Our first day in Isalo National Park involved a visit to the botanical garden, where we saw dwarf baobabs that were around 700 or so years old.
The ones that were ‘only’ 150 years old were slightly higher than a person’s shoe.
There were a few dog locusts around, which were absolutely enthralling given their unique colours. They eat the poisonous ‘Mother-in-law’ plant and hence are poisonous themselves.
Everything seems to be mating at this time of year, including the dog locusts…
That night we were treated to a cultural performance by the staff which had formed a local dance group. I was imagining how difficult it would be applying for a job at this hotel – Can you work behind a bar? Check. Can you make up a room? Check. Can you dance? Possibly. Can you sing? Umm… In any case, many people in Madagascar seem to multi-skill – even one of the staff at our hotel in Ambalavao was a chef, a plumber and a masseuse!
The next day, we set out for a three day hike through Isalo National Park.
On day 1, we saw farmers getting a herd of zebu to trample backwards and forwards on the soil in the rice paddies. They would have been relatively well off, as farmers who cannot afford a herd of zebu have to make do with two zebu and a wooden plough.
Whilst everyone was looking at a kestrel in a tree, Big Tony pointed out two dragonflies mating mid-air! As mentioned, everything seems to mating at this time of year!
It was absolutely boiling hot at this time of year, with barely any shade, and our guide went at a rapid pace this time due to some people in our group rushing along. I had to take a few water donations (from Charles [our guide] and Nick) as I’d filled up all the water bottles I had but still didn’t have enough for the hike.
There was orange and green lichen on the craggy rocks up the top of the mountain, and a nice view.
The landscape was quite remarkable.
On a break, a wasp and a green spider descended on a thread of web right in front of me, and it took a little while (and a guide) to work out that the wasp had attacked the spider and was injecting its eggs into it. The spider lay pretty much lifeless at the end of it.
We also saw some zebu and human footprints from an old, local tribe imprinted into the rock,
‘The Crown of Jesus’, a spiky plant with red flowers,
and a spiny tailed iguana.
We hiked up and down stairs carved out of the rock in the searing heat,
and finally made it to a deliciously cool waterfall and natural swimming pool which immediately cooled down my body temperature.
From the pool, it was only another half an hour to our campsite,
and along the way, we saw a long-eared owl,
a baby Madagascan wagtail,
and a hog-nosed snake in a tree.
At our campsite, we found a paradise fly-catcher,
some red-fronted brown lemurs and some ring-tailed lemurs.
And there were huge spiders by the toilet (though luckily none of them are poisonous).
On day 2, we hiked to both Rat’s and Maki Canyons, again starting through farmland which the locals had been burning off to encourage new green shoots to grow for the zebu to eat.
Rat’s Canyon is a sacred burial place for the locals, and rats are attracted by the decomposed bodies, hence the name.
There are many orchids
and flatid leaf bugs around which look like little pink flowers.
Their young are called nymphs which Hery described quite aptly as looking like white tutus!
We walked on to Maki (lemur) canyon,
where we saw the King (from the tribe that lived here)’s pool in the shape of fish.
We had a lunch stop at the end of the canyon and then walked back to the campsite.
At camp, I walked up to the shower block, and saw a Verreaux’s Sifaka jumping around nearby on its hind legs. The shower was calling so I quickly had one – cold, using a tap and a cut off water bottle to pour the water over me. Meanwhile, there were two of them and they made their way through our camp.
Photos courtesy of Keith
Some of our group followed them into the bush, not realising that they would be in serious pain from the buffalo beans in the bush that sting like hell and make you itch madly. I came a little later after my shower, but had been warned about the buffalo beans, and only got a few stings on my feet which luckily didn’t really bother me at all. The others came back to camp and rubbed themselves with some special bark much to the local’s amusement. Rob covered himself with ash, so much so that he looked like he’d just come out of a mine!
As I wasn’t itching, I walked around and came across a broad-billed roller,
another paradise fly-catcher
and more red-faced brown lemurs and ring-tailed lemurs, some with babies on their backs,
Meanwhile, Nick was polishing his and his wife’s boots, which he does every day out of habit.
On day 3, we found some strange looking beetles on a tree at our campsite,
before we set out on a hike to the Piscine Naturelle. We had a steep, quick climb up rocky stairs
to a view point,
where there were many dwarf baobabs with little yellow flowers.
It was again a hot day and sweat was trickling down our shirts, but we finally arrived at the Piscine Naturelle which was paradise!
A beautiful yellow and black butterfly was fluttering about near the pool’s edge, whilst most of our group swam in the pool, enjoyed sitting under the waterfall which pummelled our heads and backs, and had a little water fight.
It was only a quick walk to our lunch stop from there, and we worked out that if you could not eat your banana after your meal, the best way to carry it would be on Robert’s hat. I think we were going a little insane from the heat at that point.
A spiny tailed iguana looked on,
and Charles later managed to find a stick insect that was difficult to spot even when you were looking for it! Then it was mostly a downhill walk out of the park and to our minivan.
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