Five days and counting until we return to Marloth Park…Four days remaining in Madagascar…Food and immigration process in Madagascar…

Being in this hotel for a week has brought back memories of the ten months we spent in lockdown in India. In some ways, it feels strangely familiar. We are spending our days in a hotel, eating our meals here, staying close to our room, and not venturing out much. The big difference is that during our time in India, we didn’t have the option of going anywhere. We were required to stay put. Here in Madagascar, we could go out and explore, but we have chosen not to.

After what happened to me yesterday, I am especially glad we made that decision.

We have been dining exclusively at the restaurant on the ninth floor of the hotel. Although it isn’t owned by the hotel, it appears to be very clean and has been a pleasant place to have dinner. Unfortunately, after eating a seafood salad there for two consecutive nights, I became horribly ill yesterday morning.

I spent most of the day and much of the night suffering greatly, with what I believe was a nasty case of food poisoning. Thankfully, I am feeling considerably better today, and it appears I won’t need antibiotics. Still, the experience was enough to remind me of a lesson I should have learned years ago.

In 2014, when we were in Marrakesh, Morocco, I made the mistake of ordering a salad at a very nice restaurant. I became so sick that I suffered from what I can only describe as traveler’s gastrointestinal distress for three weeks. Eventually, I had to take antibiotics to get over it.

I should have known better than to eat raw vegetables in certain countries.

Most likely, the vegetables in yesterday’s salad were washed in tap water, which may have been enough to cause the problem. Of course, I can’t know for certain that was the cause, but after yesterday’s experience, I am not taking any more chances. For the remaining four days we have in Madagascar, there won’t be another raw vegetable passing my lips.

Unfortunately, my choices at the restaurant are now somewhat limited. I can order the steak, which is chewy but tasty, along with cooked vegetables. At this point, that sounds perfectly acceptable to me.

We will spend our fifth night in Johannesburg at the City Lodge hotel, since we fly back to Nelspruit the following day, arriving at 11:00 am. I can’t adequately express how anxious we are to get back to South Africa, and even more so, to return to Marloth Park.

If all goes according to plan, we’ll arrive in Marloth Park on Tuesday afternoon, have enough time to unpack, settle in, and then head off to Quiz Night. After being away from our bush home, the animals, and our friends, that first evening back will feel pretty wonderful.

I mentioned in our last post that I would share the immigration process in Madagascar, but after thinking about it, I’d rather not get into all the annoying details. Let’s just say it was confusing.

Fortunately, two kindly porters approached us and offered to help. Thank goodness they did. They must have seen our American passports and figured we would be generous with our tips, as Americans are apparently well known for doing. Whatever their motivation, we were grateful for their assistance.

They walked us through what seemed like a never-ending, multi-step process, pointing us in the right direction at each step. Since we hadn’t yet obtained any local currency from the hotel ATM, we tipped them generously in US dollars. They certainly earned it.

I could go on and on about why we aren’t going out and why we have decided to spend the remainder of our time here at the hotel. But I think our readers probably get the drift by now from reading our posts.

As you can see from almost 14 years of world travel, we certainly haven’t hesitated to get out and explore. Some of our most memorable experiences throughout the world have involved game drives, wildlife encounters, and venturing into places completely unfamiliar to us.

But this time is different.

Madagascar may have much to offer, but I doubt we’ll ever return. For now, though, we’re fine staying in the Marriott, staying safe, eating cooked food, and counting down the days until we are back where we really want to be.

South Africa is waiting for us.

And so is Marloth Park.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, September 10, 2016: