Africa: Madagascar 2016

"We have only feet, but there are a thousand trails."

Madagascar Village Elder

On April 16, 2016, Don Peddle, Paul Delaney, Melanie Mason and moi headed to Madagascar for a month of adventure and fun.  This is our account of that trip. Enjoy!!

Madagascar

Situated off the southeast coast of Africa, Madagascar,  is the fourth largest island in the world.  Having developed in isolation, the island is famed for its unique wildlife.  Although part of Africa, there is none of the famed animals from that continent - no lions, no hippo's, no giraffes, no elephants, no nothing - what is here are lemurs and fossa's and chameleons.

Traditionally, the Malagasy economy has been based on the cultivation of paddy rice, coffee, vanilla and cloves.  But despite a wealth of natural resources and a tourism industry driven by its unique environment, the country remains one of the world's poorest and heavily dependent on foreign aid.  The average daily income of the Malagasy people is around $2.00 Cdn.

This former French colony, Madagascar is unlike anywhere I have been to - fantastically beautiful, amazingly diverse for its size (similar to France) and still so unspoiled.  Vast tracts of the country are virtually uninhabited and seldom explored, and nothing here comes easy.  But that's what makes it so unique and rewarding.  Plus the fact after a day of bumping around in a dusty 4WD, you can be served a meal worthy of a fine European restaurant, capped with exquisite wine - that's definitely my kind of travel!!

We arrived in Madagascar's capital, Antananarivo, a day later than originally planned due to a flight delay and this forced us to immediately hit the road.......

Antananarivo, Madagascar's capital......don't look like any capital I've been in before!

Laundry day in the capital (that is drying laundry on the banks).

The roads in Madagascar are horrendous at the best of time and, because of this, car rental agencies will not rent you a vehicle unless you also rent a driver.  We decided, due to limited time, to go with the full-meal-deal and our driver was named Mommy (seriously that is his name). It felt odd calling a man Mommy, but without a doubt he was a class act all the way!!

There are no actual stores of any sort outside of the capital.  You want anything....anything at all, simply walk down the street!

Zebu's, the African cow, shares the road with everything else!

After 4 hours of dodging Zebu's, rickshaws, perpetual walkers and transport trucks, we arrive in......

Antsirabe

Madagascar's 3rd largest city, Antsirabe assaults the senses with throngs of colourful rickshaws filling the dusty streets and a sprawling vibrant market.  

We went to an embroidery "factory" where we saw ladies making very detailed embroider tablecloths depicting Madagascar scenes.

Paul, the perpetual shopper, tries to haggle the price down by 10 cents.....good job Paul!!

Colourful rickshaws, also known as pousse-pousse's, are the only form of taxi in Antsirabe.

The Madagascar people came  predominantly from Malaysia and Africa, so the rickshaw (a common site in Malaysia) also obviously came with them.

One of the first things you notice here is that there is no garbage to be seen.  There is none of the  excess packaging on products that is so common in first world countries (that would normally end up on the streets), and even if there was, it is recycled.  Everything is used and re-used and re-used again, including the rice stalks used to make brooms!

Refrigeration is practically non-existent for the most part and the local butcher will only kill what they expect to sell that day.

The next day we are up and on the road again.......

The real 'beast of burden' in Madagascar isn't the motorised type, and with no horses or donkeys to be had, that task falls to the human kind.  Bicycles can be loaded down with anything, including bags of charcoal (as seen here).

No Walmart here!

Time to stop for a bite to eat and a cold beer, and perhaps a show!

They sing and dance for tips, which is probably more profitable than farming rice.

After another day of driving, we head for the......

Andringitra National Park

Parc National d'Andringitra is perhaps the greatest national park in Madagascar.  It encompasses a majestic central mountain range with two gorgeous valleys on either side forming a paradise for trekkers (our reason for coming to this remote part of the country).  First we have to get there....

We pass thru the community of Ambalavao and stop to get supplies for the three days on the trail.  The kids love getting their pictures taken and then afterwards looking at the viewfinder to see themselves.  Perhaps the first time they actually saw their own faces!

Ambalavao hosts the largest zebu market in the country every Wednesday and we were there to see it all happen!!

