Hitching and hiking the rainforest: Ranomafana national park

Our third night in Anakao brought the start of some pretty unpleasant sickness for Leila but there was no time to rest as we had already planned our return journey to Tana. We needed to get back to Tulear as we had already purchased our taxi-brousse tickets which would take us the first leg of our journey, an eight hour stretch to Anja. We'd been prepared enough to reserve the front seats in the brousse and the journey turned out to be surprisingly comfortable and problem free - it seemed that all the fuss about this notorious means of travel was but scaremongery. Leila managed not to be sick and Ali marvelled at the ride, we even got the driver to drop us right outside our hotel. It was exciting to travel deeper into the country and see the landscape changing as we rose into the central highlands - the hot coast and sparse, arid desert turning to rolling green hills and mountains with waterfalls, terraced farmland and rice paddies. At each stop women would hoard around the car, their arms weaving through the open windows to wave the fruits and produce from the local fields for sale to passengers - plums, lychees and sweetcorn. We started to feel a cool breeze and saw mist and rain appear. The road developed from one which was mostly enormous potholes to an almost normal surface even occasionally with signs and markings. Housing built from mostly bamboo and mud disappeared and brickwork appeared, even second floors. It started to feel like a more prosperous region. Election campaign trucks blasted through the towns, plastering colourful posters of the suited candidates and handing out t-shirts and hats whilst shouting their messages, some even with loud music and dancers.

The Anja reserve is a community run park, 60 hectares in size and home to over 400 ring tailed lemurs. We were yet to see these famous but endangered lemurs which were the national animal of Madagascar, so had high hopes for Anja. Within minutes of starting the tour the next day we saw our first of several families of ring tailed lemurs who playfully jumped around us and we were feeling pretty smug with how all our planning was working out. All that we needed to do for the rest of the day was to pick up a brousse into the nearest town, Ambalavao, a second to the larger town of Fianar, 3 or 4 hours away, and a third onwards to our next destination of Ranomafana... Admittedly these logistics were the weakest link in the plan. After an hour and a half of waiting by the side of the road, all the brousses had passed us full, showing none of the spirit of stopping at any opportunity to squeeze another person in, which we had become used to. Just as we were about to give in and pay for a taxi, we tried one more time to flag a brousse and a 4x4 pulled over.  Some guys had a spare seat we could squeeze into and offered us a lift. Our fortunes had definitely turned when they told us they were passing through Ranomafana so could take us all the way to our hotel.

Ranomafana is a large national park of dense rainforest and magnificent waterfalls. The name in Malagasy means 'hot water' and is so called because of the hot natural springs in the village. Thanks to our new friends, we made it to our hotel in comfort and in good time to meet our guide Emile. Emile is not just any guide but it transpired he was the first ever guide in Ranomafana and has been working in the rainforest for 30 years with the scientific researchers studying wildlife, establishing the protected status of the park and is the one the BBC go to when making wildlife documentaries. He speaks English too which was a welcome relief after so many days struggling in French. Emile didn't mess around, we were to fetch our rain jackets straight away as the night walk was about to commence. The night walk was more of a night stroll really but we still managed to see a mouse lemur and numerous chameleons and saw how they changed colour.

Our two-day tour of Ranomafana took us along the Talatakely and Vatoharanana trails into untouched primary rainforest. Almost immediately we saw the golden bamboo lemur and greater bamboo lemur, which are rare species that they discovered here and towards whose protection the park was established. We camped overnight in the rainforest and Emile found several species of colourful frogs near the campsite, whose chorus of calling sounds could be heard throughout the night! In the morning we encountered a family of black and white ruffed lemurs who were passing nearby. They were all moving quickly between trees and Emile explained that the family was trying to lose the juvenile male to encourage it to find a new family and mate. Budding spotter Leila found a pink-bellied snake which Ali suggested she would want to hold. And she did so - delightedly - and then the snake decided to spurt its scent all over Ali's leg which left him smelling the rest of the morning. Despite this, Ali embraced the wildlife photographer experience and managed to take many photos with the help of Emile and his team who certainly knew how to get a great shot. The only danger in the rainforest turned out to be the numerous leeches that climbed their way up our feet and legs. These stick-like bloodsuckers would weave their way in to clothing to get their feed. Covering our boots with salt was quite effective in the end but we were both bitten once or twice.

