Fri, Sep 6 - Driving to Ranomafana National Park

Ring-tailed Lemur

David let us sleep in late: bags out and breakfast at seven!   We had a very lovely breakfast of fruit, toasts and jams and piled onto the bus at 7:30. 

We stopped briefly at the Isalo National Park Interpretative Center to see the Benson’s Rock Thrush that we had missed yesterday.

We drove on in an easterly direction passed more impressive rock formations before entering rolling plains of grassland and small villages with people selling all sorts of vegetables, piles of charcoal, auto parts, etc. 

We stopped at a gas station around 11 AM so we could all have a break; the only ice cream available was “Esquimo”, chocolate-covered vanilla, actually a poor imitation of that!

The landscape turned more mountainous, the area more prosperous with 2-3 story adobe brick houses.   We stopped at Anja Park where we were met by a nice woman guide, arranged for by Fano, of course;  She led us on a short walk to a tree full of Ring-tailed lemurs!  

Mother and Baby Ring-tails

The lemurs have lived in this area for a long time; it was considered “fady” (taboo) to harm them but OK to capture them for the pet trade.  Fortunately the village was convinced that living next to the lemurs and protecting them while making money from tourists was a win-win for people and animals alike!

We had a great time watching them cavort around the tree and then suddenly, the matriarch decided to leave and all followed and they dashed off somewhere on the ground.  We left also to go to lunch as a large crowd of tourists arrived, unfortunately, to an empty tree!

I had Zebu brochettes which were delicious and the other had stringy chicken.  We drove on through lovely scenery. there is an amazing amount of water in rivers and streams in Madagascar even though this is the dry season, so rice paddies exist everywhere along with terraced other crops.

At 4 PM we finally arrived at Ranomafana National Park and entered a world of tree ferns, orchids and birds.  We stopped here and there and made our way to the village and found our hotel, not the Thermal where we were scheduled to stay , but the Centrest Hotel.  We received welcome drinks, and found our room #20, which was rather bleak and under- furnished.  Fano has put us in such luxurious places, for the most part, that this came as a bit of a shock!  And we’re here for three nights!

We met for dinner which wasn’t bad:  egg soup, Zebu tongue, and warm bananas in a sweet sauce.  Tomorrow we’ll explore the park which is known for steep and slippery trails - we’ll see how I do!!