,000kms through 34 countries; some of which rank as the most dangerous places on Earth. It was a feat that earned him the title Adventurer of the Year 2006 and made his resulting book, Around Africa on my Bicycle, a bestseller. In July 2009 Riaan again set another world first when he became the first person to circumnavigate the world's fourth largest island of Madagascar by kayak; another expedition achieved alone and unaided. This incredible journey, 5000 kms in eleven months, was considerably more demanding, both physically and mentally. Daily, Riaan had to conquer extreme loneliness whilst ploughing through treacherous conditions such as cyclones, pounding surf and an unrelenting sun that, combined with up to ten hours in salt water, was literally pickling his body. The perseverance, of course, brought memorable close encounters with Madagascar's marine life ' humpback whales breaching meters away from his kayak, giant leatherback turtles gliding alongside him and even having his boat rammed by sharks.

Author Biography

Riaan Manser rewrote the definition of determination when he cycled unaided over 37 000km around Africa. It was a feat that earned him the title OutThere Adventurer of the Year in both 2005 and 2009, and turned his book Around Africa on my Bicycle into a bestseller. Riaan set another world first in 2009 when he became the first person to circumnavigate Madagascar, the world's fourth largest island, by kayak.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. vii
An end and a beginning	p. 1
Getting ready to roll	p. 9
Practice makes perfect	p. 19
Madagascar, here I come!	p. 32
Take two	p. 41
Foolhardiness at Foule Point	p. 56
Re-fighting the Cold War in the middle of nowhere	p. 67
The great Soanierana legal tangle	p. 84
Pirate island adventures on Sainte-Marie	p. 95
A new visa - and a long, long haul	p. 108
Cash crunch at Seranambe … and a love-nest at Mananara	p. 121
Drunken beggars and friendly fishermen	p. 135
Cape Masoala and some fishing adventures	p. 145
Scoring an 'own goal' near Anaova	p. 156
On to Cap Est	p. 166
Disaster at Antalaha	p. 179
Back to the sea	p. 189
A fight with a fish - and a fight for life	p. 198
My return from the dead - and my first cyclone	p. 210
Alive and kicking	p. 219
On the way to Cap d'Ambre	p. 227
North conquered - going south	p. 234
The World Wildlife Fund pirates of Amamaba Bay	p. 239
Sanctuary at Tsara Bajina	p. 252
Gecko adventures at Nosy Bé	p. 261
Terns and turtles … and the Fifth Brother chicken	p. 269
Shark attack, heart attack	p. 279
Saved by the prawns	p. 287
Good and bad things at Mahajanga	p. 299
Turmoil on land and sea	p. 308
Night shift from hell	p. 317
Ad hoc shopping in Tuléar	p. 321
Seas down south	p. 327
Around the Cape - and into the clink	p. 334
A final word by Seamus Reynolds	p. 344
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