The true currency in this country is the zebu and herdsmen will travel for hundreds of miles to sell their zebus here, commanding upwards of a healthy 250 euro's for each.  The herdsman will bring their cattle (via the only road) from as far away as Tulear (800 km away) to sell here.  We were lucky to see it!

Kids clamour over each other to be next to the Vazaha (white person or foreigner) and of course we love the attention!!

After hanging out for awhile at the zebu market we move on.....

Getting anywhere in this country is a challenge and 4WD is not a luxury but a necessity.

A typical farmer's house consist of two to three floors.  The first floor is usually reserve for the livestock, with the second and third floors for the farmer and his large family.

Rice rules!  They grow two types here....the water-log type requiring terraces (as seen here) and a dry type normally grown in the mountains.

We finally arrive at our trek starting point where we get our guide and porters and we start off.  It's a three day trek up the Namoly Valley, over the mountain range and into the Tsaranoro Valley on the other side.  We also plan to do a side trip to Madagascar's second highest peak (Pic Boby)......

DAY 1:

The trek starting point, and like always, the kids come out of the woodwork for a picture!

After a couple of hours of hiking we come across these two spinster sisters selling beer.  Yes, in the middle of nowhere, they had set up shop and we were willing customers.  

A chameleon we found along the way (the lizard....not Melanie)!!

Karma, karma karma, chameleon,
You come and go, you come and go.
Loving would be easy if your colours were like dreams:
red, gold, and green, red, gold, and green.

Culture Club, Karma Chameleon

After three hours of hiking, our first camp is just over the ridge, at the foot of the mountains.

Camp #1 at the foot of the mountains that we'll go up and over tomorrow.

The local bar and cookhouse.

Don't know what's coming but it sure do smell good!

"Jeeze bye's where's supper already?"

Philbert, our guide, eating toast and Nutella and drinking a very large cup of tea!

The Gents washroom was closed for cleaning so we had to use the Ladies washroom!

George the Chicken soon to be George the Ginger Chicken.

DAY 2:  We have a long day ahead of us today.  Climb Pic Boby and hike nearly 25 km.....a very long day!

Now I ask you?  Is this not a great view first thing in the morning?

The morning dew from the river next to our camp.

And we are off!

Approaching the massif.  Straight up from here!

It was about now that I started to feel somewhat out of sorts.

Taking a breather, unfortunately for moi, I'm not feeling any better.

Melanie makes an executive decision and for me, this climb is over.  Montezuma's Revenge got ahold of me!  The guide, Paul and Don continue the climb up.

Pic Boby at 2658 metres.   Good job boys!

Wish I was there!

The view from Madagascar's second highest peak.

Back down we go.

And now the long 20km walk to Camp #2 begins.

The only consolation now is that the trek is flat and/or down.

Lunch time for those of us that can eat.

Lord take me now.

"Are we there yet?"

This type of chameleon can only be found in this area, so we were lucky to see him.  He was grey when we picked him up!

Impressive views.

After crossing over the divide we enter what the locals refer to as the "moonscape".

'Moonscape', maybe not, but interesting topography, definitely.

We see our first lemurs as they clamour up the mountain for the night and we clamber down for the night!!

DAY 3:  The last day of trekking is all downhill and only about 3 hours in duration.....

The Tsaranovo Valley.  

The rice paddies of Tsaranovo Valley.  Love the green colours.

Looking back from whence we came.

Passing thru the rice thrashing area.

Off in the distance is Mommy and our jeep.  Except for me getting a little under the weather (OK a lot under the weather), this was a wicked trek!!

We stop to have lunch at the Camp Catta.  So named because of the Lemur Catta, or otherwise known as the Ringtail Lemur!

And the last word goes to Mr. Wide-eyes....."Are you talking to me?  ARE YOU talking to me?"

After completing our trek in Parc National d'Andringitra, we take an antiquated train to the eastern coast of Madagascar.  They said it would take 7 to 12 hours....sounded like a good idea to us.  Eighteen hours later, it wasn't sounding so great....

