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Published: October 26th 2022
*********Anyone not keen on snakes, please note that the last 4 photos have snakes in them so stop when you get to the dinner at African House
After a night in Tana we had to be up at 3am to be at the airport by 4 to check in for a 6am flight. I woke up at 2.50am, thinking firstly, I don’t want to get up, secondly, why do I feel strange? A minute later I knew why as I raced to the bathroom with a very severe bout of vomiting. Eventually, after cleaning up and showering, I put my towel back on the rail, which promptly fell off the wall! Clearly, it was not going to be a good day.
I made it downstairs with packed bag, but of course could not eat or drink. We reached the airport on time only to be greeted with the news that the plane was going to be 3 1/2 hours late. A common occurrence on Tsaradia. We checked in and started to wait the 5 hours for the flight. Daniel & Harry thought quickly and despite the
early hour arranged for the group to visit a children’s home where Daniel knew the manager. I just curled up in a chair. There are no official seats in that part of the airport only a couple reserved for security staff. Daniel sat me down in one then took the group off to make the most of the unexpected time. I tried to sleep apart from a couple of emergency bathroom visits. I think the security people came to move me at one point but took one look and left me alone. The man found a box to sit on instead.
It was a tough day to be ill because we were travelling but on the bright side, I wasn’t missing any wildlife! Eventually the plane took off and I only had to make one dash to the back of the plane. I think the cabin crew were going to make me wait as they were serving drinks until they saw my face.
The next day I was over the worst, but could only sip water. Harry kindly made up
Shaman of village near Black Lemur Camp
In front of sacred tree protected by fencerehydration drinks for me with small amounts of salt and sugar. It definitely helped. By the afternoon I was doing a long walk which required scrambling up vertical screes, being hauled up by guides from the top with Daniel holding his foot under mine to stop me slipping back down. He said he was amazed I managed to do it given I hadn’t eaten for 2 days.
I should explain the guiding system. Daniel & Harry are the tour leaders, ( Harry does all the management & logistics, monitors our water intake, checks we don’t forget anything, gives out hand gel regularly and makes sure we walk at the right pace, mora mora being his motto, slowly, slowly. I can only think of him as Superman!) Twice one of our 4x4 vehicles broke down and Harry had a replacement in an hour. I really don’t know how he did it especially as one time we were a long way from any town.
But everywhere we walk we have to have a local guide, according to National Park rules. The local guide may
Pounding rice.
Young lady is very skilled, using breeze to separate out husks then have one or more spotters who walk off the trails to find wildlife. They all communicate by phone. So we can be quite a party at times but the guides are always quick to help if we need hauling up slopes or a hand to balance on rocks, or help finding a way through the forest to get a good view of an animal. Scotty and Barbara usually went their own way with a guide to do a short, level walk.
We stayed one night at Nature Lodge, one night at Black Lemur Camp and then two nights at Iharana Bush Camp. After three ‘one nighters’, (including Tana) it was good to stay for two especially as Iharana was one of my favourites.
This northern segment started at Nature Lodge in Montagne Ambre which has its own microclimate. Being high it is much cooler than the surrounding area. We saw interesting wildlife but I didn’t like the climate.
Black Lemur camp has a confusing name as there are black lemurs
but not in that area. What they do have are black Perrier’s Sifaka which is why we went there. The Sifakas are in a separate group from lemurs as they have the longer arms and legs and walk upright. What also makes Black Lemur camp special is the proximity to a village where 90% of Black Lemur staff come from and we went to visit the village.
It was a fascinating experience. It was a Sunday so most villagers were sitting around in the shade of a central tree having the regular village meeting. We arrived at the edge of the village but could go no further until Harry & Daniel went to the shaman’s house to meet with him. Our first hurdle was to check with the shaman if it was an auspicious day to visit. If not we would have to return to the camp. It seems it was, so he then walked us into the centre. We had to stand at the side while they halted the meeting and again Harry and Daniel, now accompanied by the shaman, went to talk to the Head man & a couple
of elders. The head man was dressed in shorts but with a very smart pastel coloured lightweight jacket which clearly reflected his status. The shaman spoke in support of our visit, there was some discussion, then they came back to us and the shaman explained ( and Harry translated) that we were very welcome as long as we showed respect to everyone, and especially to their sacred site in the village. We all agreed and set off.
