Had our final drive today west to the beach town of Ifaty.  En route we drove through the sapphire mining area, including the town of Ilakaka.  This area of Madagascar is poorer than the other areas we visited so we were not allowed to get out of the bus much during the drive.

In Ilakaka we stopped on a bridge to watch the townspeople panning in the river for sapphire bits.   Don’t think they were likely getting much but the town (and many others on the drive seemed to have an inordinate amount of gem shops).  After the river, as we drove through town, we spotted a guy in one of the stalls wearing a Canucks shirt, which was a bit of a shock!  It did look like they had a number of used clothes for sale in the markets that were left by or sent from North America so it was likely sent by one of the many bandwagon fans! ?

 We passed by a rum “factory” which looked like it produced something that would cause instant blindness.   I think we were also happy to stay on the bus there and avoid any samples!

We also passed by a number of Tombs, including on shaped like a large boat.   We stopped in the beach city of Tulear for lunch at a nice looking place where I had a pizza,  which was good. 

We then carried on the short bit north to Ifaty and our hotel on the beach.   I lucked out and got a bungalow right on the beach.  Although it did required quite the climb to go to the restaurant!  We hung out at the bar after freshening up and enjoyed the fact that we didn’t have any more early mornings and long bus rides!  

After dinner headed down to the bungalow and had no problem falling asleep with the crashing waves.