DAY 46
The 3rd time is a charm so here we go again on the hell's road to Ranomafana. On the way to the park, this time we stop at the torrent. The noise is deafening and we climb down to see it from up close. John finds a tiny tiny chameleon. It's a adult male the size of a pinkie, super cute!
We were supposed to start the hike today but decided to postpone it to recover from yesterday's endless train ride. We visit a few more hotels before going back to the one we went to the 1st time around. Accommodations are really bad and expensive here and we've a hard time accepting it ;) For whatever reason it was not easy for us to decide to take an extra day. I guess we have not assimilate yet that we have all the time in the world and no need to rush. It'll come hopefully ;) We meet up with the dutch couple who was on the Tsiribihina river at the same time as us for a beer. The girl caught something nasty and was stuck in bed for 4-5 days. She's better now and they can finally resume their vacations even though they have to cut things short and rush it a bit more.
DAY 47
For that overnight in the park, we decided to use one of our big backpacks as a backpack for the first time. We've been exclusively wheeling them around before that. It's a weird feeling to empty it; since it's all I have it feels like moving out of an apartment... For the night we have to carry a tent, 2 sleeping bags and 2 sleeping pads. The sleeping bags clearly don't fit in my backpack and we decide to take only one sleeping bags that we'll share and more layers to stay warm. The sleeping pads are attached to the outside of my bag along with the tent. The whole thing is on the heavy side and we decide to hire a porter. He'll go to camp directly while we take a much less direct route. We start the hike by checking out a small chameleon by the road then head into the park. Most people spend only a few hours in the park so the beginning of the day is a bit crowded. We track the lemurs through the jungle, on steep and slippery slopes, it's fun. We see sifakas (white lemurs), rufifrons (brownish lemurs) and a big ball of fur that happens to be 3 woolly lemurs (nocturnal) trying to sleep among other things.
On our way to the primary rain forest our guide shows us a big red eucalyptus with super spongy bark. It's full of water and can be pressed like a sponge. We can't resist and all try to press the bark... weird tree! In the primary forest, we track yet another group of lemurs. Once again we go up and down in the middle of the dense vegetation and are rewarded with an unique moment with 2 black and white dwarf lemurs. They hang out in trees close to us and jump from tree to tree nonchalantly now and again. I'm moving around them slowly to get another angle for picture when one of them jumps over me and lands in a tree next to me. No need for a new angle anymore, I turn around slowly and get a great shot of him casually eating leaves :D
During a little break by a small river, we're attacked by leeches but we're well covered so these suckers don't get any blood from us. We still have to get rid of the daring ones climbing up our trousers... berk! We don't linger too long though and attack a long and steep uphill part leading to the shelter where we break for lunch. The forest is eerily quiet. I was expecting much more activity but it's mostly silent but for a bird every now and again. The on duty bird is a blue koa. It's very difficult to see anything in that kind of forest but he sings for us a bit to make our meal more pleasant I suppose ;) Just before we resume the hike a cloud passes in between the trees. It's a dreamy sight but we should not be surprised, after all this is a cloud forest! Back on the path, we see evidences of the creepy aye-aye lemur. It digs into trees with its super long middle finger to feed and we see the little holes everywhere. We look around but this creepy guy is very hard to spot. After a few more hours of the same we reach camp. Our bag is there and we plant our tent in the protected spots they have. Since it's always of question of how much it's going to rain and not a question of if, it's great to have a roof.
Suddenly the guides call us. We don't understand what is so urgent at first then see the reason why they called us: a lovely red-brown mongoose is there, feeding off of the scraps of vegetable from the guides dinner. It's super stressed though and it does not want to get too close to us but hunger is the strongest. Walking back to the tent to fetch my lamp, I hear the piggy-like noise of the lemurs. I rush back to the cooking area but seeing Mar is not there anymore I suspect she's playing a joke on me. I go back to explore and realize it's not a joke but real lemurs. To my defense, she has mastered the piggy-like sound some of them make. It's difficult to see them though, they are on the canopy behind many layers of leaves.
After dinner, we start the night visit. We start the same way we started the day, by spotting a chameleon. Once again it's hanging right there for the world to see. The forest is much noisier at night; the main culprits are the frogs, singing at the top of their lungs. They are very tricky to spot though. We see lots of others things though, weird cricket with huge antennas, caterpillars, insects and ugly spiders and of course more chameleons. We're heading back when Mar (expert scout!) finally spots 2 frogs a few meters apart. Ensue yet another photo shoot for the two poor creatures ;)
Song from my childhood about frogs ;)
DAY 48
Our night in the forest was very decent, we're getting used to rougher conditions it seems ;) The mongoose visits us during breakfast and receives cake crumbs. It's still super nervous, looking around frenetically, making little noises but hunger is the strongest. It's eating the crumbs when a Wild rat shows up a few meters away. Neither of them had seen the other but it doesn't last long and the mongoose spots it and storms it immediately. They both disappear in the forest not to be seen again. I suspect fresh rat is a better breakfast than cake crumbs! Packed and ready, we resume our exploration of the forest to stumble upon 3 red belly lemurs still cuddled up on their tree. The sun is out today and the forest is very different from yesterday. Still very quiet but the light coming through is lovely, creating patches of light on this trail. 2 more red belly call for our attention as we walk towards the bamboo forest. They won't get as close as yesterday but we can have a good long look at them while they eat fruits and leaves. The bamboo forest is very different, much more light and it's home to 3 species of bamboo eating lemurs. The scout calls us excitedly and we climb in the thick of the bamboo forest to come close to a group of critter bamboo lemur going about their morning chore. Not far from them are 2 golden bamboo lemurs. The scout breaks a few bamboos and they come down to the ground to eat them. They are so not shy we'll spend a good 5min in front of them, not even 2m away, watching them eat the bamboos, ignoring us superbly. Sadly this beautiful specie is endangered. Once again, they take off showing off their skills, jumping non stop from one tree to the next. On the way downhill the group of critter bamboo lemurs follows us, jumping over our heads, escorting us out of their bamboo forest ;)
After a stop for lunch by the waterfall, we exit the park, saying goodbye to an impressive giant leaf-tail gecko right at the exit of the forest. It's so well camouflaged that I could not see it at a 50cm distance. The scout had to poke it lightly with a stick to make it move so we could distinguish it from the tree...Unbelievable!!! The end of the trek is also the time for us to say farewell to Jon. He wants to visit the 2 parks south of here (Andringitra and Isalo) and we head north to Andasibe and the lakes. We loose a great easy going travel companion but since he's also traveling for a long time it's not impossible we meet again someplace else.