So we were shown around, stopping to see rice being pounded, then having a try. It is hard work. The young woman in charge of the youngsters who were pounding looked very severe and a little scary. Daniel had taught me a phrase so I could ask politely if I could take a photograph. I took the risk and asked her and she burst into a beautiful smile. I think she had been as nervous of me as I was of her. I took the photograph and showed it to her and we were both happy.
The shaman took us to the sacred site which
is a tree surrounded by a wicker fence. It has been there since the village was founded and provides a connection to their ancestors. Most Malagasy people are animists even if they are also Christian, and honouring ancestors is also very important. If anyone has a problem or needs help they can go inside the fence with the shaman’s permission and ask for help. Otherwise most people are not allowed inside unless there is a special reason. After explaining all this, the shaman then gave us a blessing. It was very moving. General in terms of wishing us good fortune, enough to eat etc, very simple, but one phrase that really hit home was he hoped we would always have people to love us. Then we were allowed to take his photograph by the sacred site and show him the pictures.
As we walked around we passed a hut that was unusual as it had the door closed and he explained there was a new born baby in there.
The village is also the base for a Fanamby project to reforest the
area with endemic trees. We were shown around the saplings and germinating plants by the three villagers organising it with great pride. The last year of Covid they had a target of 60,000 plantings but in fact they achieved 80,000 and this year they hope to reach 100.000! An amazing achievement as they grow all the trees.
You don’t have to be in Madagascar long before you see the devastation of deforestation. It scars the countryside and especially the hills but there are no easy answers to stop it. People need space to grow crops and graze zebu. The other big factor is charcoal. 92% of Malagasy people still cook using charcoal ( which is produced from wood), even in the towns where electricity is available. In rural areas it is also used for heating. As we drove along the road we saw what a big business it is. Huge amounts of charcoal are stacked up for sale and there is a constant movement of people delivering it to other areas. They can buy it cheaply in the countryside where it is produced and charge three times as much for it
in the towns.
The other statistic which is quite horrifying is that 20-25% of the surface of Madagascar is burnt off EVERY year. That is astounding. It is done so that when it rains new grass will grow which feeds the zebu cattle. Harry said zebu are Malagasy people’s bank. It is how they accumulate wealth. He finds the deforestation upsetting as it reduces wildlife habitat but at the same time understands the pressure on the land. It is a painful situation. Burning off is also risky as we saw when the wind changed direction and nearly set a house on fire. They light fires when it is windy because it covers a larger area more quickly but needs lots of watchful eyes.
The last statistic for this blog is that over 90% of the people have to live on less than $2 a day, so there is a lot of poverty, very evident in the towns but along the roads where people (including children) put sand or stones in some of the potholes and then stand with hands out when a
vehicle passes. I never saw anyone stop to give them money but I assume it must happen or you would think they would stop doing it.
I have seen poverty in other countries but here it is concealed a little by the huge amount of fresh vegetables, fruit, fish and to a smaller extent, meat available everywhere. Plus, in the bustle of small towns and villages people generally seem cheerful, but of course it is impossible for an outsider to know how difficult life is.
On the way back to Black Lemur camp I said that I could have lived in the village. It was very organised, clean and with a real sense of community. Just like a well run campsite. The very smart receptionist at Black Lemur camp then returned from work and she walked by saying hello to us, a real contrast in her ‘work clothes’ compared to the other villagers.
The main RN (route nacional) roads are bad, potholed, too narrow for the endless freight lorries and full of pedestrians, pousses ( like rickshaw
bicycles), and animals. But it was when we turned off the RN to reach the remote lodges like Black Lemur Camp, Nature Lodge, and Iharana that we realised things could get much worse, and they did. There were no roads but just vague tracks, washed away by the heavy rains and hurricanes, forming great gulches and steep sided sand banks. I wanted to take photographs to show you but I couldn’t. It took all my effort to anchor myself with both feet jammed in position and both hands grasping handles in order to avoid being thrown about and bruised. Sometimes we averaged four kilometres an hour on these tracks.
Our next lodge, Iharana Bush Camp almost gave me my wish of wanting to live in the village. Daniel explained in advance that Iharana Bush Camp doesn’t use keys. He didn’t bother to mention that neither do they use doors, or what we think of as doors. Buildings are open above about five feet, ‘doors’ are simply a few sticks of wood with a curtain behind. Walls are again a few strategically placed pieces of wood. It was always windy,
The wonderful airy Iharana Bush Camp
Back door & terrace. No glass of course often blowing the curtains horizontally. When I first saw it and how open everything was I thought, ‘help’ how can I live in here. No chance of keeping animals or insects out, or having much privacy. Strangely, within half an hour I had adjusted and loved it. The bed did have a mosquito net. It was very clean with a large bathroom and it was so airy! I would have been happy to stay much longer.