After all the excitement, the remaining 500km back to Tana was slow as we decided to split it over two days on account of Leila's delicate digestive system and tales of bandits hijacking the brousses travelling at night. We arrived just after election day, a little nervous of any possible trouble due to disputed results and claims of vote rigging, however there has been none so far. On our return, Tana didn't seem quite so overwhelming as it did at the beginning of our travels, all the craziness of Madagascar seems to have become a lot more familiar.

We are flying home tomorrow, to arrive just in time for Christmas but are only staying for five days in the country before we embark on the next leg of travel to South East Asia. Next stop Kuala Lumpur...

Goodbye ReefDoctor

(Posted several days late due to connection problems!)

We are writing from Anakao, a beach resort south of Tulear where we are relaxing for a few days after leaving ReefDoctor and before heading back across Madagascar towards Antananarivo from where we will fly home next weekend for a one-week Christmas pit-stop.

It has been a week of goodbyes as several other volunteers have been leaving as well as us and we had a farewell barbecue party at the weekend. Everybody helped prepare the food treats, including some delicious veggies, salsa, chips, and cake, and we feasted before the leavers reminisced with highlights and lowlights, and... the 'snorkel test'.

As Ali has now completed his Divemaster course, the time was set for this final and most feared initiation challenge whereby the candidate dons a specially constructed mask and snorkel-funnel, into which beverages of the instructors choice are fed directly to the mouth in a rather unforgiving manner. To say that the chosen beverages were a delicious blend of fine spirits would be some way from the truth. The result was a subsequent demonstration of a series of scuba skills, and sea creature impersonations, performed with inebriated mastery for the amusement of those gathered.

So with a slight hangover and many great memories, we said goodbye to our friends at ReefDoctor. We have had a great time volunteering and it has been quite the unique experience to be part of this conservation effort in a part of the world so beautiful and yet so challenged by its depleted environment and difficult political situation. Whilst we never expected to change the world in three months, we do wish we could have contributed more to the conservation. It seems that turning around the fortunes of the marine life as well as the locals is a slow and difficult process but there is hope for the strong links that ReefDoctor has built with the fishing community to build their awareness and change their methods for the longer term benefit.

The tough 4.15am start, catching the first taxi-brousse at dawn with three large bags was all the fun we expected it to be, as we squeezed in with twenty others and made our way down the sand road to Tulear (this brousse only needed a push start once). We were surprised to find ourselves suddenly in comparative luxury when we boarded the speedboat transfer to Anakao, stretched out on cushioned seats in the breeze, zooming down the coast. Anakao has a beautiful stretch of sandy beach with particularly clear turquoise water and a small island, Nosy Ve, across the lagoon.

We arrived at the Lalandaka hotel, a lovely relaxed clean place, right on the beach, with driftwood tables and white linen everywhere. However, despite this, once again we seem to be the only guests in the whole place. Apparently tourism is very slow across Madagascar at the moment, as the uncertainty of the ongoing election process is putting people off travelling here. But surely it can't have put everyone off?! It is nice that the place isn't overrun with tourists, but a couple of other guests wouldn't go a miss!

As typical in Madagascar, there are no ATMs here, and none of the hotels or restaurants take card so we are having to keep to a very strict budget to make sure that the cash we have is enough to pay the bill when we check out. This is leading to some tough decisions... today we chose to share a bowl of spaghetti for lunch so that we could afford to hire a stand up paddleboard for an hour. Tomorrow we have booked to go scuba diving so rations may have to be even more modest! Anyone concerned that we are going to waste away needn't worry, though, we will be back in Tulear on Sunday where there are numerous ATMs, excellent restaurants and even a gelateria!

The photos below also include one of Ali and an orphaned baby ringtail lemur that we encountered last week...

