Home via Mauritius

Anakao was the furthest point we reached on our Madagascar tour. From there we began the journey homewards – in several different stages.

Tana again

On Wednesday 9^th October we set off from Anakao very early, as we had to get back to Toliara in time to catch the morning plane to Tana.  That afternoon, we visited Lemurs’ Park, an attractively landscaped area where several species of lemurs live in more or les natural surroundings.

Coquerel’s sifaka

Black and white ruffed lemur

Ring-tailed lemur

A family of ringtails, with a baby

That was the end of our tour.  We stayed overnight in a hotel close to the airport, and next morning our companions departed for their various flights.  Ours was not until late afternoon, when we flew to Mauritius.

Mauritius

Mauritius never made our list of ‘must visit’ places.  But when we were searching for flights back to the UK from Madagascar, the cheapest was via Mauritius, and it seemed a shame to stop there and not see the island.  So we had a three-day stopover, hired a car and tried to see as much as possible while we were there.

Mauritius is tiny compared with Madagascar, but we still managed to clock up 460 km driving round to various points of interest.  On arrival, we were struck by the cultural differences between the two islands, even though they are not really very far apart.  To get from the airport to our accommodation, we had to drive across the island by what locals refer to as the ‘motorway’: the M1 it isn’t, but it is a decent road, and very well lit. What amazed us most were the flash, modernistic buildings we passed on the way.  It was as if we’d left Africa and found ourselves in a European city.

Part of a modern shopping centre

Of course, the island is not all like that.  Over the course of the next three days we drove on narrow winding roads through towns and villages that were not particularly modern, and sometimes rather scruffy – but still nothing like Africa.  The population of Mauritius includes people of African and Asian heritage, but the latter appeared to predominate, judging by the number of saris we saw!  The Hindu temples probably outnumber the churches and mosques.  There are fields of sugar cane everywhere, and beautiful beaches on the coast.

Part of Hindu temple

Around the island

On our first day we looked around Grand Baie (the resort where we were based), went up to Cap Malheueux (the most northerly point of the island), saw the island’s largest Hindu shrine at Triolet, and spent some time lounging on the beach at Trou aux Biches.  We even had a dip in the Indian Ocean!

Church at Cap Malheureux

Hindu temple complex at Triolet

Trou aux Biches beach

Beach base camp

On the second day we focused on the south-west corner of the island, probably the most picturesque.  First stop was the Grand Bassin, a water-filled volcanic crater with Hindu temples clustered around, and an enormous statue of Shiva nearby.  From there it was not far to the Black River Gorges National Park.  We did a walk (4 km each way) to one viewpoint, and drove to a couple of others.

Grand Bassin

Hindu gods

Giant statue of Shiva

View over Black River gorges

Our next stop was Chamarel, a commercial park which includes a waterfall and the so-called ‘Coloured Earths’, which we found rather disappointing.  After that we reached the south coast and turned west, getting different views of Le Morne Brabant, a dramatic headland which was once the hideout of runaway slaves.

Chamarel waterfall

Coloured earths at Chamarel (digitally enhanced)

Le Morne Brabant

Le Morne from the other side

On our third and final day in Mauritius we visited the Botanical Gardens at Pamplemousses, and then did a walking tour of Port Louis, the capital.  Port Louis is not the most exciting city in the world, but there are a number of interesting buildings in the old town, including Government House, two cathedrals and a mosque.  It is also surrounded by dramatically shaped hills.  We climbed to the Citadel for great views over the city, and walked through the attractively themed Company Gardens.

Water lily in the Botanical Gardens

Giant Amazonian lily pads

View over the racecourse and the hills from the Citadel

Port Louis

Company Gardens

We had lunch on the Caudan Waterfront, a modern development of shops and hotels, and then went on to visit a colonial mansion and estate known as Eureka, situated just south of the city.  Again, we reached the south coast, this time further east, at Le Gris Gris, the most southerly point of Mauritius, where you can see waves crashing against the rocks.  Our final stop was the airport: we returned our hire car and flew to Dubai, and from there to London, thus completing the large ‘circle’ we had begun when we flew to Windhoek on 20^th August.