It was at Iharana that I heard the most bizarre question ever. We had finished our main course and were waiting for dessert. Daniel wandered around looking for geckos etc as he usually did. Then he suddenly came back to the table and said, ‘ Do you want to see a hissing cockroach giving birth now, or after your mango mousse?’ I voted for after for obvious reasons ( when you see the photo you will understand). The new born cockroaches were like small grains of rice and very wriggly.
In front of the camp was a beautiful lake and behind it
a 35 kilometres long stretch of Tsingy, or karst limestone pinnacles. The first evening we climbed a small Tsingy outcrop to reach a lookout point where we had snacks and a sundowner drink. It was a calm peaceful evening, with the only thought in our minds being how to negotiate the way home in the dark across the treacherous and sharp pointed Tsingy after drinking alcohol. We all made it but I am not sure how!
The following day we did a walk across a bigger area of Tsingy, which was challenging. The Tsingy is pointed and razor sharp so you need to be really careful where you step, and you can’t put you hands out to protect yourself without risking a cut. We walked for over an hour to reach a suspended bridge and then after a short break, walked back again. It provided interesting if other worldly views across the Tsingy and a completely different landscape.
The night walk saw us finding two snakes, frogs as well as more mouse lemurs. On the way
back to camp we suddenly found ourselves in someone’s garden as we blundered into zebu and chickens in the dark. No-one seemed to mind.
On days where we stayed in one place we had a long morning walk of 3-4 hours, a shorter afternoon walk and an evening walk. When travelling on, depending upon the journey, we fitted the same pattern of walks in where possible around the travel. So for instance, if we moved on early in the morning we might miss the morning walk but do two later in the day. There was never any idling, we were either travelling or walking and looking for wildlife.
Each lodge was different. Some had limited electricity, perhaps only three hours in the evening, which made it difficult to keep everything charged, and chaos if trying to pack a bag in the pre dawn darkness until I learnt to wear my headtorch in the room. Others had electricity for 24 hours. But we all found that even when the lights were on they were not powerful enough to see
Tsingy
Sharp limestone Karst scenery, difficult to cross by.
The biggest surprise for me was the quality of the food. Everywhere we stayed the food was well cooked, varied (although main courses relied heavily on fish, chicken and zebu) with plenty of fruit and vegetables and always beautifully presented. I am not sure if this was a result of their French colonial past but certainly excellent pain de chocolat and croissants were usually available at breakfast as well as fruit, other breads and eggs cooked as you wished. Oh, not forgetting the real chocolate mousse, heavenly! ( But not for breakfast, of course!)
After Iharana bush camp we travelled south towards Nosy Be (Nosy means island and Be, big). Again the road was unbelievably rough. The last hurricane took down a number of bridges which have not yet been replaced, although Japan is funding two long replacement bridges in other areas. The plan was to reach a plantation by late morning, have a tour around it, have lunch there and then drive to the coast to take a boat to our next accommodation at Eden Lodge.
The plantation was interesting. We saw ylang ylang trees which looked almost like vines as they lop the trees to keep them low so the flowers can be picked easily, cacao trees which produce chocolate nibs, black, red and green peppercorns and other crops. Our only disappointment was that they send the chocolate nibs to France to be processed so no free samples.
Then at lunch we met the lady who set up the restaurant and tour side of the plantation because she was bored. A larger than life character from Cameroon, the wife of the French engineer owner/manager, she kept us all laughing and even managed to get Daniel up dancing. He was so embarrassed we all had to get up and dance to help him out. Eventually we had to say goodbye and set off to meet the boat at 3pm.
This timing was unusual as in most parts of coastal Madagascar the wind picks up in the afternoon and passenger boats rarely venture out.
Being aware of that, Harry had checked with the hotel and asked if we should get there in the morning but they said the weather was good and the sea would be calm, so to meet the boat at 3pm. They were seriously WRONG! The journey was horrendous. It was a smallish boat, big enough for the group, luggage and a couple of crew but it was fitted out as a day dive boat, benches around both sides, spaces for air tanks in the middle and nothing else. There was very little to hold onto apart from the bench, which was very hard and as soon as we left the shore the waves picked up. From then on the boat constantly lifted up out of the water and then crashed back down violently.
