My friend Marie is in Madagascar at the moment. She’s is the middle of a big around-the-world adventure. Along the way she likes to be set souvenir quests. So I dug out a pick I took when I visited Madagascar back in 2000 of two women selling Lemur lamps and asked her to buy me one and ship it back to the UK.
I stumbled up the lamps – and the ladies selling them – quite by chance, out near the stadium in Antananarivo. They were miles from the tourist hotspots so I guessed that the lamps were for local consumption. Perhaps every home in Tana has one.
I was in the middle of a big trip so I didn’t buy one. I’ve regretted it every day since.
I’ve emailed Marie a copy of the photo and told her to print it out. If the lamps are still available, I reckon showing the photo will be the best way of tracking them down.
Explaining the concept of a lemur lamp is hard enough in English, let alone a language that isn’t your own like Malagasy.
The lemur lamp was elusive. I had Peter’s photo (above) on my phone via Facebook, and I walked through the souvenir stalls showing it to sellers. They’d all shake their heads no.
On my next-to-last day, I found them on the side of the main street downtown, near the railway station. I went back the next day with my camera…but the mysterious lemur lamp was nowhere to be found.
I really want a lemur lamp! I’m hoping to visit madagascar next year so it will be my quest to find them.
They are still there to be found. Good luck getting it home!