DAY 37
A shower with hot water and a bed are luxuries we don't take for granted anymore. Coming across that magic combo is such a treat after three days on the river :D We even get used to wake up at 6am these days. Today's program is Broadway in the "grand Tsingy" and the "petit Tsingy" in the late afternoon. We start the day just like we finished it yesterday, in the 4wd on a tough road. We have 20km to cover to the trail head, 1h drive ;)
We walk in the forest for some time. It's quiet, the vegetation is dense. The spiders are busy bees here, they have webs everywhere and the design is more 3D than what I'm used to see. On the rocks, traces of long gone coral is still visible and in the trees we spot a few white lemurs, eating leaves in what seems like precarious positions. Very soon we start the real deal; it's going to be close to 6 hours of climbing up and down, crawling in caves and going over precipices on rope bridges. We were surprised by the limited amount of kilometers to cover but we understood why quickly. The Tsingy are calcareous formations that erosion turned into razor sharp jagged landscape. From up there it feels like being on another world. It also allows to see that the growth was not constant and homogeneous. During the cold ages, the growth was much slower and the resulting rock more friable. It gives the impression the blocks are stacked on top of each other. What is surprising here too us the lack of respect of the trees for the rocks. In search for nutrients they grow roots through the rock! It's especially impressive underground where roots are coming down from the ceiling all the way down to the floor. These caves have no easy access either but caving is fun. The main inhabitants seem to be those big black moths with eyes on their wings. In one of the last cave we'll see two lovely spiders and a mongoose while waiting to enter yet another cave. It's a tough hike that is not possible if you have vertigo but it's worth all the trouble of getting there.
Back at the car, we all jump on our lunch, starved. Then it's back in the car for yet another hour on that dreaded road to check out the "petit Tsingy" before the sun sets. The name is well chosen, it's a small scale version of the big one with one difference. Strangely, it's also a maze with passages about 1-1.5m wide. No caving here but we climb up and down a bit too.
DAY 38
We say goodbye to the Tsingy with the dreadful prospect of around 8h of 4WD on bad roads. Hopefully we have a treat at the end with the “Allèe des Baobabs” at sunset. The river crossing at Belo is awkward. The loading is normal but to unload, the driver has to maneuver in the ferry to put the wheels in front of the planks... scary!
The baobabs have been showing up in increasing numbers along the road for some time when we pull up for the first baobab stop to check out one of the oldest baobab around. Shortly after it's the lover's turn (see picture above) then the very famous “Allèe des Baobabs”. It's crowded for the sunset but we're a patient group and stay after sunset even though everyone is gone. During 10-15min after sunset nothing happens but then the sky turns red and orange making it worth our wait. It's gorgeous and we have the site for ourselves, what more could you ask for?
DAY 39
After yesterday's incredible sunset experience we arrived in Morondava. It's a beach town and we have absolutely nothing planned but rest. Everything has been organized so far so the pace is quick and it's not going to change much for us since we'll have a car with a driver afterward, allowing us to see a lot but it means we'll spend a lot of time in the car... Anyway, today is playa with our friends. Morondava is on the West coast so we're blessed with another gorgeous sunset, this time on the straight of Mozambique. It's a bit weird to realize that we'll be on the other side of the straight in a few weeks :D
DAY 40
Up at 5:30am for yet another day on the road. We go back to Antsirabe in a minibus. It's a Mercedes Sprinter, much bigger than the ones in use in Ethiopia. Still it'll be packed and looong. We have a bit of cattle traffic right outside of the city but it does not last; We make good time, it'll take us 9h to cover the 486km. We could have been faster but for the countless police stops. It really is a permanent hassle when traveling by minibus. Arriving at Antsirabe we'll be controlled like 4-5 times in not even an hour... ridiculous! It's the last night of our little group, Julien and Lisa go back to Tana then La Reunion tomorrow and John should come with us South if the driver is ok with it. It was a nice week together and we finish it with a picnic in the hotel's garden. We were on our own in Ethiopia and it felt good to travel in a group a bit.