Our flight from Morondova to Tulear was 5 hours delayed due to a foggy morning. We passed the time chatting with fellow travelers and watching some movies on our iPhones. We realized that we didn’t arrange a car hire for Tulear so we phoned around from the airport departure lounge and found a company that would arrange for a driver to meet us at the airport in Tulear. Seems to be our M. O. for this trip i.e. last minute travel arrangements.
Finally we get to travel on a decent paved road. We are not used to riding in a car without hanging on to the above window handle. We drove to the Parc National d’Isalo en route to Antananarivo.
The next morning we arranged for a guide to visit the Canyon de Maki et de Rats (Lemur and Rat Canyons). It was an arduous hike through dry forests full of insects, snakes, birds and lemurs. Our guide pointed out things we would never have seen alone. For instance, we passed a branch with white fluff on it. He touched it and the fluff started to move up and down the branch. The fluff turned out to be a type of cricket camouflaging itself. Nearby there were pink petals on a branch that were actually the same crickets changed into this mature form. He showed us a type of “sensitive” fern that when touched it retracts its fronds.
We arrived at the canyons after sweating buckets. We were hiking at 7 in the morning and the temperature was already in the 30s. We passed a Bara burial site along the way high up in the canyon wall. The Bara are a local tribe that place their dead in colorful wood coffins and leave them in rock caves temporarily. 4 years later they take the remains and move the coffin to a sacred permanent tomb in the canyon. We rested at the entrances of these canyons, an oasis- like area of lush green flora and mountain pools shaded by the high canyon walls.
There are many places were there are “fady”, local taboos. One should never point to a tomb with a finger. Our guide indicated them with his fist instead. Swimming in certain pools of water is also fady if it’s where their ancestors’ spirits reside. Eating pork or goat is fady in certain villages or cities as well.
After lunch we headed to the other end of the park where we hiked to the Piscine Naturelle (nature made swimming pool). This hike passed through colourful sandstone mountain ranges. Our guide spotted ring tailed lemurs leaping about in the trees off the path. We were very excited to see them as it was very unexpected. We followed the family, scrambling down through the hills,to catch a closer look. On our way back up we saw strange plants and insects that we’ve never seen before. Our guide pointed out a small scorpion at our feet!
Madagascar at times looks and feels more like southeast Asia than Africa. We see lush green terraced rice patties in mountain- like settings and pousses- pousses (rickshaws) which are reminiscent of SE Asia. Much of the route nationale 7 which runs from southern Mada up to Tana runs through savannah like dry grasslands and low mountain ranges. The sun is always shining and the weather is hot and dry.
The people are a mix of African and Indonesian looking peoples. Some cities are mostly Black being of African ancestry while others more South Asian looking. Antananarivo , the capital , has a very mixed population.
The people, while somewhat reserved, are very friendly and always smile back. Mada is quite a poor country and there is no running water in many of the villages. The food tends to be more African though Asian samosas and fried bananas as sold everywhere. The Malagasy hot sauce (piment Malgache) is the hottest we’ve ever tried. We tried putting our fork prong into it to taste it and nearly choked!
Our next stop will be Mauritius where we will indulge ourselves a little before heading back home.
