Once in Ranohira, we were the only ones to get off and the rest of the passengers continued onto Tana. We were greeted by touts happy to tell us where our hotel was and if we wanted guides or taxis we could let them know. We checked into Chez Momo where we got a rustic bungalow with an ensuite. Even though it was late Momo managed to cook us up a zebu steak and chips. We discussed our options for a trek the next day and headed off to bed as we had an early start. We would have been a day earlier and could have done an overnight trek but lost time with our passports being locked up and us having to wait for the owner to get the key to open the safe, and the bus being so late in the afternoon, out of Tulear.
We got a packed lunch and met Coco, our guide, who took us off on a six hour trek. We walked from the town through the rice paddies. The park was very dry with lots of sandstone landscape and towering massifs. The particular part of the park that we wanted to visit was closed because of a huge fire and not due to be opened for a week or so. We then chose to walk a circuit that ended at a waterfall and pools.
We got a packed lunch and met Coco, our guide, who took us off on a six hour trek. We walked from the town through the rice paddies. The park was very dry with lots of sandstone landscape and towering massifs. The particular part of the park that we wanted to visit was closed because of a huge fire and not due to be opened for a week or so. We then chose to walk a circuit that ended at a waterfall and pools.
Coco informed us that Malagasy people wear different coloured clothes on different days of the week as they meant different things to the wearer. He also said that different days are for different activities. Wednesday was a good day to travel long distances where as other days were only for short trips. Some days were better for making important decisions etc. Monday was a day of mourning so Monday was suitable for funerals and to wear black.
We passed several tombs that belonged to the Sakalava people who used to live in the area before it became a park. We were told about the caves in the cliffs where the bodies were put in a temporary grave in a low down place. Later the body is removed from the grave and the remains exhumed before being placed in a higher permanent grave. Once this is done the ancestor is at rest.
Other than a couple of falcons and harriers we didn't see much bird life. There were several kinds of lizards and chameleon and even a small thin non-venomous snake.
The rare pachypodium or elephant foot managed to grow in the cracks in the rocks and are a weird looking plant. The weather was pretty hot and we enjoyed the swim at the watering hole where we were joined by about a dozen French families doing a short walk for a picnic by the waterfall.
Once back at Momos we met Karen, from the US and Joop, from Holland. They had both been volunteering with a Dutch botanist although Karen had been working with Peacecorp as well. As we chatted about our travels Karen asked us if we had a citrus orchard. She then realised that we had met before in July at Betty's Bay in South Africa. Is Africa that small?
