Meandering in Madagascar & a little more ambling in Africa…via the Hunter Valley

[JohnM]

A little description of the World Heritage-listed Tsingy:

The Tsingys are plateaus in which groundwater has undercut the elevated uplands, and has gouged caverns and fissures into the limestone. Because of local conditions, the erosion is patterned vertically as well as horizontally. In several regions on western Madagascar, centering on this National Park and adjacent Nature Reserve, the superposition of vertical and horizontal erosion patterns has created dramatic ‘forests’ of limestone needles. The word tsingy is indigenous to the Malagasy language as a description of the karst badlands of Madagascar. The word can be translated into English as where one cannot walk barefoot.

Harnessing-up. The route – 3km doesn’t sound like much but quite a lot of climbing; 4h for the circuit. A solid level 2 IMO – but with a few spooky rock-climbing bits to negotiate. Harnesses were probably overkill in some spots; sensible in many others. Fossils in the limestone. Very narrow and deep chasms.



Up and over, in and under, and then up, up, up.



Finally, the top. Definitely not for walking on barefoot! Then the hair-raising bit – the bridge; going back not allowed.



And then it’s down and down we go before up again for the well-earned stroll back to base, spotting lemurs on the way. Great day out!

 

[drron]

If you were talking about the pods hanging up drying they are tamarind pods.very useful in cooking.very common in Thailand.

 

[RooFlyer]

I was with you until the bridge. Uh-uh.

The fossil looks like a coral - or maybe an echinoderm?

 

[JohnM]

I was with you until the bridge. Uh-uh.

The fossil looks like a coral - or maybe an echinoderm?

Coral, I suspect. IIRC, the Tsingy is Permian (c. 250mya). The limestone formations in the Kimberley (Windjana & Geike Gorges) are Devonian (c. 300mya).

Retreating was not permitted - the only way out was straight ahead :mrgreen:. Only one person at a time - and best don't look down :shock:.

 

[JohnM]

Next morning it’s a fairly early departure for the return journey to Morondava. We’re on a mission that cannot be allowed to fail: we must get to Belo Tsiribihina in time for our lunch reservation at Mad Zebu (it's an institution on this route), then we must get to the Tsiribihina River ferry to get over to the other side before someone else muscles into our ferry booking. Going upstream this time, so it will take 40-45 minutes. Our ultimate mission? – Making it to Baobab Alley in time for sunset! If that fails, there will be hell to pay!

Lets GO!

Loading up for the quick trip straight across the river at Bekopaka. Clearer look at the ferry propulsion/steering system. First vehicle off the ferry is away! Feels like a rally!

Driver a picture of concentration – and for good reason…





And we burn into Belo on time. It’s Sunday, so lots of folks out in their Sunday best (white predominates for men and women) for church. Coming down the main street of Belo. Mad Zebu awaits and our table is set!



Menu. We only have time for a main – at 17,000 Ariary, it’s about $8. But it is preceded by a very nice gratis amuse bouche. The grilled prawns are to die for and the zebu osso bucco melts in the mouth.

Then we have to get motoring to make sure we get the ferry.



It’s busy on the river. Fishermen out, passenger boats and lots of sacks of rice being transhipped.

 

[Bindibuys]

Retreating was not permitted - the only way out was straight ahead :mrgreen:. Only one person at a time - and best don't look down :shock:.

You won me at the bridge.!

 

[JohnM]

Make way! Going well for time, so a chance to make a detour near Baobab Alley to another, very large, loving baobab and a cluster of baobabs on a nearby pan. Swing into Baobab Alley from the N, and the shadows are lengthening. Park at the S end and walk back in. Large solitary baobab and a pair in the distance.



Sunset comes and the clicking of camera shutters fills the air. But… turn around and the moon is rising (full moon is the next night). Good timing!



Then it’s into Morondava and a pleasant hotel on the beach. A jam-packed week one ends. The upcoming route for week two (the red line is my attempt to show the flight from Toliara to Tana that will end the trip).

 

[love_the_life]

I was with you until the bridge. Uh-uh.

The fossil looks like a coral - or maybe an echinoderm?

I didn't even make the first climb. Think it might be a bit much for this little black duck Hills are not my forte and that looks pretty hairy.

