Yes, But: A Tale of Fort Dauphin

December 14, 2010


With hindsight, I think it might have been better to skip Fort Dauphin.  It is perhaps the most frustratingly deceptive of all the regions of Madagascar.  On a first glance, the Fort Dauphin area appears overflowing with wonderful wild areas.  It even holds up to a more detailed read.  It is only after really digging for ground level logistics and checking online accounts that a disturbing truth appears:  Every attraction in the Fort Dauphin comes with at least one major caveat: an issue so severe that it calls into the question the viability or desirability of the destination.   “No public transportation, needs a (privately arranged and expensive) 4x4”, “We didn't see any wildlife”, “No facilities.  Bring food and water”.   Some sites, expected and unexpected, are amazingly expensive.  Nahampoana Reserve seems to dodge the more common issues.  It is easy to reach by taxi-brousse.  The accommodations are reasonably priced.   Unfortunately, this “Reserve” is actually a botanical garden and many of the animals that populate it are not native to the region.

image of For Dauphin waterfront
image of Baobob and small Alluaudias

My first full day was a Saturday and the information office was, of course, closed.  I set out to find diving.  What I found were people who spoke no English and didn't recognize the word “Scuba”.  The company that the Bradt guide lists as renting diving gear seemed to have disappeared without a trace.  An ex-pat I met at the beach hadn't seen anything like a dive shop in the year he had lived in the area.  He wasn't himself a diver but dive shops tend to be conspicuous.

So, no diving.  On the way back I stopped in a the Dauphin Hotel to check on prices for Berenty.  

Absolutely preposterous.  The agent said he could come down a little on the accommodation.  I told him that a little wasn't enough.  I told him he would have to come down a lot on the “transfer” fee that is the bulk of the expense.   I left.

The next morning, it was Sunday and I didn't expect to get much done.  I set out to find the elusive ANGAP (Madagascar Parks) office.  I was sure they would be closed but, if I knew where they were, I could come back on Monday and, if the new information was better than my old information, a visit to Andohahela National Park might be in order.  OK, too conditional, but what else was I going to do on Sunday in a town that doesn't understand that tourists don't go home at 5:00pm on Friday?

I still couldn't find the place so I stopped in again at the Dauphin Hotel where I had seen a booklet that might have a map of the area.  The booklet wasn't useful but the Berenty agent was there.  He asked me if I was interested in going.  I told him “Yes, as long the transfer fee isn't ridiculous”.  He went away in used car salesman style and came back with a price of 250,000 Ariary ( about $125) for one night plus 90,000 Ariary for the hotel.  Still very expensive, but, at a bit more than half price, no longer preposterous.

After a lunch, we settled on 300,000 for two nights.  Next morning, I was off.

On the drive to Berenty, I had my first encounter with the Spiny Forest.  The Spiny Forest or Spiny Desert compares roughly with the Sonora Desert of the American Southwest.  It seldom rains but, when it does, it rains heavily.  Prickly Pear abounds, mostly in non-tree form but the most striking forms are the Alluaudia.  Alternatively referred to as cactus and as trees, they are probably neither.   Thick, woody stems without horizontal branches and covered in tiny leaves, stretch into the sky like the tentacles of giant green squids.   Sprinkled thinly between are baobob trees, their huge trunks storing water for the lean times.

Image of Ring-tail lemur

I arrived at Berenty in late morning.  The ring-tailed lemurs were waiting, along with the brown lemurs (which really shouldn't be here), and the Verreaux Sifakas.  Well, the sifikas are little more shy but not too much.  They are a little hesitant to come down the ground when humans are very near.  The ring-tail and brown lemurs only reluctantly yield right of way.

Easy access to the lemurs was expected and is similar to Kirindy.  What surprised me was just how arid the compound was.  I expected life at Berenty to be focused on the oasis of riverine forest.  What I found is that the Spiny Forest is as important as the more leafy river side trees.  Further, the cactus and alluadia extend well into the domain of the tamarind trees.

But the arid climate has a consequence: low species diversity.  Those three lemur species that march confidently into camp are all there is during daylight.  On the first night walk, I learned that there is only one species of sportive lemur and one mouse lemur.   That walk wasn't terribly successful.  Apparently, the lemurs here don't like to get wet.  At the end of the first daytime walk, it rained.  The first time I have been really “caught” walking in the rain and it happens in the desert.

With reptilian life also weak at Berenty, my focused shifted to better and more active photos of the lemurs that there were.  Heavy cloud cover kept the heat away on the second day but it also meant that the cold natured sifikas were reluctant to come out.  “Dancing Sifaka” photos would have to wait and there wasn't really enough light to capture the action anyway.  The low temperatures meant that that late morning guideless walk was practical.  (This is allowed at Berenty, unlike government run parks were guides are always required.)  I saw mostly the same things I saw with the guide.  Berenty offers few surprises.

image of White Footed sportive lemur Image of Grey Mouse Lemur

The second night walk was more successful.  We found some cooperative White Footed Sportive Lemurs and an almost cooperative Grey Mouse Lemur.

Image of Dancing Sifika

The final morning was mostly focused on dancing sifakas.  Sifakas' back legs are too much longer than their front legs to allow effective quadrupedal motion.  When they come down to the ground, they must hop sideways in a strange bipedal dance motion.  It's a comical sight that I would like to have captured on video.  Unfortunately, the flaky zoom on my Canon point and shoot chose to be inoperative.  We will have to make do with rapidly sequenced stills shot with the SLR.

Image of Black Kite

One unexpected bright spot at Berenty is the ease of seeing birds of prey.  I photographed a Black Kite within the compound on the first day.  I saw more kites and Madagascar kestrels during forest walks.  Kirindy is supposed to have a Harrier-hawk but I never saw one in the four days I was there.

I arrived back in Fort Dauphin in late afternoon.  I had just enough time to get to Information Office , collect a French language brochure for Andohahela, and make another attempt to find the ANGAP office.  I failed.  I considered whether it worth spending another day in Fort Dauphin pursuing a long shot.  I decided it was not.  My next stop was the taxi-brousse stand.  I booked passage for the next morning on a three day journey across the Spiny Desert to Tulear.