|
Day 10. Primary Rainforest Ranomafana
 |
| Ambositra
in the morning |
Straight after breakfast we go on our way to Ranomafana. The
first part of the road is in a reasonable state and twists through
the mountains. Zebu herds are walking everywhere and their owners
step out of the way carelessly after continuously honking. At
a certain point we pass a truck at the side of the road, like
anywhere else, but here there are eight men giving us important
instructions on how to pass the truck in the proper way. Bust
only 20 meters further down the road we almost hit a couple of
road workers who are, without any warning signs, working in the
middle of the way.
 |
| Ranomafana |
In front of us drives a completely worn out japanese van. It's
lost all of its windows which are replaced by plastic curtains.
The trunk waves back and forth dangerously, there's an immense
load of baggage tied up to the roof and carries at least 15 people.
Even Dyna has to laugh.
We stop on the way to eat baguette with cheese and we see children race down the road on small wooden cars loaded with branches.
At the gate to the park - or, the beginning of a 32 km bumpy
road to the actual forest - we are stopped by the gendarmerie.
The man, dressed in an army suit, asks Dyna for his papers and
the contract of our tour, which was formulated by Rija earlier.
He takes at least five minutes to study the document and starts
making problems; we can't get in. The reason for this is that
destination Ranomafana is not listed by name in the contract.
For us it's another act of inconceivable bureaucracy and it
takes Dyna a lot of effort to get the guy letting us through.
Once at the entrance we take a guide and start our 3 hour walk
through the rainforest.
 |
| Taxi Brousse |
Not long ago,in1989, here in Ranomafana a new species was
discovered: the Golden Bamboo lemur. The mammal lives only in
this place of the world and was considered so rare that it's
habitat was promptly promoted to national park. Researchers
and biologists from all around the world come here to study
the several endemic plants and animals.
The more sad it is that the Tanala tribe that lives in this
area (18 tribes live in Madagascar) exercise a bad method called Tavy,
or slash and burn, in order to grow crops or make place to let
their zebu's graze. The damage is clearly visible. We see many
barren spots with burned tree trunks. Of course Tavy cause nothing
but devastation; after a few times the grounds are exhausted
and the people move to the next place, where the ritual is repeated.
This explains why only 19% of Madagascar's rainforests is left.
The new government is now working on prevention but are making
very slow progress. Fortunately, the majority of Ranomafana
is now protected from Tavy.
 |
| sleeping Wooly
Lemurs |
We make our way through the beautiful forest. We see plants
like wild coffee and ginger and there are rampant waterfalls.
Our guide makes croaking and squeaking noises to lure the lemurs.
After a while it's me who discovers the first animal; i see
a furry ball sitting in a tree. We struggle through the vegetation
to get closer. It's the Greater Bamboo Lemur. It glances at
us, apparently rudely interrupted from it's afternoon nap.
We get multiply rewarded this afternoon as we see not less
than 5 species of lemurs, amongst them those rare Golden Bamboo
lemurs, in large numbers and from close range. We see several
Brown Lemurs and big black-and-white Sifaka's. Our guide also
discovers the Wooly Lemur, a nocturnal animal. We see four of
them sleeping together cozy, eyes opened. The temperature is
pleasant and it rains gently. We inhale the flavors of the
wood. Or at least, not if our guide walks in front of us. He
spreads a flavor of his own which is a little less pleasant.
Dyna is waiting for us, he's polishing his car, and we begin
our bumpy way back. We arrive in Fianarantsoa in the evening.
It's raining considerably, which is quite normal for this higher
situated area. The town looks dirty and gloomy but we arrive
in a chic hotel with uniformed doormen and a room with a big
bath-tub, for 15 euro.
| 
previous