Ultimate Madagascar Adventure with G Adventures
Trip notes on G Adventures website
2nd May 2019 - To Madagascar
Feeling a bit guilty leaving work a couple of days early, but flights and tour dates forced my hand. Three weeks in Madagascar here I come. Flying with Air Kenya via Nairobi; 8 hours, a 6 hour layover and a further 3 hours. Glad I have a night off before the tour starts. Journey very smooth, I even managed to sleep most of the 8 hours to Nairobi. A combination of a 1:30am flight and a flat bed worked wonders.
I spent the night at the Asia and Africa Hotel and pretty grand old hotel near the airport. I'd read that Tana traffic is horrible so as I fly out again tomorrow I saw no point sitting in traffic in and back out again. Lovely hotel and just what I need to get a good night's sleep.
But not before I try the local brew. Three Horses Beer. It tastes OK for a lager but I've heard they have some local rum here which sounds much more my thing. I'm sure I'll come across that at some point on the trip.
3rd May 2019 - Morondava
I'm guessing today will be my last lie-in for a while. Time to laze around the hotel before the 5 minute drive back to the tiny national airport of Madagascar. Only a short flight today, less than an hour over to the west coast to Morondova. In Tana this morning I was worried I had packed wrongly. It was decidedly chilly. But I needn't have worried in Morondova it is hot, hot, hot.
After checking in I headed out for a look around and I liked what I saw. Paved roads for a start. Morondova is obviously one of the ricer towns in Madagascar. As the starting off point for anyone seeing the Baobob Alley and Tsingy National Park lots of tourists (in Madagascan terms) pass through. I walked along the road parallel to the sea without actually seeing much of it. The land between the road and the sea is taken up with bars, restaurants and hotels. After 15 or 20 minutes I turned up the main road through town.
The main street is busy street market, main shopping area and generally where people seem to be. Pedal tricycles and tuk-tuks are cruising up and down looking for passengers and not surprisingly for an ex-French colony everything is in French or Malagasy. By the end of this trip I will have just got use to saying merci rather than kap khun krap and will probably then get the wrong one back in Thailand.
On the way back to the hotel I did find a way through to the sea so here it is and the brilliant blue sky behind.
4th May 2019 - Morondava/Kirindy Forest
An early start to the day to see the sunrise at the Baobab Alley. Up at 4am and on the road at 4:30. It better be worth it.
We get to Baobab Alley well before sunrise and the place is surprisingly quiet. So plenty of time and space to wander around and get some photos.
The Baobab are big, especially the trunks. Big solid striaght trunks supporting an out of proportion small canopy. They are a striking sight and I must admit this is one of the better sunrises I've seen.
After a couple of hours enjoying the cool morning and completely draining my camera battery with all the photos I'd taken it was time to drive off down the alley and on the Kirindy Forest. But first up a stop at the Baobab T'amore. The loving Baobabs entwined with each other.
Along the way on the national highway which consisted of a heavily pitted dirt single track road we had a couple of mechanical issues among the 4 vehicles. Each driver would be watching out for the vehicle coming around the corner now and again if it didn't we'd wait up until it did. One such stop was a village during market day. A busy and colourful scene all laid out under a giant baobab. If we weee going to plan a mechanical here would be a great place to plan it. We watched the scene in front of us played clapping games with the kids and generally had a fun half an hour or so.
We are here for a forest walk to see the lemurs but before we get going we are rushed out to the front. In the bushes just outside the car park is a Fossa, a Madagascan Puma, the island's biggest carnivore.
The fossa sits there in the woods giving us all plenty of time to get some photos it then slowly stood and wandered off across the road and into the forest the other side. We are told three fossas are often scene near the centre, they hang around and steal scraps from the kitchen given half a chance.
Not long into our walk we spot a small group of White Lemur in the trees above us.
First we spot one then another, there are four in total draped across the branch above us. They keep one lazy eye on us but the day is getting warmer and they are happy to just lie there and we just snap away.
Once we've photographed them for every conceivable angle we reluctantly head off down the path. A little while later we hear another guide call and head off down a side path towards him. Then we spot them, the other type of lemur in this area, the brown lemur. First a nervous looking juvenile with gorgeous eyes looking straight at us.
The family was near by, cue more lemurs lazing around in the trees.
A little further along is a young male down on the ground. They are obviously very used to tourists wandering around as we come over and take photos and it just sits there and poses. A little later the whole family come down and hang around in front of us cleaning each other and I think enjoying the attention.
