Isalo

So apologies for the delay in blog writing but it's been a very busy couple of weeks. While continuing my science training, so I am ready to partake in the next set of surveys, I have also been completing my rescue diver course so I can officially be classed as a hero..
Other than all that, last weekend myself and two other volunteers, Jack and Bart, decided to take a trip up to Isalo to visit the national park where we spent three days trekking through the incredible landscape.
Our journey there began on the Wednesday. We took a rather worn down 4x4 up to Tulear (which was luxury compared to the taxi brousse) where we spent the night. Early the next morning, armed with a zebu steak sandwich each, we took a pousse pousse up to the taxi brousse station to rendezvous with a driver called Francois with whom we had booked seats on his brousse. However when we arrived at the station we were immediately swamped by people trying to get us onto their taxi brousse. Attempts to locate Francois were futile, even if we tried to call out that we were looking for Francois immediately everyone would begin to claim that they were Francois in a sort of backward take on the camaraderie shown in Spartacus. Eventually we just resorted to accepting that the one who looked the most trustworthy to be Francois and went with him to his brousse (it later turned out that this was not Francois who had called the Reef Doctor site concerned by our absence from the brousse, how he didn't notice 3 confused vazahs surrounded by a mob of taxi brousse drivers all yelling his name is beyond me).

Once onto the brousse we travelled the surprisingly comfortable 5 hours up to Isalo and onto to Momo Trek where we were to spend the night before heading out into the park the next day. This was probably the most uncomfortable nights sleep out of our time at Isalo as the beds were lacking mosquito nets and the windows were lacking.. well.. proper windows.. So the night was spent slapping various limbs in attempt to crush the swarms that made their way into the room.

At 8 the next morning we took the car down to the entrance of the park and began our trek. Our first part took us through a large canyon cut into the rock face and to a pool which became regular and very welcome features of our trip. As I jumped into the water I thought back the amount of times, at each of the clinics I visited for vaccinations and medical check ups for this trip, that I was warned about swimming in fresh water pools and not to due to Schistosomiasis. However I challenge any one of those doctors to trek through Isalo and resist the temptations of any those pools.


After visiting the canyon we began the arduous trek up the face of Isalo's great sandstone walls. For someone who has done little exercise for 3 years straight I can't deny that I did find this a bit of a challenge and the baking sun, loose crumbling path and lack of shade all combined to make me think by the end of the first day as to why I ever agreed to and paid 250,000Ar for this 3 day trek.

Fortunately the answer came about an hour into the next days walk when we were taken to a small oasis hidden away in the depths of Isalo. This consisted of a large, deep shaded pool adorned with small over hanging palm trees and with waterfall that provided warm water from the sun baked river above. We spent a good few hours swimming in the pools and relaxing in the sun gorging on fresh pineapple while ring tail lemurs played in the branches above us. Unfortunately this bliss couldn't last forever and, with inner body temperature lowered and spirits lifted, we continued our trek up to the very top of the cliffs which had fantastic views over the the small town of Ranohira and the great expanse of paddy fields that surrounds it. We then made our way down to our final campsite in Isalo which came with a welcome addition of Red Fronted Brown Lemurs, much to Jacks excitement, and a small, very concerned, looking chameleon much to my excitement.


Our final day in Isalo was spent visiting yet more pools, the last two of which were known as the blue and black pool. The black pool which was very deep and cold made the blue pool, which was shallow and in direct sunlit, feel like a jacuzzi. Afterward we made our way out of the park and back to Ranohira where we had a quick meal, which was rather disappointing after the delights that our porters had rustled up for us along the way including zebu stew and and an excellent spaghetti bolognaise, and then spent a second uncomfortable night swatting the mosquito hoards.

Unfortunately the end of our trip finished on a rather low note. To begin with the taxi brousse we were due to travel back with decided to break down so we had to spend about half an hour in a small car in which they had somehow managed to fit 11 people in. This consisted of 6 people on the back seats, 2 on the front seat, 2 in the drivers seat and 1 in the boot. Once we reached the new brousse we were yet again crammed in well over capacity and began the 5 hour journey back to Tulear. It was about an hour in that I began to get rather strong stomach cramps, another hour in a fever began to take shape and then another half hour before I realised that at any moment I was going to disappoint a very full taxi brousse by emptying the contents of my stomach. Luckily by some pure miracle I managed to keep it together until Tulear and was able to rapidly disperse the 12 pousse pousse drivers wanting my business by throwing up in the middle of them.

Fortunately it was just a 24 hour bug and by the next day I was alive and well and ready to get back to work of which I promise I shall chat more about in the following blog post. Well that is if the whale watching, night diving and barbecue don't take up too much space...
Just a quick note that I will put up all my pictures onto my Flickr account which can be found if you search for the user name TomG_2013 and look under the set called Madagascar.

Location:9,Ifaty,Madagascar