Wed, Sep 4 - Driving to Isalo

Bags out at 6 AM, and we joined the others for breakfast before leaving this lovely place and clambering onto the motor boat once again. 

Getting aboard

The wind was blowing a bit already, but the captain had pulled down the clear plastic cover on one side of the boat where the water from the surf would have come in.  We zoomed along, cutting through the reef break and arriving at Tulear jetty at 8 AM. The boat backed onto the shore and we disembarked getting a bit wet in the process, and boarded our bus.  

Wetly Disembarking

Downtown Tulear

We took off through Tulear and shortly outside of town drove up onto a plateau surrounding a low flat-topped mountain, La Table.

This area of coral rag scrub consists of thorny euphorbias and baobabs.  We were looking for the Red-shouldered Vanga which we found after walking on some trails. 

Chabert Vanga

David directed us to Arboretum d’Antsokay, a marvelous botanical garden put together in the mid 20th century by a Swiss botanist. 

Arboretum Entrance

A local guide with excellent English and knowledge of plants and their medicinal uses walked us around the garden and also showed us several reptiles living in the plants.

Warty Chameleon

Gecko spp.

Next door was Auberge de la Table, a  hotel/restaurant/pool/spa in which it would be lovely to stay during the hot humid summer of Feb-April in order to see all the plants in flower.  We stopped there for a very nice lunch.

The bus drove us on, eastward through miles of pasture, burning grass, and baobabs.   We entered an area where sapphires have been discovered turning it into a “Wild West” type atmosphere with men trying to strike it rich and others from Thailand and Sri Lanka in fancy houses handling the gems that get found. 

People digging and panning for sapphires

Fano didn’t want us to linger there and we drove on through rolling grassland dotted with beautiful baobabs.  Suddenly the rocky outcropping of sandstone of Isalo National Park began to appear, really dramatic and beautiful. 

We turned into the Relais de la Reine, a lovely hotel set among the rocks.  This is quite a tourist spot with hiking trails, but we’re just here to return tomorrow to a birding area we passed through 1.5 hours ago.

Relais de la Reine Hotel

We got our rooms, settled in and walked over to Reception.  Bob and I got Cuba Libres and great munchies before the others joined us for dinner.  We had potato leek soup, moussaka and chocolate macron for me.  After we returned to our room, a waiter knocked at our door and delivered a breakfast tray to us as we are leaving so early tomorrow