We got up at 4:45 in order to meet the others at 5:30 for fruit and croissants. We took off in the bus at 6 AM in overcast and drizzle. The bus took us to the park headquarters and we started walking down stone steps, crossed some rapids and headed up into the forest. This national park was created in the 1980s to protect a new species of lemur, the Golden Bamboo Lemur. There is an extensive trial system on this quite vertical park. Dirt steps, reinforced with pegs and sticks, or stone steps have been install everywhere, but it is still very challenging to traverse, especially when wet. I had my two hiking sticks, fortunately, but it was quite exhausting.
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| Climbing steep trails |
We had William, our guide from yesterday, and Olivia, from the same village, accompanying us. She was very good in showing us very well-camouflaged frogs and lizards. We actually saw a Golden Bamboo Lemur climbing on a branch over the trail!. Very cute medium brown with a golden rim round its face! They forage for food from before dawn until 9 AM, rest until 1 PM, and then continue to feed until just before dusk when they bed down. Pretty nice life!
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| Camophalaged frog |
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| The Fantastic Leaf-tailed Gecko |
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| Drawing of above gecko stretched |
We, on the other hand, continued climbing up and down trails in the light rain. One would think that birds that live in the rain forest would
be active no matter what the weather - like people who live in Seattle who happily go hiking in the rain or else would have to stay indoors all the time! But the birds were very quiet. We passed large groups of tourists looking for lemurs, wrapped in rain gear. And then I found a leech on Bob’s neck and was able to remove it before it made him into a vampire victim!
be active no matter what the weather - like people who live in Seattle who happily go hiking in the rain or else would have to stay indoors all the time! But the birds were very quiet. We passed large groups of tourists looking for lemurs, wrapped in rain gear. And then I found a leech on Bob’s neck and was able to remove it before it made him into a vampire victim!
William and Olivia walk in this forest every day and know where most of the birds and animals live. They managed to flush, and herd towards us, a large reddish bird, the Brown Mesite, which came walking down the trail towards us. I was getting pretty wet and cold by that time, my camera wet and my fingers numb, so I didn’t manage to get any decent photos of this hen-sized bird right in front of me!
Finally at noon we started back after six hours standing and walking in the rain. We arrived at our hotel and were served plates of pasta and beans with carrots and chilis - just delicious and reviving!
David had us reassemble at 3 for a drive to the top of the park for a walk on a flat trail for an hour. We saw little and returned to our rooms. I went to the bar where there is a little wifi and managed to at least delete a couple hundred bogus emails and correct a blog entry, but couldn’t upload photos for a new blog post. After a rum and coke the others arrived for dinner and Bob had to be summoned by our waiter as he had fallen fast asleep! Delicious deep fried shrimp for dinner with passable Malagasy white wine. Tomorrow is supposed to be a continuation of this afternoons’s hike, but longer and higher...I’ll see what the weather is like - I don’t feel like being soaked and chilled again!
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