We took a day trip to the village of Mahaiza and the local rose quartz mine, Tsaramanga. As usual the trip was an adventure with scenes along the way. The paved roads were in good shape, but we had to take gravel roads then essentially cart trails to get within walking distance of the mine. The drive was rough at times, but Tony took it slow and made it as comfortable as possible.
The Tsaramanga (nice blue) rose quartz mine is also known for it's blue tourmaline. Below is a photo of a huge blue crystal that was being crated up to send to a museum in the US.
Enjoy the photos of our day trip part 1. Part 2 will cover photos from the mine and the rest of the trip.
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| Google Earth view of our day trip from Antsirabe to Tsaramanga (Yellow Pin). |
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| Google Earth view of the Tsaramanga mine. |
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| Here are some typical brick stucco homes with thatched roofs. These buildings were everywhere in Madagascar. Nice structures, but the families still live on dirt floors and have to make wood or charcoal fires to cook. |
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| Another typical building. Couldn't help but notice the first step is a doozy. |
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| Here is a pano view of the countryside as we made our way to Mahaiza. Click on the photo to see a full view. Use back to get back to the blog. |
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| This aquamarine crystal was being offered to us for thousands of dollars. As it turns out, Frederico (I'll introduce him later) told us that is really wasn't worth anything because it was so broken up and not gem quality. It was still impressive. |
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| The mine owners home in Mahaiza. You often see broken glass on the tops of walls to keep people out. He uses some nice rose quartz crystals. |
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| A huge blue tourmaline crystal in rose quartz. This specimen was being crated up to ship to a museum in the US. It was already crated up and they were nice enough to open the box for us to see. |
32 kilos?
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