The reason Ranomafana is a rainforest is well, because of the rain and it was raining lemurs and chameleons when we departed on the 22nd at about 8:30 am.
We were expecting another 5.5-6 hour drive and this time Google Maps was fairly accurate. We did the drive in 5.5 hours.
The traffic was very light and being a Sunday it seemed there were far fewer trucks and passenger busses on the road which was surprisingly good with few pot holes and some stretches where we could hit close to 80km/hr however the last 45 minutes was gravel, rock and clay with some serious bumps along the way.
Andringitra National Park is a World Heritage designated site established in 1999 and is part of the Rainforests of the Antsinanan and covers 31,160 hectares.
As in most places to date the lodge offered wifi but as we have said many times before the service is actually ” why try”. First world problems but a hassle when you want to keep your blog up to date.
Our lodging was a permanent tent with an outdoor shower with very hot solar heated water, great views, good food, great staff and an a amazing location. The road to access the camp off of the RN7 was about 23 kms and was very bad. A regular car probably couldn’t make it to the lodge so a 4×4 in our opinion is a must. A great place and we highly recommend it.
We walked about 1 km along a dusty clay road with a panoramic view that was out of a travel Madagascar brochure, past a small village to the “Guides” office where we hooked up with Evenie, a young female guide who happened to speak very good english.
She has only been guiding for four months and has plans to continue on in university to complete her nationally recognized guiding certificate. We were told that to become a guide in Madagascar requires about four years of study and apprenticeship. Guides are required to know the latin and local names of all of the flora and fauna of the area, the medicinal properties of the flora as well as the cultural and historical facts of the area(s) they guide.
Wandering through the “Sacred Forest” we saw many stone constructed markers which identified the location of tombs. They were scattered throughout the forest, in the hundreds, and housed (is that the right term?) generations of families that have lived in the area.
As we crossed paths they commented to the effect that the hike was a waste of time, they only saw one lemur, it was hot outside, my bunions are hurting etc. etc. We don’t have time for people like that but what caught our attention was the lemur comment.
For some reason we weren’t aware there were lemurs in the area and as it turns out there are two diurnal species and three nocturnal species! Missed that in my research.
Within about twenty minutes of our meeting we encountered four Ring Tailed Lemurs and then ten minutes later another 15 Ring tails. As we weren’t expecting this it was definitely a big highlight of our hike. Fantastic!
With the sun high above us the temperature was hitting close to 35 C as we descended our final leg of the hike. On our way we passed an exposed tomb bearing skeletal remains. The remains were those of several Betsileo people who live on the other side of the Andringitra mountain range. These people had stolen the prized zebu from the local Bara people and their punishment was death. The tomb has been exposed to act as a warning.
That evening after dinner in the restaurant we were treated to some local music and dancing.
This was not your “typical” tourist oriented crap that you might expect to find at some all-inclusive 4 star hotel. The musicians came from the local villages and the dancers were most of the staff at the lodge. It was great entertainment.
We’ve searched high and low throughout our travels through 12 countries in Africa to date and it is so difficult to find this kind of entertainment and although the show was short it was a great way to end a great day!