The train

Built in 1926 by the French, this railway is the last one to operate on a regular basis in Madagascar.  Travelling from the highlands of Fianarantasoa to the east coast community of Manakara on 163 kilometres of track, you pass through rainforest, banana plantations, bridges, 47 fume-choking tunnels and many rural villages....

The train belched out black fumes like a two-stroke engine and everytime we went into a tunnel these fumes would penetrate the passenger cars making some of us to wonder if we would all succumb to asphyxiation!

When the French built the line so many years ago it was a viable operation, but now they are down to one engine held together with spare parts and good luck....we only hoped that the bridges had the same good luck!

The train descended 1000 metres from the interior highlands to the Indian Ocean coast and the rivers did the same, thus making for spectacular waterfalls along the way.

The first-class car meant that we were not crowded into the local passenger cattle car....

....however, one would be hard pressed to call it "first-class" in any other way!

Spectacular scenery was the norm! 

Dense jungle replaced the rice paddy fields of the central highlands.

It wasn't the scenery that made this trip special.  It was the villages and people along the way.  Culture that you could not experience any other way unless you took the train.  Banana's anyone??

The main form of commerce.  In fact, in some communities, the only form of commerce was when the train pulled in to the village.  Hundreds of people would be waiting in an attempt to sell the train passengers food, necklaces, live chickens, anything.....I mean anything!

Lobsters maybe?

After sitting on the hard-benches for hours, each stop became a blessing to get up and stretch your legs.

You often wondered where all the people came from, since many villages we passed only had a 1/2 dozen houses.

First-class passengers did not mean you were treated to first-class meals.  If you wanted to eat, you had to get off and purchase the train-side foods like everyone else, otherwise you went hungry.  

Faces along the way:  The age of innocence as the kids enjoy a freezie.

Some of the fruit for sale were completely unknown to us, such as the two pieces the girl had in her hand.  We would have bought some if we knew what to do with them.

No baby strollers here.

There were only one or two stops where the vendors actually got on the train.  This was one of those stops.  These girls sold cold beer (in this country cold beer is a treat) but waited around for us to finish them because the empty bottles were worth money. Drink up Melanie, the train is getting ready to pull out!

No explanation needed here!

 So we put ourselves through 18 hours of train ride to get to......

Manakara

The Indian coastal town of Manakara was once a major port for the French colonist, unfortunately it, like many other things in Madagascar, has fallen into total disrepair.  Beautiful French colonial buildings stand empty and in need of a lot of work, but we did not come here to lament over that.  We came to cruise the Canal des Pangalanes.  

The canal is a collection of natural and artificial waterways constructed between 1896 and 1904 and stretches 645kms.  It was built in an effort to create a safe passage for cargo boats from the waves of the Indian Ocean, but for the most part it has now silted in and is not navigable.

Bruno Mars, our guide for the day on the Canal des Pangalanes.  OK his name wasn't Bruno Mars  (Angelica) but he looked pretty darn close to Bruno!!

This is our canal tour boat.  Even though it only drew a couple of inches of water, the oarsmen still had to get out a couple of times and push it over a growing pangalane (sill).

Fishermen have set up residence along what remains of the canal and they make good catches, thus making the best of a deteriorating situation. 

The pirogue (a dugout canoe) is the only form of transportation now able to ply these waters.

A coconut harvestor.

She didn't want her picture taken but her husband was happy for the celebrity status!

We stopped at a fisher's village for a stroll around and to soak up the sights!

At one point in time our guide, Bruno, asked us if we wanted to try some coconut?  He solicited the assistance of a brick maker to climb up and gather us a couple.

Twenty plus feet above, without the aid of anything but pure muscle, he gathers us some fresh coconut!!  In my prime I could've did that....lol !!!

Our guide boat captain prepares the coconut for us!

Now this is fresh!

We stopped at an essential oil making factory.  Looked more like a backwoods liquor still to me, but they did make a pretty darn good product.

Madagascar's version of the Newfoundland carnivorous Pitcher  Plant (also called the Pitcher Plant here).

Our meal was cooked right on the boat in a charcoal type BBQ.

Lunch today (as with just about every other day in Madagascar) is fish!

It always amazes me how people are able to prepare 6 course meals with a complete lack of full kitchen facilities!

The rolling waves of the Indian Ocean about 300 metres from the Canal des Pangalanes.