A day in the life of a ReefDoctor volunteer

0415  Alarm rings and its another early start as the boat is scheduled to leave at first light. With our head torches on, we wander up to the kitchen for breakfast. Its a good day as buk-buk has been made - fried bready nuggets. There's hot water from last night in a thermos flask and we make a cup of tea with condensed milk although unfortunately I have to fight the ants off to get some.

0500 We walk our dive gear down the beach to the boat and head off as the sun is rising. Although it is early, its the best time of day to dive as the wind and tides tend to favour the morning and it is still cool enough to be lugging tanks around with wetsuits on. It is a short ride to the dive site, Rose Garden, which is one of the two protected marine reserves in the bay. Today Leila is doing one of the monthly surveys of indicator species, recording the fish she identifies from twenty specific species along each 5m section of a 25m transect tape whilst two other people are recording invertebrates and benthos (the bottom substrate). Ali is doing some scuba dive training as part of his Divemaster course, today helping a new diver practice some skills. 

0700 We return from the dive, wash our dive gear and head back to our room for a shower. The water is from the brackish well on site which is cold and slightly salty but does the job. At least in the luxury of our own bungalow this is pumped to the shower head, rather than just a bucket pulled from the well as is the case for the volunteers in the dormitory.

0800 This is the official start of the working day so we head to the main porch area where we spend a lot of our time reading and studying. People who have been doing surveys copy their data from the underwater slates to paper and then to spreadsheet. We fill the communal water filters with fresh water which is bought in once a week from a nearby village by zebu cart and stored in large barrels. Whilst it is fresh water it still needs to go through the filters and have some chlorine added before it is safe to drink.  There is electricity from the generator for just one hour in the day so we try to charge equipment now, although there are solar panels and a wind turbine which provides electricity later in the day, it is more limited.

1200 Finally it is lunchtime. This is always eagerly anticipated, particularly after such an early start and diving seems to make us very hungry. Lunch consists of rice plus one of the following: red beans, small white beans, big white beans, chickpeas, lentils, potato slop or on very good days ratatouille. There is much speculation amongst the group as to which it will be today. Lentils are generally the most dreaded although Ali likes them and so he usually gets some seconds. Sometimes there is a little grated cabbage or carrot on the side and half a piece of pineapple or a crepe for desert. Lunch is excellent although Leila has been forced to give it up rice now as there is only so much white rice that anyone can stomach and she has definitely reached her limit.

1400 This afternoon Leila is looking nervous. After completing all her theory and practicals for her Rescue Diver course she knows now that all that is left is the scenarios. These are staged accidents or incidents that could be sprung on her at any time. Suddenly we are called to say that one of the dive officers has been electrocuted at the tank compressor room and Leila has to coordinate the response. After taking a few photos Ali returns to his duties pumping tanks for the next day's dives.

1530 Its time for a science workshop to fine tune our knowledge of the local invertebrate species which we need to be able to identify for the surveys. This is not so easy for us without a marine science background but there's only 50 or so species to know for the basic indicator surveys and we are pretty familar with them now. With some competitive challenge or game of charades this is usually good fun.

1700 The working day finishes and a couple of teams form to play beach volleyball between a couple of baobab trees. Most of us aren't much good and the local staff are hugely amused. Some of the other volunteers are popping into the village to the local shop and pick up some snacks, phone credit and lukewarm beers. The shop has a bar attached but it only provides a few basics and most food has to be bought in Tulear which is a three hour trip away. However, the samosas from the local street food stalls have become very popular with those who can't wait until dinner. 

1800 We all get together around the table on the porch for dinner where we have a perfect view of the sun setting over the sea. Its another clear sky but windy and we wonder if the visibility will be good in the sea tomorrow. The more eagle eyed of us spot a chameleon in the trees and we watch it stealthily crawl along the branches grabbing insects with its tongue. The meat eaters are excited as it is one of the two meals a week where they get meat - in the form of zebu stew, as always served with lashings of rice. Ali's staple alternative on these nights is omelette, which he never seems to get bored with. After dinner its starting to get dark and volunteers relax playing cards, reading by candle light or watching films on whatever battery they have managed to save on their laptops.

