Category Archives: Outdoors

Adventures, Hiking, Madagascar, Outdoors

Andringitra, Madagascar

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Early on during our stay in Mada we took the opportunity to explore a bit more of this amazing country. The Darwin Project’s trimester planning meeting in Antananarivo was postponed and left us with some spare time.  We are fortunate to have a small house next to the Ny Tanintsika office in Fianarantsoa.  This we share with a Dutch/German couple. We also had an American ‘couch surfer’ stay with us for a few nights. We decided to take the opportunity when we were all together to go on a tour of Andriginitra National Park. We did a bit of research and decided it made the most sense to engage a tour operator. They are called Chez Dom tour guides, and you can find them in the restaurant by the same name in Fianarantsoa.

Andringitra is not the easiest place to travel to by taxi-brousse (the local transport). We contacted several guides and prices always vary greatly.  Some guides quoted twice as much as others and didn’t even cover transportation. We ended up paying 400,000 Ariary each in total for four days (which is about $45USD per day). There were five of us. This included transport, guides, park entry, food and porters.

On the first day, we drove until about 3pm.  We stopped abruptly in a rural village, got out, and next thing we know we’re off walking. There was a bit of miscommunication, as we thought we had engaged porters to carry everything. Turns out they carried everything – except our bags.  Alex and I had brought a reasonably heavy backpack and a smaller backpack between us. It was ok though, good practice for carrying the packs. We walked for about three hours, which was quite strenuous as it was mostly uphill. There were some very picturesque views, abundant unique plants, in one of the remaining forest ‘corridors’ in Mada.  It really was quite beautiful. We got to the first camp at 6pm and were told we would stay the night there. However, we asked what time we would need to start walking in the morning to reach Pic Boby (highest peak in the park) by sunrise.  “1am!!!” we were told. We managed to persuaded our guide to walk another hour to the next camp so we could get at least another hour sleep. 2am we were up again and trekking in the dark. Our guide didn’t have a torch (so Malagasy) and we had to lend him one of ours. He had also been drinking a bit of toaka gasy (local rum) the night before and consequently forgot his jumper and long trousers. Needless to say he was freezing when we got to the top. He didn’t complain though, and let us stay up there as long as we wanted.

We reached the summit just before sunrise, and it was beautiful. Granite domes and ravines as far as the eye could see. We were the first to make it to the top and were quite possibly the highest people in Madagascar at that moment. We rewarded ourselves with some snacks, but didn’t stay too long as we got cold quickly. The walk down was also tiring, but rewarding as we saw the scenery that was hidden to us on the climb due to darkness. When we got back to camp, a simple breakfast of bread and coffee never tasted so good. After an hour or so of rest, the porters made it clear we needed to move again. They started some loud music and dancing to wake us up, and we were off. Another three hours walk (7 in total that day) and we made it to our second camp. The next day was a shorter hike (3hrs) to Camp Cutta. This place was really special, host to several families of ring tail lemurs and a natural swimming pool complete with bar serving cold beer! What a way to finish our hike.

If you like spectacular scenery and a decent amount of hiking, we heartily recommend Andringitra National Park. Relatively speaking, it is quite affordable and host to some really striking, other-worldy landscapes. Sometimes it really felt like we were walking on the moon. If you can go in a group of 3-5 persons, this is ideal to share a 4WD and costs. Don’t expect too much in the way of wildlife, however if you do stay in Camp Cutta, you will meet some very friendly ring-tails. Four and a half stars!

Adventures, Hiking, Madagascar, Outdoors

Ranomafana National Park

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Ranomafana National Park is a stand of rainforest covering more than 200 square kilometres, sitting on the eastern edge of an escarpment that runs like a spine down Madagascar. It is a relatively short (3 hour) winding and potholed drive from Fianarantsoa. Even for this country, one of the world’s top five “megadiversity” countries according to Conservational International, it is extraordinarily species rich, It boasts 12 species of lemurs, 265 bird species, chameleons, geckoes, frogs and eight species of carnivores, including the elusive fossa.

We stayed in a nice bungalow at Manja Hotel overlooking the river about 8km further on from the National Park in Ranomafana town http://hotelmanja.com/. Most hotels are in this area, unless you can afford the more expensive hotels near the park. We engaged an excellent guide, Theo (he is in the Lonely Planet, but his number has changed) +261 33 04 244 02. He even has a species of frog named after him. The first morning we started at 7am and walked until about 2pm. We were both exhausted. We saw many weird and wonderful creatures, including some cheeky sifakas playing right at our feet and some lovely primary and secondary forest. One leaf tailed gecko completely looks like a piece of bark, I mean completely.

After hitching a ride back to town with some local university students (Theo had taken them on a night tour then night before), we walked to the local swimming pool, which is fed by an underground spring. It was hot, good for the muscles, but HOT! We also indulged in a 30 min massage for about $4.50. After that is was back on the road for a night walk. Our guide spread banana on a branch and several mouse lemurs came to snap it up, sooo cute! Then we were off to find some chameleons, and we were not disappointed. Theo has an uncanny eye for finding the most camouflaged of creatures. The next day we ventured out to an arboretum that was set up by an Englishman almost twenty five years ago. It was a lovely place, with many native and exotic species. We would recommend going early in the morning or late in the afternoon to avoid the sun and heat.

 

Adventures, Madagascar, Outdoors

Hello Madagascar

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The question we get asked the most – why Madagascar? Most people who ask know there are many reasons one would want to visit this island nation, and David Attenborough’s documentaries have undoubtedly helped promote the unusual flora and fauna. For us, there are many reasons, mostly relating to the environment, people and animals. The biodiversity and high endemism of the island is staggering. 80% of the countries plants and animals only live in Madagascar! The rate of extinction is alarmingly high, so we thought we need to go now.

The more we read about Mada, the more intrigued we get. This country split off from Africa approx. 160 million years ago. Yet humans only stepped foot on Mada approx. 2000 years ago, even though the eastern coast of Mozambique is only 1000km kilometres away. The tribes of Mada were geographically isolated, yet for a country over 1500km long and with 22 million people, they all speak the one language, Malagasy, which is closer to a Malayan-Borneo language than any other. This truly is a unique and fascinating country.

After nearly three months in Europe, Mada was quite a culture change. We had learned a few facts before we came, such as it is listed as 151 out of 178 countries on the Human Development Index. Comparing our last stop (Germany), you almost couldn’t think of two more different countries. The travel guides such as Bradt and Lonely Planet steeled us for high crime and poverty. One traveller wrote that the taxi ride from the airport to town would make you think you are driving through one of the dodgiest places on earth. So we were a little relieved on our taxi ride. Perhaps in part because we have been to other developing countries, but in many ways it seemed ok. Bustling shop fronts, people walking around in fashionable clothes, in many ways Mada is a very happening, modern place. The travel guides make it sound as though Antananarivo (the capital city, shortened to Tana) is extremely dangerous, and we were a little wary on our first few days. But we got the hang of it quickly and never really felt threatened or unsafe. Of course, in one of the world’s poorest nations, there is the other side – non-existent waste management, polluted waterways, beggars and homelessness. But on the whole, we felt quite comfortable in Tana.

We stayed at Hotel Jacaranda http://www.tana-jacaranda.com/description_en.html $23 with ensuite, or $18 with shared bathroom. It has hot water and a restaurant. We recommend.