Day 25

We wake up early today. We are 20km from Joffreville and haven't seen anybody since we left the trailhead 2 days ago
Julio manages to find a couple more lead tail geckos and two different kinds of the smallest chameleons. He keeps amazing me. At his advantage, he grew up playing with them, setting up chameleon fights and now makes a living finding them!
Even when we hike back to Joffreville he keeps finding some.
Last night in Madagascar. I stay at a lodge built up a tree.
Tomorrow I'll fly back to Tana and then to Paris at 1am. Not fun. I'll miss this place.
Goodbye.
. We know the way back and move at a faster pace. It's roughly 4h from our camp to the trailhead. There's a small and basic lodge here. We order lunch for later and go tour the waterfalls nearby.

Day 24

We wake up in a cloud. Everything is much wetter up here, just 500m above the trailhead. Julio has a hard time starting the fire but manages to start it. We take our time and enjoy our breakfast with a splendid view as the clouds dissipate; rice left over from yesterday with coffee and some bread with jam.
Our goal today is first to find the Grand Lake and then try to find the path to the summit. We pack and go. After a couple of hours the trail ends at the lake. Easy. The view is very similar to yesterday's, it looks like a crater lake surrounded by the rain forest. Leeches are a bit more annoying and we set up the tent where they seem less active, closer to the lake and away from the vegetation. Now it's time to find the path to the summit. After some scouting we find it. It's only 200m up but what a trail! So many hanging mosses, ferns, and orchids, everything just got greener and greener, with many contortioned trees. It looks like Harry Potter's forest! Suddenly a crowned Ubu startles us just a few meters in front of us. It's huge! Like a big goose. It's mostly white with many colors near its head. Julio got scared!
The summit, 1475m, welcomes us with just a few clouds. Guides have cut a bit the vegetation for the view. We see Mozambique Canal, and Ankanara's mountains to the south.
We also take advantage of this little clearing to dry our feet and remove the few leeches still on.
Nap under the sun, feels good!
So far we haven't seen that many chameleons, I hope we'll see some tonight. Julio keeps smiling...
No wonder he was smiling! Within just 50m we find tens of them!! Small ones, big ones, green, orange, blue, even a tree frog 4m up above our heads, wow!!!! Never seen this much in the wild! It's like a reptilian zoo!! Well, with some leeches also... Still, I keep looking for new looking reptiles and Julio (he's really good at finding them) finds the cherry on the cake: a short tailed gecko. This one is active at night and nicely crawls to our stick so we can take it down and get some pics.
Again, what a day!

Day 23

It's 8am and my guide is on time at Suarez Hotel. The pilots are leaving at the same time. They go to the airport, I go to Joffreville. A Renault 4L takes us there, amazing how this little car from the 70's is still the most used car around!
Before leaving Diego we go to the local market for supplies to get malagasy style camping food: rice, dry and salted fish, 1 can of sardines, 1 box of Vache Qui Rit, and soup ramen!
From Diego to Joffreville the landscape goes from dry yellow to lushy green.
Then, we hike 6km to the trailhead. Thanks to Julio, my guide, we spot countless chameleons, geckos, snakes and spiders! Wow!

Julio also tells me he hasn't gone much further than the close by cascades so he isn't sure about what we will find. I tell him to grab a machete and I have my GPS phone with Google terrain map downloaded, we'll be fine!

After a few hours I understand we must make it to one of the lakes closer to the summit: there's no running water or spring on our way. My pump filter is put to good use on the only puddle we find, filled up by drops falling from moss.

Day light goes fast and by 4pm it's getting darker and we start rushing to find a camp next to the closest lake. By miracle Julio finds a path leaving the main track and then asks me: how far are we from the lake? Just 300m on a straight line I reply. Let's go!
We can't see the lake, just forest, and we speed up our pace hoping we're going to find a place to camp. After a few minutes we see the lake below our crest and quickly after we reach it.

After so many hours spent under the green canopy we are struck by the beauty of this place.

We still have to find a spot for camping though and are surprised by the tall grass or hanging grass carpet I should say. We expected a nice grassy area but are stuck with a knee deep and unstable mattress of grass. Now we're tired and desperate to find something. We end up by going back to the edge of the grassy area hoping to find firm ground. Then we see a small wooden hut and decide to check it. It's probably a fisher's shack. Ground is firm around it so we decide to stay.
Time to filter water, boil some rice with the dry fish, eat and go sleep!
What a day!

