In the heart of the highlands of Madagascar, east of the town of Ambositra, live Zafimaniry. Their founding myth has it that, two centuries ago or so, this Betsileo source group took refuge in the mountains to escape the incipient deforestation and conscription imposed by conquerors Merina.
What has been the desire of intact forests or freedom, these people have lived practically isolated for some time, on the tops of difficult access and perpetually shrouded in mist, practicing subsistence agriculture based on corn, sweet potatoes, taro and cassava , obtained with the system of "slash and burn" cut trees and shrubs, leave them dry in the sun, then set a controlled fire with which it will release the parcel of land cultivation. After the harvest, before returning on the same plot, let it sit for a couple of years. This technique, which saves the trouble of tilling and plowing, but has the consequence that, after two or three rotations, the ground, lifeless, produces nothing but ferns and twigs. Currently this group has about 50,000 people scattered in about a hundred villages, like the rest of Madagascar, are constantly growing population. If it is true that they fled to the mountains to "desire" of the forest (Zafimaniry fact means "descendants who want to"), there is no doubt that the forest have loved to Death: the wooded expanse of time is now reduced to a corridor that narrows with each passing day. "Maty ny Wing" - you say - "the forest is dead "and seem to allude to an inevitable disaster with which they have nothing to do. But the forest, alone, will never die: they are the Zafimaniry that if they are, quite literally, eating.
However, it is not to blame them that I went to meet them!
With their traditional symbiosis with the forest, the Zafimaniry have developed a great skill in woodworking. Almost everything in their world, comes from the forest: the houses, all of rosewood, are masterpieces of joint, built without a single nail is completely removed and finely carved windows and doors, which sit on the stools are made from a single wood block; the large containers with such a time when the forest was still lush and generous, they went to collect wild honey, logs are hollowed out, the family tombs are heavy sarcophagi, the oldest of which are assembled with only two blocks of a single trunk . In everyday life, the Zafimaniry recognize and use about 23 different types of wood, each with its own precise function. This incredible mastery was declared in 2003, Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. But while their art becomes a World Heritage Site, the resource that allows them to be teachers is slowly (but not too much) and without any fuss, which was destroyed by the very people who should be guardians.
Nevertheless, the country of Zafimaniry continues to provide a panorama of extraordinary beauty and be a destination for many tourists who venture into one or more days of trekking, visiting the small wonders of rosewood hidden in the mountains.
So there I was, watching the interactions and changes resulting from contact with foreigners, in a world of plants on which the request to give empty plastic bottles and is some mobile phone (but only works if you climb to the mountaintop ), represent the first, but certainly not the last, a sign the worst of globalization spreads.
zafimaniry I spent about three weeks in the country, during which I met and discussed with the notables of the village and all those who, in one form or another, may be involved directly or act as observers in the meeting privileged tourist. Three weeks have been physically demanding, because, to move from one village to another, I had to make the trek - the natural diversion of tourist - the prerequisite for my work. To reach the various villages in fact you have to climb up on the mountain and then back down to the valley: one, two, three times as many valleys and mountains, on uneven paths that often end up on the lightest bridges that cross numerous streams and then cling to the walls of granite. One step after another, you end up walking at least ten miles to each shift. With each new route, it makes you think that, whatever was running away when he came to settle here, these people I had to have a tremendous fifa! These same paths for Zafimaniry are the bread and butter because they travel at incredibly fast pace each day to and from the fields and woods. On Wednesday, market day, battered caravans of people from the four cardinal points, in single file through the mountains towards Antoetra, the capital of the municipality from which they return carrying their loads, the women on their heads, men on shoulders. Al market's Zafimaniry go there to buy, almost never to sell, and move in groups for fear of robbers who, cruel irony, in these times of widespread poverty are robbed of even the simple peasants lucrative. However
arrive in a village before they can speak with potential informants for my research, I had to then wait patiently for the evening, because until there are only dusk street kids: anyone who has strong arms is at work in the fields . Obviously, not all villages Zafimaniry receive the visits of tourists: the hundred that I mentioned, I will have visited a fortnight and only four can be said to be fully "on tourism." Curiously, these four are not necessarily the most beautiful, but only the most accessible. Even more curiously, their people travel they know little or nothing, despite receiving an average of a thousand visitors a year. For them, tourism is white people who come to take pictures, and whatever hope is that the leave pens, notebooks and some T-shirt used, which however, from a different point of view, it's the worst that could happen . Still less, more curiously, they know to be "Intangible Heritage of Humanity." Paradoxical, no?
But then that might have meaning for them these labels? The definitions are useful only for those who know how use them and in many cases serve to fill dictionaries and guides. True, burning the forest and with it the future generations. True, maybe tourism could become an effective lever for development and contribute to the preservation of nature. However, after some exchanges with the locals, I wonder if on your side, whether with those who maintain or who destroys. The latter, after all, what choice do you propose? The future lies elsewhere and is not essential for them to begin to imagine, especially on an empty stomach. Then again, who knows these people that tourism has never even been in the capital? Theirs is a "tourist" they despite that no one has ever explained what or how they might use it to avoid being forced to beg. Outside the pages of books
the vision of the world is increasingly complex and nuanced. The items to be sufficient to describe with justice, have to cross many cultural barriers and get down into the valleys of meaning.
But for the moment because they want to be only fragments, which have never claimed to be able to tell the truth about the reality of this island, I will start telling stories.
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