0100 Ali is woken by the dogs barking and whilst trying to get back to sleep he hears some scuttling around the bedroom. There's nothing for it and he has to get up and do battle with a giant hissing cockroach before he can sleep. Today he wins and manages to catch it with the broom and sweep it out the door. Ali is convinced that Leila is hugely impressed by his valiant victory, even if she has slept through the whole thing.

The sequence of events has been adapted somewhat...

Desert and canyons: Isalo national park

We only have a few weeks left in Madagascar and it was time to visit Isalo, the biggest national park in the south of the country. We travelled with a few friends from ReefDoctor for a long weekend camping and arranged a 4x4 to take us via Tulear where we picked up some essential provisions and treats - water, money, wine, cheese and olives. 

Leaving Tulear, we drove the RN7 for around four hours through the dry, arid desert plains passing through several gem mining towns. Sapphires are mined and sold for big money here, although the wealth in these towns seemed to be with the Asians who ran them rather than the locals. Arriving at Isalo we saw the stark mishaped rock faces which form the 200 square kilometres of peaks and canyons of the second largest national park in Masagascar. The air was hot and dry but we were raring to get started!

We arrived at Momo Trek who arranged our camping trip and met our guide, Lily, along with a chef and an entourage of porters to carry our gear from camp to camp. After some lunch we were dropped at the start of the first trail and walked just a couple of hours up a peak and along a desert plateau to the natural swimming pool, Piscine Naturelle, an unlikely oasis of cool green shady trees, and with a pool at the bottom of a running stream where we swam and cooled off.  Just a few steps away was the campsite where the porters had already brought out bags, set up our tents, and were preparing tea and nuts for us. A slap-up dinner was already cooking and we knew this was the way to do camping!  The night brought a heavy thunderstorm that seemed to go on for hours and whilst we were enjoying the cooler temperatures, the unfortunate others were struggling with some tent leakage, perhaps the locals were not as acquainted with the importance of guy ropes as British campers!

In the morning after a delicious breakfast of toast and fig jam (traditionally the royal fruit), Ali marvelled at the benefits of the squatting toilet at the camp site and we enjoyed another swim to refresh us before leaving. The second day took us for a few hours walking of the Namaza circuit along the ridge of a big canyon and then down to another forest where we would be camping. We saw four snakes within an hour of arriving but Lily assured us these were quite safe. Not so much for the chameleon which we encountered one snake in the process of strangling and ambitiously attempting to consume. After lunch we were visited by a brave family of brown lemurs who stormed through the camp like bandits looking for food scraps. We then ventured along the canyon which was a magnificent paradise of tropical green vegetation, fresh running water and large boulders of rock that were scattered between the sheer rock faces, and spotted a lone sifaka in the trees. We were hit by another thunderstorm but no worries because we were about to get wet anyway in the powerful waterfall that blasted down the canyon. Back at camp we spotted a large green chameleon out hunting some insects and once again our chef blew our minds with another great dinner prepared in such basic conditions.

Our last full day began with a swim in some more fresh pools before a big walk to the Canyon des Makis which was a long tough day of walking along a large desert plateau and a big peak in the heat of the day. Fortunately Lily was carrying the lunch, without which we would not have survived, and we got to relax in another beautiful pool (traditionally reserved for royal bathing) before walking back to our final campsite via some rice paddies. Our unlucky friend, Drew, unfortunately fell in and got very muddy (and by mud we mean zebu poo) and Lily did his best to break the news as gently as possible to explain that the campsite showers and toilets were inexplicably locked. However our only real disappointment is that we hadn't encountered the elusive ringtail lemurs which are the national animal of Madagascar.

The trip back was exciting. Our driver turned out to be quite the the devout Christian and was he playing hymns and gospel music loudly the entire journey. On balance it was probably best we had Jesus on our side because he also had his leg stuck to the accelerator and was driving at crazy speeds with typical disregard for other road users. At least we arrived back to Tulear alive and with plenty of time for lunch at Le Jardin, which makes great Italian food in a cosy shady restaurant sheltered by trees and surrounded by local artwork.