Day 22

Muriel and I tried to meet on the emerald sea but their tour didn't come close enough to Babaomby. I went quite a bit upwind and enjoyed one more time this windsurfing paradise.
By 4pm I take the boat back to Diego Suarez and meet with Muriel and the other pilots. I am offered to fly with them for the rest of their excursion. Cool! Nevertheless I speak to the hotel manager and find a guide for trekking at Amber Mountain. After some thought I choose the second option. I'm going to switch from blue to green!

Day 21

My last full day here at Babaomby. Everybody is pooped, music played till 6h30 in the morning...
I went to sleep at midnight or so. I'm fine and make a long session again. Winds are even lighter, for the first time I get out on a 100l board and 5.5m2 sail.
My whole body hurts nevertheless, with so much partying and windsurfing for the past few days. I go for a massage then. Feels good, I almost fell asleep!

Day 20

Life keeps going by. I am totally out of touch with the rest of the world. No internet here and barely some phone signal at the top of the hill.
Winds are lighter today, not only can I windsurf for a long time but I also take a kite lesson. It's amazing how easy they can be flown nowadays.
It's Madagascar's independence day (from the French!) also. A DJ arrives by the fishing boat (like everything else by the way) and another party starts. Wow, 2 parties in 3 days!

Day 19

Winds got even stronger today. I had planned on a kitesurf lesson but we have to cancel it.
I then go with the fisher to snorkel and see how he does to bring so much fish everyday. Bad luck: I leave with a non working snorkel, I can't breathe...
In the afternoon I go see the local Tsingys. This place is very dry.

Day 18

Island downwinder. I was flying and holding my sail, 4,2m2. Huge swells, 5km if going on a strait line, but at least twice as much when sailing. This island has a flat sandy spot with jaw dropping emerald colors. I was so tired and the arrival on the beach was so spectacular, I was almost crying of joy. The last km we navigated between the corals and then, as the swells diminished, we did a few more runs on the crystal clear waters.
Then it was time to sail to another beach for lunch. Another downwinder! Winds have picked up a notch, I start the ride but I'm exhausted, the small fishing boat that followed us since Babaomby rescues me, it looks like we are going to capsize every second, the swell is so big!
We ride to a beach protected from the winds and have lunch. This feels like Robinson Cruzoe's island!
The ride back to camp is upwind and I definitely can't make it. Only Laurent and Angelo go for it on a windsurfing board, it will take almost 4 hours for the last one to arrive! The swells are huge, we are completely soaked on the boat. This feels like an epic. Water keeps filling up the boat and we scoop it out non stop, for the entire ride back. We all are so tired and so happy.
But it's not over!
Malagasy musicians arrived from Diego and a party starts. I haven't danced in eons, but I can't escape African music magic!

Day 16 & 17

Like yesterday winds are pretty strong and they shape big swells, at least 1.5m high!
It's a lot of work for an amateur windsurfer like me: I am holding the smallest sail I ever use, 3,7m2, and keep my speed low to avoid unwanted take offs and crash landings!
I finally get dialed on the 3rd day. Winds are a bit less strong, 4,2m2. I spend 3 hours in the water; I'm pooped. Feels good.
Crab at lunch! Food has been great all the way.
Tomorrow we sail altogether to an island.

Day 15

Yesterday's flight finished well. We flew from Mayotte to Comoros Islands first and then to Antananarivo. Seats were really close to each other though, not only my knees were stuck against the front seat but I could barely open a magazine!
At Comoros Islands two passengers were boarded from an ambulance and laid flat over three seats. Apparently it's usual the crew tells us. Very sick patients fly to Antananarivo for lack of medical resources. But by the same token corpses are regularly flown back.

This morning I flew to Diego Suarez while Muriel started her flight excursion. We'll meet again in a week at Diego.
Strong winds have shaken the Boeing 737 at landing, good, I came here for windsurfing!
What an arrival at Babaomby. First a pot hole infested road then a small boat to cross a sea pass. The strong winds and big waves force us to wear raincoats!
After the pass the magic colors of the Emerald Sea are everywhere.

Day 14

Hiking and flying day.
We were lucky enough to be able to leave our packs at the airport and then take a taxi to a trailhead.
It's a great trail; first around a crater lake and then along two beaches with turtle nests everywhere. Cool. The view to the airport when arriving is awesome.
I think I had never hiked to an airport before!
We'll leave to Antananarivo late afternoon. And tomorrow we split: Muriel starts the flying excursion and I fly to Diego Suarez, the windsurfing capital of Madagascar!

Day 12 & 13

Wake up
Eat some bananas
Go dive
Get baobab juice
Go dive again
Enjoy diner with fish on the menu.
Sleep
- Start over. ;-)

Day 11

Wow, we swam with turtles today at an incredible beach with baobab trees.
I love this nature. The botanical garden was great also this morning. Trees with famous flowers and fruits, like ylang-ylang or cocoa!

