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.