Beyond the Southern Loop

December 21, 2010


My run up RN7 and the my loop of the South is done a bit sooner than I expected.  After filtering  out redundant parks and those impractical to reach via public transportation, I was left with Isalo and Ialatsara Lemur Forest Camp.   Isalo offered landscapes and unusual flora.  The Lemur Camp, while mostly redundant with Ranomafana, seemed to offer a good chance of seeing a tenrec.  Tenrecs are quite wide spread in Madagascar but I still haven't seen one.  So, after a couple of nights in Tulear, I headed North up RN7 by taxi-brousse.

When I arrived in Isalo, I expected to spend two days at least.  I actually spent only one day in the park.  The most popular circuit was closed due to a fire a month ago.  If it were just me, I would have split the canyons and Piscine Naturelle across two days in order to spend less on taxis.  The natural pool is entirely walkable but, given the heat this time of the year, you need to start early and the early morning isn't long enough to do both the pool and the canyons.

Image of Canyon
Image of Lemur

However, the plan changed when Josh and his sister showed up.  (Her name escapes me).  They were on a tighter schedule and, with three and tougher bargaining than I tend to do, the taxi is not so bad.  So, we combined the two into one day.  We left at just past 4:00am over the objections of the drive and guide.  The timing was my department.  It takes an hour to reach the Canyons and if you want to have any chance of seeing wildlife, you need to be there at dawn.

We still didn't see very much.  The brother and sister pair were delighted to see the Red-Fronted Brown Lemurs but this is the fourth consecutive park I've seen this species.  I am quite convinced that if and when the end comes, the Red Fronted Browns will be the last lemurs standing. (Given their versatility and willingness to live in proximity to humans, I am surprised they haven't taken up the role of macaques and invaded the cities)

Image of natural pool and waterfall
Image of plant

The two troops of brown lemurs were the only mammals that we saw, though we did see a few birds.  Aside from the redundant lemurs, I think Piscine Nauturelle was a better experience.  The landscape is more striking, though still not that unusual.  I found some of the plants are interesting, notably the “Elephant's Foot” and I generally have little interest in botany.  We even saw a Benson's Rock Thrush, a rare bird endemic to just the area near the park.

We finished a little past noon.  It would have possible to move on but that would have been a bit of a rush and I still would have to spend the night in Finiarantsoa.  I hate one night stays in part because it makes it impossible to keep up with laundry.  (Dryers are never seen in Madagascar  and clothes generally need several hours of sunlight to dry on the line).  Given a 7:30am taxi-brousse, a maximum of six hours to Finiar, and the lemur camp being only a couple of hours beyond, it should be easy enough to reach my next park in one day.

Should have been, but it wasn't.

We left nearly on time but soon made up for the unexpected punctuality.  We stopped at every little village, often three times.  It took eight hours to reach Finiar.  On arrival, the driver claimed that I was done even though I had clearly paid to reach Ialatsara Lemur Forest Camp.  After some arguing, he finally put me on a suburban taxi-brousse bound for the nearby town of Ambohimahasoa.  I thought the first vehicle was the slowest taxi-brousse in Madagascar.  I was wrong.  The underpowered minibus took four hours to reach Ambohimasoa.  And then it stopped.  Everybody got off and I was handed my wet bag off the roof (what happened to the tarp?).  I still was not at Ialatsara which I was told was about 5K further north.  That would be just about walkable if it wasn't pouring down rain.

After some fuming and relocating, I managed to arrange a taxi to the park.  When we got there, the gate was closed.  Somebody came out and talked with my driver but ultimately I was sent back to the hotel in town.  Neither the representative for this private park nor my driver spoke any English so I am not entirely sure what was exchanged but it seemed that park was closed and probably not just for the night.  (It was later than I would have preferred but, at 7:30pm, it wasn't that late.)

After a small, late, and vitamin deficient meal, I spent the night in the one room that was available in this small town without a guide book description.  The bed was just acceptable and facilities were extremely raw but it got me through the night.  Next morning, I woke a few hours before the taxi-brousse was scheduled to arrive so I made an attempt to hike to the park and get clarification.  I was defeated by a kilometer marker with its North and South ends reversed.  These are heavy blocks of stone, not easily rotated wooden signs.  It was obviously placed incorrectly and left that way.

The taxi-brousse left while I was fetching my bags but I quickly found better.  I managed to get a ride in what had to have been a government vehicle.  It was a new, plush, Mercedes van and it went through every check point with nothing more than a wave.  It only stopped at one.  A little more expensive than a standard taxi-brousse but this is the first vehicle I have ridden in with appropriate leg room since I left the USA.

It got me to Antsirabe.  This is, by far, the most functional town I have found in Madagascar.  The climate is nice.  Hotels are good and cheap.  The pizza place next door has free wifi.  It has almost everything that Tana has with none of the threat or intra-city transport issues.  It still doesn't have any worthwhile attractions (no Malagasy city does) but it is the best place to mount my next assault.

I'm heading Northwest and North, into regions I did not expect to reach on this trip.  I'm going to try to get all the way through Tana to Ankarafantsika National Park in one day.  I have two weeks left before flyout.  I just might reach Amber Mountain as well.  Nosy Be is on the route but it is lower priority.


I have my taxi-brousse booked for tomorrow.  As often happens, it isn't what I expected but I guess it will do.  The minibus leaves at 2:00pm and arrives in Majunga at 6:00am the next day.  Mercifully, they are only putting three per row instead of the usual four.  The plan is to hop out at Ankarafantsika. (assuming the arrival time is not too insane)