 

[amaroo]

Just caught up - excellent report

Were you itching to shout out "Chau chi Lan Tsu Tsa Tsa" on that bridge

[video=youtube;WXjt0RgxcMs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXjt0RgxcMs[/video]

 

[JohnM]

The next few days involved quite long travel, taking in the changing landscapes and varied social and village characteristics deriving from different ethnic and tribal histories. First, an early Monday morning departure from Morondava on the coast, with the streets still quiet, past lowland paddy fields and rice drying to climb up onto the central plateau, heading for Madagascar’s third largest town Antsirabe.

There was quite a change in the style of houses. As previously mentioned, the house style is very often region or tribe-specific.

In one location, crossing a bridge over a river to see people crushing the stone and then panning the resulting powder for gold. The highlands in the distance across the plain were our ultimate destination. Cassava, out to dry, is more of a staple than rice in some upland areas.





Antsiribe has an interesting history as a spa town because of the thermal springs. The first Europeans were, oddly enough, Norwegian missionaries who built a health retreat there in the late 1800s. The French colonists turned it into a more chic getaway from Tana.

Railway station. A novelty are the hand-drawn rickshaws called pousse-pousse (a transliteration of ‘push-push’, apparently). A quick run along Independence Avenue to the colonial Hotel des Termes.

 

[JohnM]

Out into the countryside as we continued towards the mountains and another rainforest National Park. Digging river sand for use in making concrete and mortar. Rather pretty jewelled chameleon discovered when we made a brief roadside stop for a picnic lunch. Broad valley with patchwork of agriculture, a crowded town that was very slow to drive through and characterised by the women all wearing hats of various styles. Getting up into the sub-highlands – note the eucalypts. They seemed to be getting cut down for making charcoal at a faster rate than they were growing… Cloud on the top of the mountains in the distance indicates the rainforest that was our destination.



Zebus were being ‘droved’ in quite large numbers through the Ranomafana National Park as part of a seasonal grazing change. It’s definitely a rain forest. Accommodation was good. Slippery trekking in search of lemurs and success.



That afternoon leaving the cloud-covered rainforest behind and heading towards the drier SW of the country. Visited a small nature reserve on the way for a first look at ring-tailed lemurs. And another chameleon looking every which way.



Drier, more sparsely populated plains and rocky hills. A long day saw us take in sunset on the plain before getting to our accommodation near Isalo National Park after dark. Moonset the next morning with the background of the park’s rock formations, and to be the day’s hiking destination. More pleasant accommodation.

 

[JohnM]

Next day it was hiking in the park. Spectacular cliffs with bright green lichen. Rock-covered tombs in unlikely places in the cliffs are a characteristic of local tribal burial practice. The rock formations bear some resemblance to the Bungle Bungle Range in the Kimberley, where coincidentally I was about a month before.



The scale of the formations is quite awe-inspiring, quite some distance above the plain below. Descending into a gorge. Interesting tree with fire-resistant bark.



Unique elephant-foot plant and its bright flowers. More lemurs.



Narrow, moist canyon with pretty vegetation, pools and waterfalls. Leaving the park and on the road towards the coast the next morning. Alluvial sapphire mining. Madagascar is a significant producer.

Scoop! One for Tony Hancock! Caught QF testing its new SYD transfer bus :shock:.

 

[JohnM]

Final two nights were spent chilling at Ifaty, on the beach overlooking the Mozambique Channel.



Whale-watching out beyond the fringing reef the next morning. Dinky pocket camera is not much good for recording such stuff but we saw humpbacks surfacing and diving with flukes displayed. Local fishermen and sailing boats.



Sunset on the final night, then it was up very early to get to Tulear (aka Toliara) for a spectacular dawn and the flight back to Tana. Then it was onto the SA bird TNR-JNB. Last glimpse of the Madagascar coast (sob) and coming back to Africa over the coast of Mozambique.

Next: Botswana and Zimbabwe.

 

[love_the_life]

Just spectacular and so many lemurs - of all kinds. I love furry critters! But the chameleons are pretty interesting too.

 

[JohnM]

A little geography primer and trip route. Afternoon flight TNR-JNB and JNB-BBK the following morning. Kasane is unlabelled to the west of VFA. The original trip plan I posted showed traveling from Kasane to Maun through Chobe NP, but that was the camping/4WD version. I was doing the lodge version as that coincided appropriately with the end of the Madagascar trip.

The tour started in VFA the afternoon before I arrived in BBK, with immediate travel to BBK. I couldn’t make TNR-JNB-BBK in the one day. All I missed was the early morning game drive in Chobe but I made it in time to do the sunset cruise on the Chobe River. It was no drama as I’d been here before.