Caudan Waterfront (night-time view)

Eureka

Period furniture inside Eureka

The iconic bird of Mauritius – the dodo

A waterfall in the ravine at Eureka

Evening on the south coast

Sunset at the end of the trip

Madagascar: to the end of the road, and beyond

Madagascar is a big country.  After leaving Andasibe, we spent the next three days on the coach, heading south, before reaching Ranomafana, another rainforest.  Of course, there were some stops on the way, mainly short ones for taking photos or buying souvenirs.  The only major stop was when we detoured to see Lake Tritriva, a volcanic lake which is small but quite picturesque.   We followed a footpath around the lake, which provided a welcome opportunity to stretch our legs.  At the parking place, however, we were mobbed by crowds of children attempting to sell polished stones.

Lake Tritriva

The vultures gather

One of our overnight stops was at a church-run hostel rather than a hotel.  The accommodation was very basic: we slept in dormitories, had no hot water and the only toilet (which sometimes flushed) was situated in a different building.  However, after dinner that evening we were entertained by a group of enthusiastic dancers and musicians, who provided an enjoyable introduction to Malagasy culture.

The local dance group

Sandie struts her stuff

Ranomafana

On our way south, the weather deteriorated considerably.  It became grey and gloomy, with occasional light rain.  And it was surprisingly cold – we had to dig out all the warm clothes we’d needed for camping in the Namibian desert.

What you find in the rainforest – rain

During our full day at Ranomafana, we did a morning walk in the rainforest, but unfortunately it lived up to its name by pouring the whole time.  We saw a few lemurs, but they were too far away, or moving too fast, to get decent still photos, although Ian managed to capture the rare Golden Bamboo Lemur on film.

Giant chameleon

By the end of the walk, we were soaked to the skin, and shivering with cold.  The nature of our accommodation did not help.  We stayed at a lodge where most people were in cabins perched high on a hill.  To get to our room from the restaurant, we had to walk quite a way along the road, and then climb 90 steep steps.  So we changed into dry clothes, but got wet again going for lunch.  Moreover there was no heating in our room, or in the main building, and therefore no way of drying our wet things.

View from our cabin up the hill

Ranohira

The next day was spent mainly driving, but we had a stop at a community park to see a large number of ring-tailed lemurs.

Ring-tailed lemur

Ring-tailed family in the trees

Our destination was Ranohira, where we stayed for two nights, very close to Isalo National Park, where we walked the next day.  This was one of the highlights for us, so we were determined to make the most of it even though we were not feeling entirely fit at the time.  The rock formations were picturesque.  In the morning we walked to a natural swimming pool, and following a quite elaborate picnic lunch we did an optional walk down into Namaza Canyon.

Cliffs in the sun at Ranomafana

Fat plant

Crocodile rock

Bizarre formation

Fun in the natural pool

Eroded rocks

Namaza Canyon

Anakao

From Ranohira we continued our journey south until we reached the coast at Toliara: the end of National Route 7, which we had followed all the way from Tana.  On the way we stopped in yet another national park to see yet more lemurs and chameleons.

Another chameleon

Black and white ruffed lemur, and baby

After staying overnight in Toliara we took a boat to Anakao, a beach resort further down the coast.  We had some concerns about this, as by then we were suffering from severe diarrhoea, and we had been told that facilities in Anakao were very limited. Our hotel, like others nearby, had no running water.  To make it worse, there had been a change to our itinerary.  Explore groups normally spend two nights at Anakao, but owing to a problem with flights, our group had to stay for three.

We managed to survive the journey, which involved being taken out to the waiting boat in small carts pulled by zebu (Malagasy cattle).  Our accommodation was in beach ‘bungalows’ which to our relief (no pun intended) did include flushing toilets, using sea water.  There were no showers or taps, but buckets of cold water were delivered each morning, plus buckets of hot water in the late afternoon.  For some reason the hot water was mixed with the bark from a tree, which meant that the water was dark brown, even when diluted with cold.   We had electricity for approximately four hours each day.

Getting to the boat by zebu cart

Our beach shack

Washing facilities

Sunset at Anakao

A sailing outrigger canoe

Fun in the waves

There is very little to do in Anakao, so three days seemed an awfully long time.  But in some ways in was the best place to be ill, as we didn’t miss much!  We spent most of our first day just lying on the bed, dozing and generally feeling rubbish.  The two days after that, we felt a bit better, but still needed to take it easy.  However, we did manage a swim in the Mozambique Channel, and two longish walks along the beach, On one of these we passed a fascinating collection of tombs.  According to our guidebook, one tomb has a satellite dish attached, for the eternal entertainment of the occupants.  We did not see that, but one of the tombs we did see had a radio/cassette recorder propped against it – presumably for the same purpose!

