October 27, 2010
I asked about the Aye Aye Island trip and was told via my limited understanding of French: “tomorrow”. I guess this is a Sunday thing. It is so easy to lose time in Madagascar and not know for sure why.
Monday was a good day. At 4:00pm the driver appeared to bring me out to the privately held “Aye-Aye” Island. I was ready anyway, aside from the laundry which was still on the line and subject to a re-rinse should it rain. I decided to chance it.
Part of the road to island (RN5 North of Mananara) was actually paved. Except for the parts that had washed away, of course but I haven't seen any asphalt at all since Ivongo. That includes the streets of the town. Bradt Guide refers to Mananara as a village but I think it is more substantial and, back when the road was fully passable, it was probably even bigger.
I was transported from the road side to the island by pirogue, a locally made wooden canoe. The island is not a reserve. My understanding is that it is essentially a farm. I saw coconut palms, bananas, and jack fruit intermingled without obvious pattern. The lemurs including the coconut eating Eye Eye's seemed to be tolerated.
In dwindling light, I was drawn to a jet black chameleon of undetermined species. I will need to correct the color of those photos since my camera's autoexposure doesn't understand that black creatures aren't just lighter colored subjects hiding in the shade. The Grey Bamboo Lemur photos are not as clear as I would like, probably owing to the high ISO's need to capture them in low light. I expect I will see more of these in Masoala and Nosy Mangabe.
Mostly we waited for the stars to come out.
And the stars did come out. The first aye ayes seen were close but fast moving. When I snapped the shutter, the best I could get was an unidentifiable blur. But then two of the little beasties found their coconut tree and couldn't be bothered to move further. It was still very difficult photography. Autofocus was hopeless. Even illuminated by my guides, nothing came out without a flash. But, I managed a few good shots with glowing eyes. With it's “lens creep” problem, the big 500mm lens was of little use so I'm glad I brought the 75-300mm. It may not have the optical quality of the Bigma but it is much more effective for pointing up at the trees at night.
The show ended a little early when aye aye's moved outside of the range of my flash. I could have stayed a bit longer, just watching, but I didn't think I would see anything more than what I had. Back to the canoe, we went. When I arrived back at the Chez Rogers hotel, I retrieved my laundry from the line. Surprisingly, it hadn't rained yet. The daily deluge waited until the wee hours of the morning.
The next part was getting to Maroantsetra. I was prepared for another long, bumpy ride in the back of a pickup but the hotel manager called around and couldn't find anything appropriate scheduled. I'm not entirely sure what happened in that conversation, partly because the manager speaks little English but I trust that he was looking out for my best interests. I would have to wait until Wednesday, but the flight is relatively inexpensive ( 100,000 Ariary ). If I had known, it seems I could have flown directly here from Ile Sainte Marie for 170,000 Ariary. It would have saved a lot of time and pain, though I would have missed out on the overland adventure.
After the journey from Manompana, flying to Maroantsetra was rather anti-climatic.
Mananara doesn't really have an airport.
What I encountered was a small air strip and an equally small building under (re?)construction. That seems to be the once and future terminal. Perhaps the only usable room was purposed to the fledging airline that brought in the 19-passenger twin otter*. I saw little other evidence of infrastructure. No hangers. No tower. I don't even think it is possible to refuel here. The flight took twenty some minutes with luggage stuffed in with the passengers. I settled into the Central Hotel. It is cheap, close to most things, and has a good mattress. I'm not sure if it was really a good choice but that is a topic for the next chapter.
*I'm not really sure what a “Twin Otter” is. Is it a defined model or class of aircraft or just a vague notion of a small twin engine passenger plane capable of a using short airstrips? This high wing aircraft seemed smaller and scruffier than the one I took to Mulu a long time ago and far away. Maybe I am just misremembering.