The next day was directly to Maun and the Okavango Delta through Nata. After that, it was back to Nata overnight to catch sunset on the Makgadikgadi Pan before crossing into Zimbabwe to visit Matobo and Hwange NPs, finishing in Vic Falls. Two weeks all up.



The usual suspects on the Chobe.



And of course the mandatory sunset shots…



Next day it was across to Maun overnight and preparation for two days camping in the Okavango Delta. We were somewhere in the area marked. Loading up the mokoros. The folded mattresses make comfy seats while being ‘poled’ in mokoros to the camp site.



Camp. Cosy campfire for the chilly night.

 

[JohnM]

Dawn and on a nature walk.



Sunset meander through the channels. Breaking camp and poling back to the start point for the return to Maun.



Light aircraft flight over the delta in the afternoon.



Sunset at the Makgadikgadi Pan. Despite the drought afflicting SE Africa, there was an unusual amount of water in the pan, so a lake rather than the pan. Normally it would be dry near this shore in the dry season.



In Zimbabwe near Matobo NP. Lovely small family-run lodge. Wildlife on the property.

 

[JohnM]

Next day was spent in Matobo (aka Matopos) NP. It is World heritage listed and has extensive San Bushmen rock art dating 13000-3000 years ago. It is also noted for its kopjes, or areas of large round boulders.

The main wildlife attraction is rhinos and leopards – the former typically observed on foot; the latter typically very elusive in the rough terrain. We visited one small rock art cave, found one family of two, and another of four rhinos. No leopards spotted. The Matopos Hills is also noted for being the site of Cecil Rhodes’ grave, where he specifically requested to be interred.



And of course, as they say over there…:mrgreen:



Climbing to a rock art cave, some rock art and surrounding views and a boerewors braai (African BBQ) picnic lunch.



Matopos Hills, covered with numerous species of often brightly-coloured lichen. Rhodes’ grave.



Sunset on the kopje.

 

[JohnM]

We spent a long day in Hwange NP, which is one of the larger NPs in Africa. An extensive range of wildlife and the birdlife was particularly rich and abundant. Except for observing lions mating, a very brief (but frequent) act, the pics will tell the story. It’s a bit random, reflecting the course of the day rather than a heavy editing looking for the best pics.

 

[JohnM]

It was then on to Victoria Falls for the last two nights of the journey. Vic Falls is tourist central – clean and almost trendy these days, unlike my first visit about nine years ago. Guess I’d better put in some pics of the reason people go there…

It was dry season, so the water level was quite low – a good time to view from the Zim (ie. Vic Falls) side. In the wet season the spray can obliterate the view there and it is better to view from the Zambian side.

Early afternoon and the sun was on a good angle to get a rainbow looking downstream in the chasm, but not on such a good angle to avoid glare photographing the face of Devil’s Cataract (which spews water in every season). From above it was OK.



The main face and ‘the smoke that thunders’.

But it was pretty much a trickle further along and just a dribble at Horseshoe Falls – compare with June, perched on the edge over in Zambia, two years ago.



The Victoria Falls Hotel is well worth a visit to soak up the lingering atmosphere of the British Colonial Empire.

 

[JohnM]

The finale in VFA was a sunset cruise on the Zambezi (upstream from the falls). I omitted to take a pic of the boat from shore, but it was one of the bigger ones. Three decks; I tried to get ‘Signature Deck’ (top deck) but it was full, so went for the middle ‘Luxury Deck’. Canapes, wine and service couldn’t be faulted.

Settling in with a very good South African sauvignon blanc and looking downstream towards the falls; the ‘smoke that thunders’ spray can be seen beyond the treeline. A throng of boats doing the sunset thing.



Various boats and river scenes.



And the mandatory sunset shots – looking upriver.



The next day it was on the bird VFA-JNB, rent a car and head to Pretoria overnight before the QF flight JNB-SYD the evening of the following day.

Hauling out of the very new airport at VFA and getting towards JNB. Mandela statue. Voortrekker Monument and museum is imposing and interesting. Large sculpture and embroidery friezes.



Then on the JNB-SYD bird (1A and nobody next to me). Very fast ride home, tracking well N to ride a strong front moving over Australia. Interesting how the aircraft icon kept pointing N of the marked track. Ended up swinging not far S of Albany and going overhead ADL. Complete contrast to the SYD-JNB outbound flight.

Of course, it meant the SYD-PER flight was about as long as it gets – pfft, no problem in 2A refurb. It also tracked well N of the usual.



And… that’s all folks!