Hot Footing it

The night was much warmer, though still rather cold. Still within shorts temperature though. Unfortunately there were plenty of clouds, so no stars. I slept well once again, and though I still had a cough in the morning, I was more or less recovered. 

Breakfast included Malagasy breakfast, which was a bowl of wet rice with some veg and egg in, which was not really my thing at breakfast time. The bread and honey was still there though, so that sorted me out.

Today's walk was set to be an 'easy' 5 hours. This meant the whole group stayed together whilst Freddie and Mamy explained some of the plant life for us. Notably we saw little baobabs, and a plant that can cure cancer. It was blazing hot though, the sun was relentless and basically cooked us the whole way; it was 38 degrees in the sun! I drank a litre and a half of water in 5 hours and would've had more if I had any! The walking was easy as described though, with only shallow slopes and the occasional couple of steps. Good job, given my knees were feeling like 2 bowling balls! The iguanas were out in force too, there were 5 or 6 at various points, all about as big as yesterday's

Baby baobab!

The views were still not bad.

He is looking at the view too

I think we were up there at one point. Don't quote me though

The campsite was more robust than the last 2 nights. Real toilets that weren't just holes in the ground! Actual chairs with backs! It was pretty much attached to a village as well, so there were cold drinks! Amazing!

Room with a view

There was the option of taking an afternoon walk, but the sun was cooking my chicken skin (I had to use factor 50 twice in the morning), so I abstained, as did most others. Instead I took the chance to sit on a real chair, enjoy a cool drink, and catch up on my blogging. 

Whilst I was getting changed into my elephant trousers, I could hear some rustling right next to my text. Probably some wretched children I thought, waiting to steal my things, so when I was done I was going to go round to check it out. Next thing I know, Pauline shouted "Lemur!!!!". I rushed out with no shoes (luckily the floor was not sharp), and saw my first ring tailed lemur. It had been rustling around my tent, and right now was less than 10 meters away. It even had 2 friends, and wasn't in too much of a hurry to escape, so I got some good photos.

You can't escape my camera!

Don't look at me like that!

The lazy afternoon was much welcomed at this point, since we had been walking or travelling for pretty much the whole past week. There are showers here, and at first I wasn't going to bother due to my lack of towel, but I changed my mind after finding out there was hot water! It was great, to not have dirt in places I didn't know I had is a great feeling. Both the shower and toilet LOOK amazing too. The shower is basically half cave, with some aloe plants growing in semicircular beds, and the toilet has a huge viewing portal (no glass, just a huge hole) giving you glorious views across the valley. Unfortunately Malagasy are generally rather short, and the 'window' starts slightly below waist height for me, so I need to duck before I drop my trousers or I will be flashing the whole valley!