After our visit to Manakara we hit the road again.....

We stop for some roadside fruit.

We also stop to see the world's largest chameleon species, who graciously posed for us!

Me and George the chameleon pose for a selfie!

The above is a video, if you cannot see it, it is because your device does not support it.

Watch as George catches a grasshopper!

We stop for a swim in some thermal springs (just across this river).

The landscape changes dramatically from dense jungle to open savannah.

Madagascar speed-bump!

After a good long drive we arrive in........

Ranohira

Ranohira is well known for being "the door to Isalo National Park".  Established in 1962, this park of sandstone massifs, that are wildly eroded by wind and rain into bizarre ridges (known as "runiformes") featuring wild forms, impressive gorges and canyons.  The Wild West type landscape, dominated  by rugged massive hills that rise up from the flat surrounding grassy plains, attract trekkers from over the world.....as it did us!

Runiformes, as seen from our hotel.

We hike into Isalo National Park and admire the scenery and the various colours of the rocky cliffs.

Our destination on this hot day was a swimming hole, where the water was cool and offered shade from the heat.

We saw lots of wildlife, including this Spiky-Tail Lizard.  For money, he would strike a pose......everybody wants a piece of the pie!!

The Sifaka Lemur.  When on the ground they can only move about by hopping sideways, unfortunately this one refused to come down from the trees and demonstrate, even though we offer money as an incentive.  

"Hmmmm leaves, my fave!"

A twelve foot killer man-eating Dragon........ooops, sorry bout that, I meant 12 inch fly-eating lizard.

The Browntail Lemur showed no fear of us humans, perhaps he knew that we shared a common ancestry.

"Excuse me.  If you want a picture, it will cost you!"

"What?  What? Who said that?"

Ringtail Lemurs scamper around the trails and the trees as thick as flies!

You would think the Malagassy people would capitalize on this little cutie by selling teddy-bear-like lemur dolls (similar to Chinese Panda Bear dolls)  But, alas, no such toy was seen by us anywhere.

We rounded a bend in the trail and a whole tribe of Ringtails were strolling along.  They walked right up to us before beelining for the trees.

After a day of lemur watching Mel takes a cool dip in the hotel pool.

A view from the hotel.

The next day we hit the road again.........

We drive out of the runiformes and head back into the savannah.

Miles and miles of savannah.  You expect, being in Africa, to see herds of zebra and wilderbeest, but alas, except for the scattered zebu, this savannah is barren of wildlife.  The animals of Africa (lions, elephants, zebra, etc) never made it to Madagascar.

This part of Madagascar has a real Wild West feel, such as these people who are panning for sapphires.

Our first sighting of a Baobab tree.

The homes of the local people here are more of the mud & thatch type then the brick type common in the central highlands.

After arriving in Tulear, a nondescript beach town, we head for the tiny village of.....

Anakao

Anakao is a fishing village of 500 residents situated along the southern coast of Madagascar.  We went there to do some snorkelling along the world's 5th largest coral reef. 

There are no roads to Anakoa and as such you have to go by boat.  To get to that boat requires a zebu driven cart to haul you, and anything else, out to the waiting vessel during low tide.

Disembarking passengers being brought back to land.

Our hotel was situated about 1 - 2 kilometres from the village.  We walked there to pick up a supply of beer.

While there are a few hotels around employing the locals, this village is still made up of mainly fishers, and these outrigged pirogues are the fishing vessel of choice.  It seemed like there was more pirogues than people.

The ever present children.  Lot's and lot's of children!  Not much for the parents to do here in the night time I guess!?!?

Having a cool one at the Copacabana Disco.

The pirogue is made from a single carved out log.  One must wonder what kind of arse would squeeze into this AND after squeezing in, how does one squeeze back out???

On a separte day we head for Nosy Ve (Nosy means island in Malagassy) to do some exploring and snorkelling.

If you're a fan of sand, then this is a place for you.  Miles and miles of nothing but pure white sand...personally I find it an annoying medium to walk in and I couldn't wait to get off of it.

Melanie walking pass some fishermen who can catch fish right up next to the shoreline.

