17 Oct: Red Tsingy - Ankarana

We said good bye to Richard as Clement took over for the next two days. We left the lush rainforest behind and traveled south to the Ankarana Nature Reserve. Clement said they would stop whenever I’d like to take pictures but then we would probably never reach the Reserve. There was too much to see!

Naturally, I didn’t mind when we got stuck in the crowds of people gathered in the village market.

Then we left the main road.I would never expect that Maarten will like it here that much. He constantly spoke about his plans to move to Madagascar and build a house right here in this dry desert-like landscape. Clement liked his thoughts and they quickly become friends. Clement seemed to enjoy singing so he sung a Malagasy song for Maarten and then Maarten sung one for him. You could see that Clement, father of 5, liked to have such a young visitor. He told us that there are not many children visiting Madagascar.

It was a good 30 minutes on bumpy dusty roads until we reached the first viewpoint. The colors of the red tsingy were spectacular, but unfortunately, I didn’t succeed to catch it well with the camera. The light was too sharp.

The Red Tsingy are fascinating geological features and are a result of the deforestation. The red clay soil began to erode by effects of wind and rain and revealed those odd pink sandstone structures.

Clement suggested driving a little further in a more accessible canyon.

We had to descend a little hill but already from here the view was fairytale-like, so colorful! Green palm trees, grey grass contrasting with the brick red tsingy and little stream at the bottom of the canyon!

Clement wore rubber beach slippers all the time and here in the wet canyon he immediately took them off to go barefoot in the shallow water. Also Maarten immediately took his shoes off and squeaked with joy when his feet sunk in the wet sand. We stopped for lunch in a village restaurant and surprise surprise they served zebu meat. But thanks to Clement they brought me a huge crab! Yum!

This little girl was playing behind the restroom building that I actually didn’t dare to enter.

After the lunch we visited the grey tsingy in Ankarana. It was very hot. We had to cross dry river bed and continued through the brush. It wasn’t a long hike but because of the heat it was quite tiring to get to the viewpoint overlooking the sea of sharp, grey rock karsts. I was surprised how sharp those thin blades of limestone were. Maarten was eager to climb on the pinnacles but that was absolutely not allowed.

An Italian couple found this leaf-tailed gecko that was very different from that we saw at Montagne d'Ambre.

A couple of lemurs were having their afternoon siesta. I was a little jealous. I was so tired that I could sleep standing up.

At last I was glad we managed also the short walk to the Perte de rivières. There was a massive hole in the ground where during the wet season 3 rivers meet to continue underground.

We were glad to be in the car again. Sebastian, the driver took a shortcut to be at our next lodge before the sunset.

It was interesting to see the difference between villages by the area. In the morning we drove through places where sapphire searchers live.

In most villages there were many zebus but here in the region Antakarana we saw mostly pigs running freely on the streets. But just like in the other villages the bicycle chickens were everywhere!

We had to cross this river. I was glad we didn't have to do that ourselves that Sebastian was driving!

It was just on time before the sunset when we arrived at our next lodge. What a place! It was literally in the middle of nowhere but was worth the journey! We were welcomed by a friendly lady offering us a delicious tamarind juice with whole black peppercorns. Divine! I didn’t mind that Maarten disliked that! We sat at the comfortable deck enjoying this beautiful natural setting.

Such a quiet place! The design of the bungalows was based on the Malagasy homes built with local materials in harmony with its surroundings. There were no doors, no windows or hot water it was absolutely unique. The only downer was the abundance of mosquitoes. It will be a miracle if we won’t get malaria after that night spent at the bush camp.