Day 10

Morning: climbing up mount Choungi. Short but intense root climbing.
Afternoon: snorkeling. Did you know Mayotte is one of the greatest diving spots on planet earth!!!?????

Day 9

Today we fly from Madagascar to Mayotte to see our friends Jaco and Adeline and their kids.
We first fly above the red lands and then leave Madagascar's coast.

What a weather change! A balmy 26c welcomes us. Instead of the 8c or so in Madagascar!

Day 8

Got to Antananarivo.
Herr... Diesel fumes, traffic jams, and the usual dirty streets.
Who misses this???

Two stops on the way:
One to visit the foundry that makes the local cooking pots out of recycled aluminum from car engines, window's frames, etc.
They make a casting mold for each pot. Bare foot, no masks, no gloves, no glasses, they pour the burning hot liquid metal to the cast. One at the time, 50 a day. It looks like a factory from Émile Zola's books.

The second stop was at a foie gras place. Yeah, I know, it sounds ridiculous here in Madagascar, but it's an old French colony!

Day 7

We keep heading back to Antananarivo.
We also have decided to make a long stop at a random village on this famous road, la Nationale 7.

Tanzouna, our driver and guide, suggested to buy pens to give away to the kids that might flock us on our adventure. After some thought we decide to simply go to the school and give the pens to the teacher.

After an hour or so of driving we stop in a village and Tanzouna asks where the primary school is.
I will never forget our arrival at the school.
The kids got totally wild instantly.
They all got out of the classrooms, some jumping off the glass free windows, others running away, and all screaming like some extra terrestrial invaders had reached their school. That was the first 5 seconds. Then, when they realized we were from the same specy but with just a different skin color they flocked us. And not just one class but all the grades! At least 150 kids got out !
The poor teacher I thought. What a mess we made!
Things got quieter after a few minutes though. We managed to get the kids back to their classroom and presented ourselves. French is not spoken though.

Back on the road. We arrive at Antsirabe and fall in love with the ecolodge Chambres du Voyageur. There are turtles, birds, magnific gardens and even a chameleon hunting bugs. Wow! What a cool place to finish the day!

Day 4

Second day trekking
We move to the primary forest after a search for more lemurs.
Hery, our guide keeps amazing us with all his knowledge about this place. He knows a lot about plants, birds, insects, animals, you name it!
He grew in this forest; in Ranomafana village exactly. He has spent months with researchers that come and spend days looking for a particular gecko or bird or fern. He has also traveled quite a bit in Madagascar, all the way to the North, where the army is literally fighting to keep the Rosewood alive in another National Park.

We arrive at camp 2 and a big group of young workers from Ranomafana arrives at the same time. At least 20! They are going to spend the week here building the shelters. We watched them preparing diner siting around their fires and pots. Rice and beans for a week; breakfast, lunch and diner!!!

One funny event though. Muriel managed to sit atop a caterpillar that stung her butt cheek. Ouch! She got a little panicky with the growing pain and rushed to ask our guide what to do. He suggested to apply some hand purifier. Guess who got the task to apply the purifier??!!! And right there, as quickly as she could she put the cheek out and Joao applied the paste. All this went quite fast, and suddenly we realized everybody was by now watching the scene, including the young workers!!! What a laugh!

When everything got quieter we went out for another night excursion. They always are a success. Tonight we saw 3 different frogs and 2 chameleons. I got better at night shots!

Day 2-3

12pm We finally got to Ranomafana.
One big event on the way though.
A flat tire that could have been a trip stopper: The screws for the spare tire were hiding at the bottom of the trunk. They were shorter than the ones from the flat tire and the first one we tried went all the way off the threading, behind the wheel holder against the fixed part. Ouch! When we left the screw was still too far in and a scary screeching sound stopped us just after not even one meter. Back to the wheel. We finally managed to get it out, but the threads are gone. 1 screw out of 5 is missing now. It should hold.

Meanwhile tens of kids gathered around. They had their fun watching us and more particularly Muriel that kept taking pictures.

First day trekking
The rain forest showed us a lot: Several lemurs, bamboos, frogs, chameleons, orchids; all in a dense vegetation. We got lucky: the rain had stopped just one day before we got in. Beautiful blue skies and less leeches. No mosquitoes either. It's colder than I thought, but it keeps them away!

Ranomafana national park is basically a lemur center. Most visitors get a couple hours hiking and almost always manage to see some lemurs in the wild. There's cell phone coverage so the guides call each other as soon as one finds lemurs.

Our first night is spent next to a creek. There's still phone coverage, but tomorrow it will be gone.
Before sleeping we make a night walk searching for frogs and chameleons. Loved it.