Back to 6:15 starts. Not ideal, but I'm more or less used to them now. Breakfast was bread and jam, as usual, and Dharma was there with the bus, ready to take us down the "bad" road to Makis canyon in Isalo national park. We picked up our local guide in the village, and were off.
The bad road was bad. As bad as anything we've been down this holiday probably. No problem for Dharma, though I do worry for him, as the bus appears to be his pride and joy. I have seen him polishing it whilst we are stopped. It got there in one piece though, and then we were off walking.
After having to paddle through a blessedly shallow river, we were into a jungle. There were a lot of little rivers, loads of birds, and lemurs. Exactly what I expected trekking in Madagascar to be like, and I loved it!
On the way, we saw a Beeeater (bright green, with a long tail and beak), Madagascan Lark (black and white, average sized), a flock of Lovebirds (bright blue on the wings, kind of small), a flock of Mannequins (tiny little brown birds, maybe half the size of a robin), a Sunbird (yellow and black, quite small), and a Madagascan kingfisher (yellow with purple wings, see photo). All of the birds. We stopped next to a lovely little pool for a break, seeing a waterfall catching the sun in such a way that there was a rainbow in it, and a furry pea pod thing that we had to be very careful not to touch, as it causes uncontrollable itching!
After that things got really exciting. First was a Madagascan Wagtail. Yeah, that isn't the excitement, we are getting there. Next was ring tailed lemurs. I know, I know, I've seen hundreds. Big whoop. I'm getting there! Then, just near the ring tailed lemurs, there was a white sifaka lemur!!!! The many exclamation marks are because there has NEVER been a verified sighting of a white sifaka lemur in this particular rainforest. The guide told us to make sure to take good photos, as he might need some sending to verify the sighting with whatever authority you report that sort of thing to. So there you go. I am the first discoverer of a white sifaka lemur in the forest at the mouth of Makis Canyon!
So that was the big excitement, quite hard to top really, but there were a few more things to see. We saw a red fronted brown lemur (like at Ranomafana), which meant we had seen every kind of lemur there is here, shortly followed by some sort of chameleon.
After this, we were out of the woods, and climbing the outside of the canyon wall, to get to the top. It was a bit hotter, and not so exciting (for me anyway), but you could see more or less forever, so it was pretty cool. Easier than Boby by a significant distance too.
Up at the top, there were great views the other way, and a small stop to eat some of our packed lunch, as well as take some photos. The climb up the edge was the hardest walking that we were going to do today, so I could relax for the afternoon.
Indeed, going along the top of the plateau was nice and easy. The rock has changed too, sandstone now, and with weird spiderweb patterns which I couldn't tell you how they formed, ever with my geology A level! The stone has been tilted 90 degrees since forming too, leading to the strata bring vertical, and eroding into very thin knife edge ridges, making for different and fascinating scenery. We stopped for the remainder of lunch in the bottom of the plateau, and then continued on over a small hill toward another canyon.
Along the last stretch, we saw another bird, a Cuckoo Roller. It sounds pretty mediocre as far as birds go, but they were very beautiful, with long, elegant necks, and iridescent feathers with peacockish colours. We also saw a few spiny tailled lizards, and some very furry caterpillars with yellow and pink bodies and big furry antenna. I would've loved to photo these, but the branches they were on were shaking in the wind, and I didn't want to grab the branch and accidentally touch them, as they looked way poisonous!
After reaching the next canyon we were back into more 'real' Madagascan trekking through the forest. The guide took us to a lovely natural pool with a waterfall, and told us we could swim if we wanted. This time, I was cold free, and ready with my swimming trunks! It was out of direct sunlight too, so I didn't even need to worry about my chicken skin! I got Rosa, who wasn't swimming, to take me some photos from the bank, as I thought my family might not believe I voluntarily went swimming in 16-17 degree water!
After drying myself with my towel (actually a tshirt, since the towel was really too bulky for my rucksack), we were back walking, and in 20 minutes had reached the campsite. It is in amongst the trees, and has a proper toilet with a flush. Call this a campsite? It is like a luxury resort!
So I went out to the stone table to blog, as some of the other guys were there. They had coldish cokes, from an ice (now water) bucket. The difference between being close to town, and being about 10 hours from town (as we were in Andringitra) is clear, and welcome! Next they brought biscuits and coffee. Excellent!
This was not the highlight of the afternoon though, that came next. "Lemurs in that tree over there!" Pauline shouted. That was 20 yards away. I wasn't getting up for that! No matter though; they were heading our way!
I will now launch into full storyboard mode, given the boon of great pictures:
Storyboard end. After the excitement we all went back to our tents for an hour before tea.
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