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Published: October 21st 2023
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A quote famously said by Ralph Waldo Emerson, the American philosopher. To be fair our destination wasn't bad. It is just that you really had to want to get there.
Our destination was the Parc National de Bemaraha and the gateway village of Bekopaka. The Parc is known for its wildlife but particularly for the once-sacred limestone pinnacles called Tsingy. In the case of the Big Tsingy the pinnacles are like stick bundles 100m high. Below are jungle oases with tarzan vines and caves with a cooling breeze.
The access route was via a series of rock steps, ladders and safety lines so you can climb to the top and get a panoramic view across the eroded massif. Biero, our local Sakalava guide, moved with such elegance through the narrow gaps and across the traverses. I had the finesse of a drunken soldier.
To get to the top did require a certain level of stamina. A portly German passed us having given up the climb and looked distinctly worse for ware.
We saw brown and white lemurs and collared iguanas. The spiders were colourful and the size of a small hand. On the way back we saw
our first chameleon. It wad balanced exquisitely on a branch, it's narrow body camouflaged into the surroundings. It moved as if in slow motion, unfussed by the intruding humans.
By the time we were walking back to the car the sun was past the apex and the heat gripped your throat and limbs. Water tastes so sweet in these conditions. Our comfortable ensuite bungalow with its cold bucket shower made it all worth while.
On our second day we had a very pleasant trip up the gorge of the Manambolo river in dug out canoes. Red legged stilts paraded like primadonnas. Egrets roosted in abundance in the high trees. Kites and parrots soared overhead. A kestrel devoured a lizard on a high ledge. We then toured the Little Tsingy near Bekopaka village. These are a smaller version of the same karst formations we had visited the previous day. We were treated to white lemurs dancing across the surrounding trees.
We persuaded JeanBe to take us to a local (as opposed to Western) restaurant for a simple lunch of Zebu rice and beans. These restaurants serve a chilli sauce that needs to be used in moderation. Phew it
was spicy.
We planned a restful afternoon and witnessed our first rain of the trip. We did not realise but this would be significant later on. And does it rain. Water cascaded off the roofs as lightening bolts danced around us. New streams were created; one just passed our front door. By the evening all was calm again.
So what of the journey. Bekopaka is 100km / 5hour drive from where we had been dropped beside the river Tsiribihina in Belo sur Tsiribihina. First we had to wait on the outskirts of town until about ten 4x4's were ready to make the journey with the obligatory police escort. The police either grabbed a lift in a 4x4 or rode a motorcycle. JeanBe had seen one tourist turn up in Bekopaka in just his underpants. 'Dehalo' (Bandits) had taken everything.
Our journey to Bekopaka had been fairly uneventful. The driver Jacko slowed to a crawl for the big pot holes and ruts of which there were many. The return journey was a different story. The rain from the previous day had turned parts of the track into a quagmire. We were again in convoy and inexplicably one of
the vehicles ahead was a Nissan dorma van with only rear wheel drive. It didn't have a hope.
Periodically it would get stuck and one of the other 4x4's would tug it free with a cable. The system seemed to be that once you had taken your turn to pull the Nissan out of trouble and hence got ahead of it you could then continue on your way.
This is where we learnt that our driver Jacko's nickname was Rambo amongst the other drivers. One his colleagues said to me "Rambo is one of the best drivers". Good because he also had to cope with a disintegrating gear box! While waiting for another driver to sort the Nissan, Jacko proceeded with Jane's help to strip down part of the gear box including padding a spring with a bit of old cloth. Whatever he did worked for the duration.
We didn't hang around in Belo sur Tsiribihina except for a tasty lunch. We had to cross the Tsiribihina river to continue our journey south. The 'car' ferry had two metal hulls each with a Chinese rice flour engine. They were joined by wood cross pieces and then more
slats of wood to support four vehicles. It was slow progress against the current. We sat at the bow next to a hull which had a square opening. This acted as a speaker and made the engine sound like a John Bonham drum solo.
The rest of the journey that day was straight forward. It had not rained to the South. Jane said she always wanted a 4x4 experience; well she sure got one.
PS the Nissan van did make it through thanks to the other drivers.
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