Fishermen heading out to the reef (the breaking water in the background is the reef) to catch our lunch!

Some ladies heading home after gathering a day's worth of firewood (makes one appreciate the oil truck).

Melanie had brought 100 pencils with her from Canada to give to the children at a school.  The kids were over-the-moon at getting them and we hope it helped in making their education a little easier!

We solicited the good-ship Peppercorn to take us to another island to do some more snorkelling.

On our way some flying starfish landed in our boat, in fact, one landed right on Don's head (made him feel like King for the day)!

Getting ready for the plunge.

Melanie's first time snorkelling on a coral reef...actually her first time snorkelling period.

Strange coral lined the seafloor.

Time for another selfie!

Fish of all colours could be seen.  Don't ask me the names of these critters cause I don't know.

"I'd like to be under the sea
In an Octopus's garden in the shade
He'd let us in, knows where we been
In his Octopus's garden in the shade."

The Beatles:  Octopus's  Garden.

It felt like we were swimming in an aquarium.

A Moray Eel pokes his head out from a concrete mooring.

Moi trying to capture on film some of the underwater delights.

A very beautiful but also very deadly Lion Fish.

One day Paul and I headed out to the reef to do some surfing on sit-aboard kayaks.  Unbeknows to us, Paul's kayak had a hole in it.  Well it started to fill up with water and soon Paul was in the drink with a sinking kayak and a long long way from shore, with an ebbing tide.....scary and potentially deadly....

....fortunately, these spear-fishermen came along and rescued both Paul and the sinking kayak.  A happy ending to what could have been a very unhappy situation (he did lose his camera in the process, but he was lucky that was all he lost).

The sun sets over Anakao.

After Anakao we head back to Madagascar's capital, Antananarivo, where we start the final leg of our trip, here in this beautiful land.

After returning to the capital Antananarivo from the southern coast (see previous post in the Madagascar series), we hit the road.....

We stayed at a hotel that had the typical resident parrot that patrolled his territory like he owned the place.  Not so typical was the parrot's passion for wine and beer......

....he also apparently had a Facebook account and wanted to add me as a friend!

We needed to pick up supplies.  Five litres of red South African wine ($24 Cdn) should just about do it.

Along the way we saw women fishing for shrimp in the rice paddies.  They use the baskets to scoop the little critters up.

Shortly after passing this waterfalls our jeep blew its transmission and we ended up taking a taxi-brousse to our destination.

A typical town during market day.

Our destination for this portion of the trip was to take a boat down the.......

Tsiribihina River

Taking a trip down the Tsiribihina River means disconnecting completely from everything: for two and half days, there are no cars, no roads, and no internet coverage.  It is an experience of utter relaxation, with little more to do than admire the landscape, take in local life, chat to your guide, sing by the campfire and marvel at the night sky.  The trip starts close to Miandrivazo and covers 146kms of lazy bends all the way to Belo-sur-Tsiribihina.  It takes about 2 1/2 days to cover the distance at a leisurely pace.

DAY 1:

Home for the next 2 1/2 days, but first we have to be pushed (and pulled) out into the river channel.

The "chaland" (meaning motor boat) is a narrow, barge-like boat with two decks.  The lower deck has the engine room, kitchen, dining area and storage, whilst the upper deck is basically a viewing platform with loungers and an awing for shade.

The Tsiribihina River is apparently crocodile infested....."infested" is perhaps a stretch, but we did see this rather 'large' crocodile only minutes after leaving port. 

Time to settle in and enjoy the scenery!

Fishermen shimmer from the sun's reflection as they fish the river for tilapia.

The river (the red colour is from silt not pollution) is the lifeline for the locals.  They use it for all facets of life, from drinking and cooking to cleaning, laundry and bathing.

Cookie also-known-as DJ, depending on which hat he was wearing at the time, could whip up a full course meal from this tiny tiny kitchen......

......but man what a meal it would be!!

Meanwhile we just chug lazily along (notice the smoke from a grass fire somewhere off in the distant hills). There were a lot of grass fires.

We enter the portion of the river known as the "gorge".

River taxi's chug up and down the river carrying practically anything, but the real king of river transportation is..........

.....the river pirogue which is basically a dugout canoe.  The Tsiribihina River is full of them.