A decorated tomb

Entertainment for the ancestors

First days in Madagascar

Ian in particular was keen to visit Madagascar as part of our southern Africa trip. But his research suggested that independent travel around the island was problematic, so we booked a two-week group tour organised by Explore, starting on 26^th September.  We actually arrived in Madagascar on the 24^th, which gave us time to visit the capital city of Antananarivo (known as Tana) which was not covered by the tour.

Impressions of Tana

According to our guidebook: ‘From the right place, in the right light, Tana is one of the most attractive capitals in the developing world’.  This may be true, but in our experience it is also one of the most frustrating.  The problem is that there is a constant heavy stream of traffic, and as the streets are narrow this makes travel a very slow and painful process.

And walking is no easier.  Following our usual practice, we had booked a hotel in the city centre, so we could explore on foot – or so we thought.  In fact, the streets and passageways are complicated, and finding your way around (even with a map) is extremely difficult.  It didn’t help that the reception staff at our hotel (who provided the map) were unable to show us with any degree of accuracy where the hotel was (two people pointed to totally different locations).

In any case, walking around the city can be a nightmare, as the pavements (if they exist) are crammed with people and stalls, and the only alternative to fighting your way through is to walk in the road, at heavy risk of being run over.  We were constantly harassed by hawkers and children demanding money.

Tana traffic

View over Tana from the upper town

Ambohimanga

Ambohimanga is a sacred and historical site, used for rest, relaxation and burial by the kings and queens who united Madagascar into a single country.  We were originally scheduled to visit it on our tour, but were told before it started that (owing to a change in flight schedules) this would not be possible.  It seemed sensible therefore to visit on our free day in Madagascar, before the tour started.

The hill-top village of Ambohimanga is only 21 km from Tana.  We were assured by our hotel receptionist that there were no buses, and we would therefore need to take a taxi, which would be very cheap.  We discovered that every element of this advice was wrong.  We took a taxi, which was certainly not very cheap.  It took ages to get there, owing to the clogged streets and slow-moving (almost stationary) traffic.

We did enjoy our visit, however.  It was good to get out of the city, and Ambohimanga is an interesting if not particularly extensive site.  Moreover, there are great views over the surrounding countryside.

View from Ambohimanga

One of the royal summer houses

The royal gate to Ambohimanga

Contrary to what we had been told, there were no taxis available for our return journey, but there were plenty of buses – the local minibuses, known as taxi-brousses.  We travelled back to Tana is one of these. It was crowded and certainly not luxurious, but it was incredibly cheap.  It was also nostalgic for us, as taxi-brousses are the equivalent of Ghanaian tro-tros, in which we travelled many miles when living in that country.  Although the journey was slow, we were back in Tana in time to visit the rova, or Queen’s Palace, which is still being restored (or rebuilt) following a serious fire in 1995.

The Queen’s Palace, Tana

The tour begins

On Thursday we took a taxi to the airport, to meet our leader Armand and the seven other members of our tour group: a young man from Australia, and six women from England (two friends, and four travelling solo).  Owing to an accident, the traffic was even worse than usual, and it took us the rest of the day to get to Andasibe, our first destination.

Andasibe is in the east of Madagascar.  We stayed there for three nights, and during that time we did three rainforest walks (one at night) in the Andasibe-Mantadia National Park.  The main aim was to see lemurs, plus other animals and birds.  We had mixed success.  On our first walk we caught glimpses of a few lemurs which were high in the trees and difficult to see or to photograph (especially as they move very fast).  However, there was a real highlight when we were able to observe two diademed sifakas rolling round on the ground in playful combat, apparently unaware of our presence, or at least totally unconcerned.

Diademed sifakas at play

Are they looking at  us?

An indri – the largest (and loudest) lemur

Woolly lemurs in their nest

Relaxing after a strenuous day in the rainforest

Cameleon at night

Gecko

Another morning walk resulted in no sightings at all, which was frustrating, especially as we had had a long and uncomfortable journey getting to that part of the park.  But on our way back we stopped at Lemur Island, a sanctuary for lemurs which have been kept as pets.  They are so tame that they will take food from visitors’ hands, and land on their shoulders.  It is not the same as seeing them in the wild, but a great experience nevertheless.

Black and white ruffed lemur

Bamboo lemur

Brown lemur and baby

Red-fronted brown lemur

Sandie gets a new friend