Madagascar

Where to begin… Our flight from Egypt to Madagascar was on Ethiopian Air, I must say I have never been on such an old and tired plane, virtually nothing worked, seats, charging sockets, headphone ports etc. Luckily not too long a flight, but made worse by only being allowed one bottle of water. In front of us was the exit row and an old gentleman who could not walk or do anything very well sat there and was not moved – even though there was no way he could open the door or help anyone. The landing was also the roughest in a long while.

Our first trek out from the hotel was past people scavenging in rubbish tips and ladies breaking stones into smaller ones with hammers – hard work and both these remind me of asia 40 years ago.

Stocking up on snack’s and drink was also not an option as all the supermarkets are shut due to the protests, not a big deal but makes things more expensive buying in restaurants etc.

We passed a couple of vehicles with red flags and asked the driver about them, apparently when a vehicle is carrying a dead body they have to display a flag so the police know not to search – sounds like a good way to get around stuff to me.

The housing is interesting and changes from one area to another dependant on vegetation so they may be mud brick, straw, bamboo or wood houses and roofs will also vary in material.

Only around 36% of the population have electricity and 53% access to water – but often wells, rather than plumbed.

It is a 5 hour drive to Andasibe and you really notice the difference in air quality from cars – no emission rules or maintenance of vehicle standards here.

Our first introduction to the birds and wildlife was great and in basically 1.5 days we saw many species of Chameleon, Lemurs and birds, wonderful.

Back to Tana for a flight the next day – interesting to see if protests or the normality of delayed and cancelled flights affect us.

One surprising thing so far is the food. I expected not to be eating/liking the food much, but apart from the lack of choice it is surprisingly good due to the French influence. Lots of pepper steak (zebu) some of which was like shoe leather, tomato salads and amazing baguette’s.

Our plane was on time amazingly and on arriving at our destination we went to some wetlands and found some interesting birds before going to the hotel.

In the evening we did a night walk with lemurs, snakes, tenrec etc BUT of course you have to find idiot tourist who still insist on touching the wildlife even though they are told not to – shame on them.

Next morning in the same park, more birds and some interesting insects – especially the venomous cockroach that there is no antidote to. We feel very safe here even with locals walking around the forest with spears – everyone is friendly and no sign of any protesting or trouble.

One of my favourite birds so far on this trip we found here.

To get to our next destination we need to take a ferry – a small motor boat, but to get on board we have to sit on the edges of a zebu cart, not comfortable but fun.

Unbeknown to us we had to wade ashore at the other end and of course we had on trousers and boots, oh well carry boots and trousers get wet – they needed washing anyway.

We are supposed to be going straight to an island for birds and snorkelling but a miscommunication meant the hotel did not think it was organised – they rang the agent and found it was but then they had to get it all together, find a boat driver etc which took around 1.5 hours.

We eventually start of on our island adventure for birds and snorkelling – the birds were great especially the nesting Tropicbirds.

The snorkelling off the beach not so good due to the tide now having turned and the wind having got up as it does later in the day. Our pirogue boat driver said we could snorkel from the boat where it is better coral but there is no way we would have been able to get back in the steep sides – maybe 20 years ago…, so unfortunately the snorkelling was a dead loss but the sail back was lovely and so peaceful.

At this point we balanced our finances and could not work out a transaction from Egypt for $135 at a gift shop – we did not buy gifts. After contacting the bank it appears that somehow our 2 ice creams we bought after walking for hours in Luxor were charged incorrectly – no chance of the money back though, the most expensive ice creams in the world.

Back to current time and we set off for an hour down a dirt track to a remote National Park Tsimanampetsotse, on arriving they want us to pay but it is supposed to be included.  We have no cash and after about half an hour they get hold of the hotel and realise it is paid and we are allowed in – delays not great for finding birds as the hotter it gets the less you see. Not sure about this hotel doing this twice, maybe they hope people will just pay up or maybe just communication issues.

Lovely Park with good birds and a massive group of ring-tailed Lemurs. 

It is dry forest and very brown but a walk to a sink hole is like a desert oasis, very green and supporting quite a variety of life.  The ladder down looks too scary for us though.  On route is the oldest Baobab tree in Madagascar at over 1600 years old – impressive.

At night while at dinner a fly was buzzing and then settled on the table only to drop dead instantly – wonder what on earth they put on the table cloths…. 

All the tables have little orange side lights – and of course Steve has to be different and managed to change ours to purple – looked very odd.

Back to Toliara via Zebu cart and ferry to carry on to Zombitse, a 6 hour journey by car.  The distance was not so much but the roads…..  They are supposedly tarmac but there are more holes than you can poke a stick at and some are very deep, 4×4 track would be faster,  our driver goes from 60 to 5 and back in no time and swerves all over the road at speed to avoid holes. 