I don’t know how we all managed to stay on board. Each crash down rattled teeth and brains. It was very uncomfortable. We all felt battered and bruised by the time we arrived. The man with the vulnerable back had received too many jolts and had difficulty walking for the next week. The rest
of us felt bruised but I felt I had escaped reasonably lightly.
We all groaned as we sat down the following morning but expected the bruises would soon ease. However I found the pain worsened over the next two days and I couldn’t understand why until I showered again. I hesitate to put this in the blog as it might fall in the category of ‘too much information’ but pursuing a policy of full disclosure, here goes. The friction/crashes had created a line of huge blisters & that was the cause of the pain when I sat down. Ten days later they still have not gone completely but at least I can sit.
So the impact of the boat ride was dramatic for a number of us but the really sad part was that Harry was devastated by it. He spends all his time protecting us to be let down by the hotel. The hotel management gave us wine with our meal as compensation which really didn’t make up for the discomfort especially for Mike who
Suspensión bridge - waiting my turn
Lorraine stopped to take a photograph, only one person on bridge at a time missed out on four or five days of activities because of his back.
Apart from the journey, Eden Lodge was a superb place, right on the beach. We each had huge 5 star ‘glamping’ canvas bungalow complete with attached en-suites and massage tables. As I zipped up my door I noticed it stopped a couple of inches short of the floor and thought, oh dear. Then I laughed out loud at how ridiculous that thought was when I had spent the last two nights basically in the open! There was a mosquito net over the bed anyway.
From Eden we took a boat ( not the dive boat which we all refused to go in again) to visit Lokobe Reserve for walks ( where we saw 2 boa constrictors) and Tanikely Marine Reserve for snorkelling and saw a good mix of reef fish and four turtles. As we came down from the forest in Lokobe Daniel tried to hurry us as he was afraid we would miss the tide. We did! By the time we reached
the beach the sea had disappeared somewhere in the distance and our boat with it. The only option was to walk through shallow water as far as the nearest boat as they then agreed to give us a lift out to our boat which had to stay in deeper water as it was bigger. Harry said to leave backpacks on the beach and he would get help. We thought he meant a man in a pirogue might row them out but when we looked back there was a row of men walking behind us, each with a backpack. We really were pampered. Then it was back to the airport after three nights in Eden Lodge for our flight back to Tana once more.
We arrived in Tana in time to check in, wash and change then set off for dinner at African House. By this point I was tired and would have been happy to eat at our hotel but as the dinner was booked, and African House specialised in Malagasy food, and Daniel had arranged for a woman who works for the charity, Children of Malagasy, to join
Charcoal, big business
In some area grass is stuffed in top to stop charcoal falling out. In others raffia is used to hold stacks together us, we all jumped into the vehicles and were off again. It turned out to be a strange evening. AH has a very good view as it on top of one of the hills that make up Tana. However, it was Friday evening rush hour so the 40 minute journey took 90 minutes. There was no view as the sun had long since set.
Then we had not realised we were eating outside and it was freezing. They did give us blankets and had a huge fire in a brazier but it was still very cold. The food was ok, but nothing special and it took ages. It was only the next day I learnt why it dragged on for so long. It seems the waiter had a friend hiding the other side of the fence and between every course he hopped over the fence to spend some quality time with the mostly concealed friend. This had only been visible from the other end of the table as the fire blocked my view. At long last we reached our hotel and thankfully went to bed.
Difficult to overtake on RN routes
You never know if the vehicle in front will suddenly swerve to avoid potholes or pedestrians So this segment proved to be the toughest of all because of illness, the boat ride/blisters and demanding walks but it was also the most rewarding in terms of wildlife seen, the remoteness of the lodges and the feeling of experiencing the real Madagascar, not the resort hotels to be found in places like Nosy Be. I have mentioned the challenges we faced to reflect the reality of travel in Madagascar. It is not easy logistically and we could not have done it without Harry. Despite all that I would not have missed any of it. Well perhaps the vomiting and the blisters! But I am sure you understand what I mean, it was well worth any discomfort. I hope some of the photographs of the scenery and wildlife demonstrate that. I haven’t been specific about what we saw where in the text but I hope the photos will help you appreciate how much we saw.
On the next segment we catch up with some of Madagascar’ weirdest creatures.
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