There are many rich cultural traditions in Madagascar. The most extreme, to me, may be the acceptance and ritualized celebration of death. Families are buried in group tombs, and older bodies may be unearthed and—depending on the local tribe or subculture—washed, danced with, and/or clothed before being reburied. In some traditions, this happens as part of a new internment and in others this happens at a given interval of time, every seven years or so.
There are also many fady, or taboos. Never start a project on a Tuesday or Thursday. Don’t eat lying down. The one I had the hardest time adapting to is a prohibition on pointing. The solution to this is to wave generally towards something or do a Bill Clinton-style knuckle point.
![Bill Clinton holds up left hand, "pointing" with the first knuckle of his index finger Bill Clinton holds up left hand, "pointing" with the first knuckle of his index finger](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6bbe2b4e-3974-45f4-8032-225cdfa4496a_1655x2560.jpeg)
Turns out “not pointing” is a difficult thing to do when you’re surrounded by lots of things you’ve never seen before. The taboo on pointing derives from the chance that you might be accidentally pointing at a grave. At the Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park our guide pointed out some landmarks and when I asked him about his extended index finger, he shrugged and basically said, No one is buried in this park.
I mentioned “Tsingy” last time. Tsingy are (is? I’m confused about singular/plural) spiky rock “forest” formations formed from the erosion of elevated ancient seabeds. The remaining rock is very hard and quite pointy and sharp and Tsingy in Malagasy means something like, “place you don’t walk barefoot” or “place to tiptoe.”
The story we were told is that when Indonesian or Malaysian people first came to settle in Madagascar, they killed many of the indigenous Malagasy people (who were small in stature; our guide Michael referred to them as “pygmies”). To escape the invaders, the locals ran into the Tsingy where the would-be settlers were unable to follow.
The best known formation is in Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park. It’s not easy to get to this part of the island, but it was worth the visit.
This is what the tsingy looks like (plural, singular?). They look spectacular from a distance and the actual surfaces of the stone are very abrasive. Walking barefoot on this rock would not be unlike walking barefoot on a pebbled driveway before you toughen up your “summer feet.”
You can’t just wander into a national park in Madagascar; you need to hire a certified local guide. On this day, our guide was Simon. The first thing he did when we arrived was to hand us each climbing harnesses. Where the path was a bit tricky, there were metal cables that we could clip into for safety.
Julie’s POV: the concavities of the stone (see the one my hands are on) reminded us a bit of Chinese taihu stones that are displayed in Suzhou style gardens. Note the pitons in the stones near Mari’s feet—steps are wedged in to make a path for visitors.
Fossilized snail shells and other sea creatures can be spotted if you examine the stones carefully.
Caves and caverns are another aspect of the rock formation. Have you ever been on a narrow trail marked “fat man’s misery”? There were definitely sections where that label would have applied.
On our way to the Center of the Earth.
This suspension bridge is part of the trail and something I was both looking forward to and dreading. As it turned out, the bridge is a bit wobbly, but those are metal cables that span the gap and after clipping in, it felt quite safe.
Just a really weird-looking place, and a reminder that for all the homogenization of world culture, there are still some unique natural wonders in different corners of the globe.