Thursday, Sept 28
Two days later...
That's as far as I got two days ago so let's start again. It's now Sat Sept 30. It is John and Faith's anniversary so they bought a round of drinks for the table. So, foggy memory mixed with a very strong rum pina colada and a 11 hour bus ride. Let's go!
Thursday Sept 28
Oh, i think we have to go to the pictures immediately!
Gaddammit! There is supposed to be wifi in the hotel room heres. Off to the lobby I guess. One minute.
Ok, I'm outside the bar. A real bar with loud music.
Thursday, Sept 28
We left where ever we were early. We did not love the hotel in where ever that place was. Checking the G Adventures online itinerary. We may have been in Ambalavao.
Road pictures.
Our first stop was Anja Community Reserve where there is a very people-friendly troop of ring tailed lemurs. We only walked 5 minutes from the car where we were greeted with at least a dozen lemurs. Just hanging out, ignoring us. And so many babies! Here is a million pictures.
Part of the group went on a hike to some caves. I was still reeling from the previous hike so I opted to continue to hang with the lemurs.
There were some other beasties as well. Let's call this the Sandra F. section
And then we were off again. Heading to Ramonafana National Park. But first, a couple of stops.
A silk factory.
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| This woman is hand spinning silk |
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Silk thread, which is then dyed with natural colours (except blue)
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I bought nothing!!!
The paper factory was on the grounds of our hotel so a short hop and we were there for the night. I don't remember anything about this hotel but I have a picture which I will not post because it is nondescript. But it did have that beautiful garden so one shot of a bougainvillea at sunrise.
I don't remember if I mentioned that our tour was reversed, So we are doing the route backwards. One would assume this would not really matter but it does and it's not great. Not the end of the world but little things. Like we were supposed to be at our hotel near Ramonafana the night before and then a walk in the morning. Instead, we drove in the morning and arrived at Romanafana for an afternoon walk.
So, before we get to the park, some road pictures.
We went from the dry south to the wet and lush central/east. Rice paddies everywhere.
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| A lookout |
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No matter where we stop, the van is immediately surrounded by
kids mostly, but some adults selling stuff. |
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| Some random town, possibly market day |
The area has both rice paddies and brick making going on. First they cut the bricks out of the mud, then they dry them. And then they stack them in a beehive sort of structure and light a fire inside to cure them. In case you hadn't heard enough about dead people, Coco tells us that the red bricks are for houses, and the white (grey) bricks are for graves. The better bricks are for the final resting place because that is forever. Houses are just temporary so they can use the less desirable red.
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| Cutting and stacking and drying |
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| Curing |
Have I mentioned they do everything by hand here. Bricks made by hand, rocks crushed with a hammer. Fields watered by carrying water up from the river. Wood carved by hand, silk spun by hand. Fields plowed with a zebu if they are lucky, but by hand if they aren't.
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| Dancing lady orchid |
At our nightly briefing, Coco said the park walk would be difficult. More difficult that the Isalo park walk. Since I felt like I might die on that hike, I was leery. I waffled right up until we were at the park and ready to hand over some money (forest walk is an optional activity so we had to pay the park and guide fee). Coco said he thought I could do it. Plus, to go, three possible lemurs. To not go meant staying at the hotel! I decided to go.
This time, we had more guides (four) so we divided into two groups. Slow and slower. Guess which one I was in. But as it turned out, more than half the group chose slower. Mostly the big camera people who were glad not to have to keep up to the fast group, but I was happy for the company.
Our main guide was Jose (pronounced Zoze). He was great. And slow. We stopped a lot to discuss trees and history etc.
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| Zoze |
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Once we crossed this bridge, $hit got real!
Straight up stone stairs for so long |
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| But first a flower stop |
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| That brown leaf is a chameleon |
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| The bamboo forest |
But as soon as word came than a lemur was spotted, we went off the trail and into the bamboo forest. Looking for the Golden Bamboo Lemur. Success!
I have more pictures but they are basically worse versions of these two. They were high up and on the move so they weren't easy to catch on camera.
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Another chameleon that looks like a leaf
this one is called a flat tail chameleon I believe |
Another call that the next lemur has been spotted! We went even more off-trail if that is possible. Up a muddy bank. Zoze pulled me up the worst bits. Success! The Giant Bamboo Lemur. Even more shy than his cousins the Goldens.
Back to the path
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More dead people stuff. For this tribe, they bury their dead
and then raise these stone monuments two years after the death.
These are old, in the park. |
Another lemur!! Black and White Ruffed Lemur (aka the Panda Lemur)
(Guiddo and Wayne have emerged from the bar. Now I am drinking beer... this blog may never get done)
Let's finish this.
I saw some awesome birds, no photos. Highlight for the Googlers: Velvet Asity
We ended up at a lookout. And then, we headed down a million more stairs. I did figure out to take off my progressive glasses for stairs. It made it much better. Plus I drank more water. But the hike was still brutal. I was very shaky-legged by the end.
We arrived at the hotel to this view!!
My bungalow was up another million stairs. What is with this country!!
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| This was my bungalow the next morning. |
Aack, it's almost midnight and I have another early morning. We are doing a home stay with zero wifi and then our longest drive yet (which is saying a lot since we drove for 10 hours today). What I'm saying, I'm gone for a while.
Again, no time to preview. So, it is what it is.