After dinner we headed out for a night walk armed with head torches looking for the nocturnal animals of the Kirindy. The guide we had was fantastic he spotted things that it look us a few minutes to see even when he pointed his torch straight at it. First up a lemur of some kind. This one was relatively close but only the size of a large mouse.
Next up right next to the path was a very sleepy boa constrictor. By the look of the lump in it's stomach it had eaten recently so just lay there as we crowded around and took photos. You would think it would've found a spot a little away from the path but maybe it really was just too full to move.
Next up another very small lemur. They really do just look like little stuffed toys stuck up in the trees. If they didn't move a little now and again you'd be sceptical of whether they were real or not.
Last up a red something lemur. A bit bigger and despite being red still not easy to pick out amongst the leaves.
5th May 2019 - Kirindy Forest to Bekopaka
Today was a travel day. Only around 80km to get up to the Tsingys but 7 hours or more for travel time plus and hour or so we took for lunch.
We were travelling on National Highway 18 one of Madagascar's major roads and the only one in and out of this area. We met lorries carrying goods, vans packed full of passengers and carts pulled by zebu the cattle you see all over the island.
Again we had stops of mechanicals and at one we were right next to a field where they were harvesting peanuts. Dawn started chatting to a local who crossed to road into the field and the next thing we knew she was in there with them beating the earth off the plants, picking off the nuts and throwing them into the net.
Who knew peanuts grow underground? Do all peanuts grow this way? We a away from civilisation for 4 days, no internet, no Google so I have no way of knowing.
Along the way we have to cross the Tsiribihina and Manambolo rivers by local ferry. The 4x4s drive down the bank and out onto the barges which are just two smaller boats tied together and powered by what looks like little more the rotorvator engines.
We get the four vehicles on and jump on ourselves for a gentle float down the river and across to the other side with no dramas at all. Lorries can't cross so whenever a lorry comes along they have to completely unload it, carry it across on the barges and then reload to another lorry the other side. I bet Amazon don't offer free dilivery out here.
Just before dusk we arrive at our campsite which will be home for the next 3 nights. Quite nice permanent tents, a lovely spot down by the river and great hospitality. I think we'll cope very well without the internet and even without power for most of the day.
6th May 2019 - Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park - Little Tsingys
Up fairly early to avoid the worse of the heat. (it is getting up to 38 or more which is hot but it still feels way cooler than Bangkok at the same headline temperature.) We jump onto dug out canoes which have been strapped together for stability and we head off down a beautiful wide gorge. Along the way we stop off at a couple of OK caves and we see a sacred sight where some early ancestors of the Malagasy people died but this really is just about the gentle ride through the gorgeous gorge.
After a couple of hours we jump off on the other bank to explore the Little Tsingys. These spiky limestone rocks have narrow channels running through them that we squeeze through. The locals call this the labyrinth and without guides we may never have come out again. The one below was particularly narrow and I couldn't get my shoulders and rib cage through at all. So for me it was down on all fours to crawl through below where it was a little wider.
The walk involved quite a bit of clambering up and over rocks although in really tricky gullies there were a few strategically placed rocks and ladders to ease our way a little. Along the way we climbed up to two viewing areas to see the jagged rocks from above; there looked great against the greenery all around.
But soon it was down again through the rocks and back into the labyrinth.
7th May 2019 - Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park - Great Tsingy
The plan for today was to hike the Great Tsingy but a bout of sickness hit the camp 4 people were laid low and for 24 hours looked very unwell. Overnight I had a few visits to the toilet so I decided at 5am when they were leaving to skip the hike. As it turned out by 8am I was fine but I don't regret the decision seeing the state the others were in. If it had developed into what they had the 90 minutes rough ride, 5 hour hike and 90 minutes back would've been hell.
So I hung around camp, lay in the deck chair, chatted with the others, well the one other who actually wasn't that bad and had surfaced, and read my book. I had a lovely relaxing day. The others arrived back around 13:30 had lunch ans wasted away the rest of the day. It's nice to have a nothing day now and again when on holiday.
As the day went on the four slowly appeared and as the day went on they looked a little brighter which considering the long drive tomorrow is definitely for the best.
8th May 2019 - Bekopaka/Morondava
Today we drive all the way back to Morondova rough roads, very basic ferry and more rough roads broken up by a lovely meal.