We stopped along the way to get a shower and take on some water....

The waterfall provided the perfect cooling off spot and a chance to grab a quick natural shower.

OH GOD that is soooooo good!!

There were a troupe of common brown lemurs hanging around the waterfalls area looking for
hand-outs.

"Fred. Did you hear that?"
"I sure did George.  What the hell was it?"
"I think it was a BANANA!!!!"

"BANANAAAAAA BANANAAA!!! Give me a BANANAAA""

The deck hands loading up on the "blue" water.  This is water that they use for cleaning our dishes and cooking our food in.....like this water is any better than the river water.  I admit it looked better.

We set up camp on a sand bar (only the crew slept on the boat).

The sun sets on our boat for the night.

Our crew started a camp fire while we waited for supper.  At which time we proceeded to abandon our said fire and went and ate our supper...

....after supper we proceeded back to the said fire only to find a group of young fellas had taken over.  Tony, our guide, asked them to do a little singing and dancing for us......so they did!  

Melanie even joined in and did some dancing as well.  Go Mel!!

 DAY 2:

Woke up to Mister Canoe-head walking across the sand flats.  He piled himself, his wife and three kids into this thing and crossed the crocodile-infested river!!

These boats are converted tobacco barges that once sailed this river buying fresh-grown tobacco for the French overlords.  Notice the captain steers the boat with his feet.   This allows hin to lean out and look at where he's going!

We reminded Don what happened the last time he drank three Shirley Temples!

We arrived at a small village and went ashore......

Ladies do laundry along the shore, while a boy herds a Zebu through the town streets.

Straw and reed subdivision

A Zebu-cart laden with bales of peanuts!

When this was a French colony, the Tsiribihina River was a major tobacco producing region, so we went to one of the last reminders of colonization:  A tobacco factory (it wasn't hard to miss; it was the only big building in the village).....

The factory, a French leftover, was in the process of baling 250kg bundles of dried unprocessed tobacco leaves.  That's a lot of 'backie!

Each if these bundles weigh 250kg!  Let's see ....one cigarette weighs 1 gram, etc etc

Visited a blacksmith (he's the guy squatting over the fire) and his trusty billower (that's the guy standing and pumping the two billows).

Corn drying in the sun.

Women pulverising the dried corn into corn meal.

Fisherman hawking his catch.

Painted lady selling fresh picked peanuts.

The village market.

A National Geographic moment!

And then there was this kid....he loved Mel's sunglasses!  And the other kids loved being able to see their reflection in the lens of the sunglasses.

The biggest thing we'll take away from the trip will be the memories of the children.  They loved grabbing your hand and walking around the village with you.  From start to finish, same kids that latched-on originally.

She was getting her hair done and wanted us to take her picture with her new baby (no mirrors here, so I guess she had never seen herself and the new baby).  So how could we refuse.  OK say cheese! 

The local chameleon scampering around the village like a chicken.....all changing colours and snatching flies out of thin air!

Obligatory baobab tree group picture with tag-along-children.

Mel's adopted tag-along-child!!

My tag-along child had a sore finger.  Doctor Brian to the rescue.  A little bit of this, some of that and presto....the finger has a nice shiny bandage on it!  Kid is happy, Doctor Brian is happy, we are all happy together, except now, all the children wants a shiny bandage on their various sore spots!!

Before setting forth on our boat journey we purchased enough pens and note books for a village worth of kids.  Like this village.  Getting the kids organised at dockside we proceeded to pass them out......

...to one child at a time....

....it helps to have Tony, our guide, there to organise the kids, otherwise it would be total mayhem.

Life goes on whether there's a boat full of people right next to them or not!

Many of the Madagascar women paint their faces to help with their complexion and as a protection from the intense sun.

We settle on a sandbar across the river from the village and watch the sun set.

Later that night, around the campfire, the crew from the various boats competed against each other singing songs.  Don didn't care who won, he was just happy to have a cooler to beat a beat to!!

DAY 3:

The last supper!  If you want to experience this boat trip (or any other part of this trip), contact Tony, our English, French, Italian and Malagasy speaking professional guide at (he was super!):
email: rivertripguide.2@gmail.com
Facebook: Danielos Tony Daniel

We disembark at Belo-sur-Tsiribihina from the Salama I.