Not at all the most comfortable journey but I am very impressed with his driving, especially as vehicles also pass each other with very small gaps, I would take at least twice as long to drive the same route.

Zombitse-Vohibasia is another lovely dry forest park with endemic birds and lemurs not found anywhere else. 

The lodge here is basic but with no light but it is very nice and has a comfortable bed.  There are also mouse lemur’s jumping around all over the place which is very cute to watch.

Further on to Isalo National Park, firstly we pass a large river and a fairly prosperous town.  All due to sapphires, loads of people in the river searching for them – tempting, it would be fun to try.

Then we come away from the flat plains and into mountainous territory (although still dry) – very attractive rock formations. Sunsets here are lovely and in the distance there are rock formations that look like 2 storey houses with netting over, an optical illusion – very odd.

The bugs in the park are really unusual, and of course more lemurs and birds of course. 

Our room here has an amazing view of the mountains and it is a very peaceful place with lots of stars at night.  It is a lovely room but the sliding doors are so heavy we really struggle each time we want to sit on the balcony.

Not much sun the second night at sunset but quite dramatic.

Another long drive to Ranomafana National Park with the road in much better condition until the last 40km then there are massive craters in the road.  At least our stomach muscles must be getting a workout trying to help our bodies stay stable.

One of the things we have found unusual is the amount of Eucalyptus trees here, they are everywhere it is like being in Australia.  Apparently they were brought in for wood and have now spread everywhere (No Drop Bears Though).
Another surprising thing is that wifi works even in many remote locations and national parks.  Not all but much of the country – it works better than the wifi in the UK.

Another basic hotel in Ranomafana but seemed OK apart from the mattresses being like a V – thick at top and bottom and thin in the middle.

The park here is a wet forest and very hilly and we spend many hours over 2 days going up and down steep and tall steps – exhausting but worthwhile for the birds and lemurs spotted. 

We should have had a 3rd morning but we were too stuffed to do any more hills.  On coming to check out we got surprised when they charged us for our packed breakfast.  Breakfast is included and we asked for a packed one the day we went to the park really early, they said they would do sandwich.  It turned out to be not only a Footlong (subway) but 2 foot long roll with not much in, not sure how anyone could eat all that.  Back to check out and they charged $20 for this, we argued that it was breakfast and at no point did they say they would not do packed breakfast and would  count it as lunch, but they were very stroppy and rude insisting it was lunch so no choice but to pay.  First and only people so far that have been rude and nasty.

Driving around Madagascar there are plenty of police check points, fair enough but some are just ridiculous as in one stretch of around 3 km there was 3 check points and no roads off anywhere…….

Lots of fruit and veg for sale and it looks lovely, not sure about the meat hanging in the heat though.

Our hotel in Miandrivazo was nice, but no mossie net – so far we have not encountered many plus I have been super careful as they love me so much. But despite this being a room inside a solidly built hotel and on second floor with no balcony and after we sprayed flyspray around I got eaten alive all night – if only for a simple mozzie net.

Last stop is Kirindy Forest which takes us 3 days to get to, first day 6 hour drive to Ambositra, then a 9 hour drive to Miandrivazo – the worst road yet some parts so slow it took 1 hour 40 mins to do 40km – and this is a tarmac (supposedly) road with not much traffic.  Apparently no work has been done on it for over 10 years since a cyclone. Last section another 6.5 hours some of which on appalling bouncy dirt track.  All the tourists here are joking about bruised backsides.

The Avenue of Baobab’s is interesting but not as impressive as I was expecting – that happens when you have seen so many photos I find.  We have a chance to come back later at sunset but we have decided our bodies can’t take the extra 2 hours of bouncing.

Kirindy is another dry forest with a special lemur (not seen often) it is the smallest mammal in the world at 9cm long.  They also have the giant mouse lemur – also we did not see as it comes out after rain.

We were lucky though as most people come hoping to see the Fossa, we are all hanging around the area and a guide says he has seen it.  Most people here are birders so walk sedately knowing not to scare things away, unfortunately a group of 6 regular tourists just ran at it and off it went.  We did a night walk and saw some other Lemurs and then tried again for the Fossa with no luck, but then on pulling out of the park there was an animal in the road,  a Fossa but the lights scared it and off it went, at least this time we got a really good look at it, but no photo.

Other things of note are that everyone we come across, guides, hotels etc thanks us for coming and caring about their wildlife.  One guide told us that each visitor helps over 1000 local people. 

Their is a lot of poverty and begging but on the plus side the kids seem happy and are free to roam as we used to when we were young.

I also love all the different forms of transport, some cities like Toliara have very few cars and the rickshaws can be foot driven or bike or recently the odd motor one. 

Around the country are all forms of cart, hand pulled or pushed, toboggan like ones that they sit on down hill but have to push up with heavy loads.  Very ingenious people.