It was four hours on the roughest of roads to reach the river crossing. Before crossing we stopped at the same restaurant we ate at on the way up, the Mad Zebu. The quality of the food is amazing. The chef trained somewhere posh but then came back to help out his family in their local restaurant. So here in the town dedicated to the river crossing is a serving really top notch food. I had the zebu (local beef) which was slow cooked in red wine with glazed vegetables and it was gorgeous. The food we have had here has had more than a little French influence but despite that it has been very, very good.
At the ferry crossing our 4x4 stalled and wouldn't restart. They pushed it onto the ferry and loaded on the other vehicles; our drivers then spent the 30 minutes or so chugging up river with the bonnet up tightening this and tapping at that, but I think the main problem was overheating which was understandable.
Over the next couple of hours we made a few stops to cool the engine and eventually decided to jam ourselves in to the remaining vehicles to try to make sunset at Baobab Alley. It was a tight squeeze and a bumpy ride as they raced back.
We got to Baobab Alley just after sunset which meant we missed the beautiful reds, blues and purples but it did allow us to get some arty shots of the trees under artificial light.
Back at the hotel it was time for a couple of THB beers to rehydrate and a nice meal. After dinner I tried the rum from the bottles lined up behind the counter. Local rum with various ingredients added. I tried the ginger and the orange and cinnamon but both were disappointing. You alcohol flavour drowned out the other flavours and the alcohol itself wasn't really rum-like, just the basic local alcohol flavour you taste the world over.
9th May 2019 - Morondava
Today is a lazy last day of the first part of my tour. Today we say goodbye to some of the group before meeting up with a few new people tomorrow in Tana. I spent the day wandering on the beach and having lunch in town.
The beach is huge with gentle sloping sand and with the tide out the gently breaking waves are way off in the distance. There are very few people around just a few locals tending their fishing nets and the odd boat bringing in its catch.
I wandered up through town and had lunch at a restaurant at the other end of the market. Seafood and pineapple pizza followed by ice cream; one scoop of vanilla flavour and one baobab flavour. The baobab was a subtle flavour slightly earthy with a hint of chocolate of coffee. Town was as busy as before we headed up to the Tsingys. Lots of fruit, veg and fish on sale and the tuk-tuks and tricycles coming and going.
On the way back along the beach I saw a man and a woman fishing close to the beach. The guy in the boat and the the woman at the other end of the net slowly moving through the shallow water judging by the buckets full of fish others were carrying I'm guessing there are plenty of fish around even this close to the shore.
So after watching the fishermen at work it had to be seafood for dinner tonight. But what kind to choose. When I saw the Grande Royale on the menu my mind was made up. Langouste (crayfish), gambas (king prawns), crevettes (prawns), a crab and a whole fish all served on a big silver platter. It was all delicious and a daren't think what it would've cost in the UK, but here in Madagascar 60,000 ariary or about £12.50.
10th May 2019 - Morondava/Antananarivo
Today was taking up with flying back from Morondova to Antananarivo. Travelling in the middle of the day meant we missed lunch so soon after hitting the hotel I headed back out in search of food, saw a sign for Indian and I was sold. Down a corridor, down some stairs along another corridor and in a transport cafe type setting I actually had some rather nice Indian. Stuffed full of curry, rice and naan and waddled back to the hotel and crashed out for the night.
11th May 2019 - Antananarivo
A free day in Tana so after making full use of the internet to make a few phone calls I headed out to take a look around. I stopped off at the Tourist Information and opted to take a guide for a 3 hour walking tour. Tana is built on a few hills with a flat plain down below. The upper levels contain the old Royal Palaces, the mid-levels are quite well to-do and contain most tourist hotels these days and downtown where real life happens. First up we headed up towards the Protestant and Catholic churches remnants of the English missionaries and French colonialists. The steps leading up gave a great view of the city laid out below.
The mainly cobbled streets wound around the hill and were lined with run down French style buildings. Lots of street food carts selling pastries (spring rolls, samosas, bread, stuff served with rice and some selling cakes. There were woman washing clothes and kids playing in the streets. At the churches there were weddings taking place.
We started to wind our way back down to the mid-levels and then came to the steps to downtown.
Down below was a mass of people and felt like one big market place. Hand-made and repaired stuff, lots of food stuffs, clothes and everything else needed in people's lives. The streets were lined with very run down colonial style buildings and the cars were mostly old and European. We headed down to the Railway Station; being a French colony they left behind little in the way of infrastructure and the railway is long gone. The railway station itself has recently been renovated and new just contains a few tourist shops.
The three hours flew past and we soon headed back to the stairs back up to Place de l'Independence.