We hook up with Belaza, our guide for the next portion of the trip, and hit the RN8 National Highway up the coast.....

It's only 100 kilometres to our next destination, but it would take us 4 1/2 hours.  The RN8, while being a national highway, had just come out of the rainy season when the road turns to mud.

You cannot rent a vehicle in Madagascar without renting the driver as well, and with highways like this, I can understand why!

OK, this is ridiculous.  100 kms of this....woohoo hang on!

Our final hurdle.  Getting the ferry across the river.

Truck is on, and away we go.....

.....across the river to the start of our final adventure here in Madagascar.

Parc National des Tsingy de Bemaraha

Parc National des Tsingy de Bemaraha is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and its highlights are the jagged, limestone pinnacles known as tsingy and their impressive infrastructure - climbing routes equipped with fixed cables, ladders, rope bridges, and walkways - that the park has put into place to explore them.  

On our first day we started with a pirogue trip up the Manambola River gorge..... 

For stability purposes they lash two pirogues together.  

Erosion at various waterlines are etched into the cliff face.

The water erosion from the river has carved a bizarre landscape.

Our boatman for this pirogue trip pushes us up river with a long bamboo pole.

The obligatory group shot!

Our boatman bails the pirogue out while we do a little exploring in a cave.

I feel like I've just walked into the mouth of something REALLY BIG ?!?!

Beautiful shapes and colours are etched from erosion into the sandstone.

Melanie....check
Paul......check
Don.....check
Guide.....check
Brian.....wait a minute, where's Brian?

Melanie striking her best cave-woman pose!

Do they serve white wine on this pirogue?

The remainder of the day we explored the.......

Small Tsingy

The spectacular mineral forest of Tsingy de Bemaraha is a nearly impenetrable labyrinth of limestone needles.  The Small Tsingy (so named because of the height of the limestone forest in comparison to the Big Tsingy) circuit takes about 4 hours and explores the bowels of the limestone karsts with two view-points from the top......

Let's enter the magical land of the lemur.....

As soon as you enter the tsingy, you enter a labyrinth of narrow passages among towering pinnacles of eroded limestone.

Without a guide, a person would become hopelessly lost within minutes.

Tight squeezes among the razor sharp walls......

.....and I mean tight squeezes!!!

Squeeze through a tight hole....pop out the other side and then have to climb down to the path below.  Some fun!!

It wasn't all playing around in the bowels of the Small Tsingy, we wanted to see things from topside.  Of course, first one has to get to the top!!!

Remember playing in the park on the monkey bars?  And your parents telling you to be careful so that you don't fall?  A fall here would be very uncomfortable.

I love this stuff!!

Up....down....up.....down...watch your head.....up.

Nearing the top.

"Just haul yourself up Mel, and you'll be up here like me!"

The rock at times just hang there like it's in some form of suspended animation.

Surveying the view of the Small Tsingy from the top.

The view is one of those WOW moments.

Turn 360 degrees and all you see is the limestone forest of the Small Tsingy below you.

Between each pinnacle is a drop to the jungle floor about 30 metres below.

Time to go back.

Back into the labyrinth we go!  Notice the strange trees behind us?

The next day we step our adventure up a notch and head for the.....

Big Tsingy

The Big Tsingy goes deep into the limestone forest passing over several hanging bridges with impressive karstic formations below your feet.  The trail is not technical, even though you harness-up,  but you certainly should not suffer from vertigo.  The Big Tsingy is called that (as opposed to the 'Small' Tsingy) because of the height of the limestone pinnacles.  It covers an area over 700 sq. km. 

The Big Tsingy starts with a 40 minute hike into the base of the pinnacles, and then it is up!

Mel leading the climb.  It's straight up here, hence the climbing gear!

The biggest difference between the Big and Small Tsingy is the height of the limestone pinnacles.  In the Big Tsingy they can reach heights of 65 metres, whereas the Small Tsingy the height is an average of 30 metres.

Other climbers coming up the same way we had.

The view from the top.  

