The next big part of the drive was the ferry across the river, the very same river we had just canoed down. The ferry, as seen above, was just planks of wood stretched across two long “boats”. On the back was a greasy, smoke emitting engine that I’m sure has the emissions standards of a pre-war farm tractor. Once all five 4x4s, a motorcyle or two, and all the occupants were loaded on the ferry, we started chugging our way up or down the river, I’m not sure which was up which was down; we went west.

It took 45 minutes to cross the river. A Japanese couple sat on top of their 4x4, so I went ahead and did the same. They, somehow, were dressed in the most clean clothes I saw the entirety of our trip. For a country with 8 miles of paved roads, I have no idea how they managed to not get muddy/dirty. Even when we saw them later in the Tsingy, they were clean. There was also someone on their way back from getting medical care, his head was bandaged and he couldn’t walk, it was unreal.

When we got to the other side of the river, a town called Belo Tsiribihina, we were the second group off the ferry. We went to get lunch, which is also where the other four cars of people got lunch. The food was not bad, I believe I just got a burger and Carmen got some fries. All things considered, the food on our trip was not that amazing, not that bad. The best food was on the canoe and at camp at night. I am also not a foodie by any stretch of the imagination, so I don’t ever search out food.

We loaded back up to head to our hotel for the night, which was still some miles down the dirt and mud road. The only real snag, besides having to cross some rivers, was having to drive through a 100 meter or more overflow. Our 4x4 pulled up behind a line of 4x4s whose drivers were calculating the best way to cross the water. On the opposite side, and also in the water, were guys staking out the road so people would be able to tell where it was. Everyone who didn’t have a snorkel on their 4x4 (us, for example) took out their air filter, I assume to prevent it getting clogged.