Our journey inland began early the next morning. We loaded into our little bus and set out for a long journey. When I say long, it’s not long because of the distance, but because driving in Madagascar is an adventure of its own. The roads are not taken care of, and you spend a lot of the time slowing down to avoid potholes. One can also be stuck in village traffic along the road. For these long drive days (6-10 hours), Our guides make sure to stop every two hours for bathroom breaks. If you need to use the restroom between them, no problem! Madagascar is full of bush toilets! One perk to using a bush toilet is that it’s clean.
Our first destination outside of Toliara was in Ranohira where we would be visiting Isalo National Park. Isalo National Park has a lot of unique rock formations, a few oases, and about a million steps, all at the end of a very long hike. We went for what was described as a leisurely hike (they did say it was long) that was supposed to end with us having a BBQ picnic lunch and seeing Lemurs. The hike did end with us seeing Lemurs, but we first had to hike through what felt like Mars in the sun with no shade. It seemed like hours. It wasn’t the most enjoyable hike, but it was beautiful.
The oasis in the middle of the hike was absolutely beautiful. It looked refreshing, but no one had the energy to change into a swimsuit. We all just sat around resting and enjoying the view, preparing for the rest of the walk and the dreaded stairs.
Just to be clear, those steps are made out of rocks, which vary in size, height, and shape. They were no easy feat. However, Seeing the lemurs at the end of the hike was a treat. We had been waiting for this moment.
Unfortunately, we quickly realized that there are many lemurs in the area because it’s a picnic spot, and like other wild animals, they want to steal your food. They’re cute when they are in the trees but not when they are trying to steal your lunch! {For the best view of the video click the four arrow symbol in the bottom right hand corner of the video)
After we ate, our guide asked us if we wanted to continue the hike to visit another oasis and waterfall, but the group quickly said no. Everyone was exhausted and ready to relax. During dinner that evening the locals serenaded us with music as it was their independence day. It was a nice way to end the evening.
On our drive the next day, we stopped at a reserve where lemurs live. The locals maintain the habitat and make sure it won’t be ruined or destroyed. This place felt like the jackpot for lemurs, the King Julien lemur. Well, it’s actually called a ring tail lemur, but the locals like to call it the King Julian lemur as that is the character’s name in the movie Madagascar. There were lemurs everywhere! Jumping through the trees, eating, sleeping. It was incredible! We didn’t want to leave. There were also so many locals guiding us through that I had my own personal guide. He would always try to find the best view through all the trees and branches and even found some chameleons. He even saved my hat. When the wind blew it off, he was able to catch it while nearly falling into the mud.
From there, we went to our hotel in Ambalavao. Ambalavao is a small town in the mountains. Our hotel was very charming with a lot of character. It had a gate and a guard, which was a first. It also had a paper factory where they made paper with pressed flowers. We got a tour of the process, and we purchased some of the work.
After the hotel tour, a friend and I decided to take a walk around the town, but I quickly felt uncomfortable as I felt I stood out like a sore thumb. Madagascar in general isn’t overrun with tourists, and this town definitely didn’t have any. We walked along the crowded streets and looked at the stores, but I was eager to get back to the hotel. I didn’t take any pictures in the town as I didn’t want to stand out more than I felt I already did. However, I did take a picture of the church for my dad.
One interesting thing, because it was the independence holiday, the town square had some festivities which included a very simple and small Ferris wheel. This wasn’t the first Ferris wheel we had seen. To get the Ferris wheel to move people would climb up the side of it to pull it and make it move. I’m always in awe of the ingenuity in other countries. How can they have so little yet be so resourceful? The night ended with dinner, you guessed it, at the hotel.
The next day we were off to Ranomafana, the rain forest! Visiting the rain forest was definitely the highlight of the trip as we saw a conspiracy of lemurs. Yes, I had to Google that, but a group of lemurs is called a conspiracy. Additionally, the rain forest is also where we saw beautiful chameleons and geckos with incredible camouflage.
Trekking through the rain forest is an adventure in its own and there is no guarantee that you will see anything. However, the guides we had were always top notch. There was always the lead guide, and then other guides that would wander around the Andasibe-Mantadia National Park looking for the lemurs. Once they spotted one, they would yell to the guide. Then we would usually head off the path, through the trees, branches, and shrubbery and try to not only see the lemur through the thick of the rain forest but try to get that perfect picture. Spoiler alert, I didn’t get many.
The first park we visited was Perinet Special Reserve. We did a lot of trekking, and didn’t see as many lemurs as we would have liked to have seen. However, we did see a golden bamboo lemur (which I did not know existed before this trip), a red belly lemur (which again, I had never heard of before this trip), a satanic leaf tailed gecko (do I need to say it again??), and a greater bamboo lemur. I guess we did see quite a bit!
The great bamboo lemur was supposed to be the highlight as there is only one, and her name is Simone. Fortunately, the guides know where she usually stays, so we were able to see her eating her dinner of bamboo before she quickly fled. Our guide said we were lucky with the lemurs we saw as some groups don’t see any lemurs.
After seeing Simone, it was time to head back. It was starting to get dark, and as you can imagine in the rain forest, the ground was wet. We walked back slowly and cautiously so that no one would fall. By the time we got back to our van, everyone was exhausted. We had a short drive to our next house. When we arrived at our hotel, the locals bombarded us trying to sell us tchotchkes and vanilla. It was a bit overwhelming. However, they did make some sales from our group (not me).
We were disappointed to find out that we had to take like 300 steps to get to our rooms as our rooms were seemingly at the top of the mountain. We then came back down for dinner (which some decided to skip as they didn’t want to make the trek down and then back up. I think we all slept well that night.
The view the next morning from our room at the top of the mountain was beautiful. It was a shame we had to leave already. However, there were still more lemurs to see. My favorite lemur (which I didn’t know existed before this trip – shocking) will be introduced in the next post. Stay tuned!
Have you had a chance to experience lemurs. I’d love to hear your story in the comment box below. If you don’t want to miss any of the upcoming posts on Andrea’s trip through Africa, be sure to subscribe. It’s easy to do, and the posts will come right to your inbox each Wednesday.