The second big difference between the Tsingy's is the Small Tsingy you spend more time on the ground, whereas the Big Tsingy it is more time on the top and climbing around the pinnacles.

This type of clambering around cliff faces is called via ferrata (mountain route equipped with fixed cables, stemples, ladders and bridges).

I'm left wondering how people of thicker stature get around in these tight spots?

Almost to the top of the second climb.

It is very hot here and all this climbing around wears you out.

The view from the top of the second climb.  Over 750 square kilometres of tsingy.  An area so vast they still discover new species of plants and animals within the stone forest.

The swinging bridge marks the end of the climb for some people as vertigo kicks in.  Unfortunately, if you are unable to cross you have to turn back, there is no other way to get from over here to over there.

Melanie had no issues with crossing even though she was swinging 60 metres above the ground.

This is soooo cool.

Suspended rock.

Heading over to a platform for the obligatory photo.

And now for the obligatory photo.

Me and da missus (with Paul sneaking in the background)

Heading for the bowels of the tsingy.

Getting ready to go spelunking (caving).

Tight cave squeeze (perhaps I should lose some weight).

Melanie hauling herself up the side of the cave via a rope.

Emerging from the cave.  Miss Spelunker 2016!!

After a couple of days climbing around the tsingy we hit the road again.......

Images along the way!

Loading on to the ferry!

"Don't pay the ferryman,
Don't even fix a price,
Don't pay the ferryman,
Until he gets you to the other side;"

Chris de Burgh, Don't Pay the Ferryman 

Unloading.  We paid the ferryman!!

Breakdown # 2.  With the first vehicle we blew a transmission whereas this one lost its brakes.  To fix it, they cut the brake line and we drove the remainder of the trip using only the hand-brake!!

Wheelbarrow?!?!

After a long drive we arrive at......

Kirindy Forest Reserve

Kirindy is a privately managed forest in one of Madagascar's most threatened ecosystems:  its dry deciduous forests.  This protected area of approximately 100 square kilometres is the only place where the world's smallest known primate, the giant jumping rat, occurs.  We did not see one, but it is also the best place to see fossas, which we did see!

We spotted this fossa in the camp reception area (of all places).  The Fossa is a medium-sized carnivore that is found exclusively on the island of Madagascar.  It is the largest mammalian predator in Madagascar and extremely rare to see (which made us feel a little special....even if we did see it outside of it's natural environment).

The next morning Don discovered this fossa napping near our cabins.  Although Madagascar is part of the Africa, there are no animals found here that can be found on the African continent.  No lions, no elephants, no giraffes....only lemurs and the occasional rarity like Mr. Fossa here.

We went on a nighttime walk through the jungle looking for lemurs but all we managed to see was the fleeting glimpse of the rare Coquerel's Giant Mouse Lemur. 

We also came across this 4 foot snake during our night walk.

The next day during our day walk we came across this nocturnal lemur (there are 7 nocturnal lemurs in Kirindy), the Red-tailed Sportive Lemur.  Apparently it is very rare to see this lemur during the daytime and/or night-time, hence making it rare to see at any time!!

Madagascar is the only place where lemurs exist and there are 105 different types: Kirindy Forest Reserve has 8 types of lemur, including the common Brown Lemur...

...and the Verreaux's Sifaka lemur.   

Got a chance for a rare sighting of the Madagascar Mongoose (and baby).

While in the Kirindy Forest we were able to see a male baobab tree.....what do you think Mel?

 After Kirindy Forest we headed for our last stop in Madagascar....

The Avenue of the Baobab.  The national tree of Madagascar is most affectionately referred to as the upside-down tree.  They average 800 years of age here and can reach heights of 30 metres.

There are 9 species of baobab tree of which 6 can only be found in Madagascar.  Apparently, their trunk can hold up to 120,000 litres of water.  For most of the year, the tree is leafless, and looks very much like it has its roots sticking up in the air.

Kids swim in a waterlily infested pond while a lone baobab tree stands sentinel.

And the last word in Madagascar goes to Melanie as she walks the beach in Morondova during sunset. 

Phenomenal trip!  The End!

Well that's all folks.  Thanks for coming along and I hope you enjoyed reading about this island paradise!!


Cheers.....