Day 12. Isalo Massive
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| 'Gas
station' in Ranohira |
Isalo is a large protected area around a gigantic Jura-massive.
Two canyons cut straight through the massive and we will visit
one of them today, Le Canyon de Lemur. The plan was to charter
a 4WD but it turns out they're not available today. Instead Dyna
offers to take us there in his car. While we follow the road we
hear the sharp stones scraping the bottom of the car and we constantly
smell the odor of burned rubber. But Dyna, who's always very
careful of the car, doesn't seem to be worrying at all.
After an hour we can't go any further so we continue by foot in the direction of the huge massive. We left as early as possible to avoid the handful of tourists in the area, and with success. We're the only ones here and we're lucky to see a group of brown- and ringtail lemurs, in forests in front of the canyon. We see two brown lemurs (of which the male is gray) making love while others are jumping from branch to branch like acrobats.
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| Isalo Massive with the two canyons |
We reach the canyon, a narrow cavern between the hundreds of
meters high mountain sides. A turquoise creek flows through,
lush ferns are growing and there are waterfalls. It's very beautiful
and we walk another hour deep into the dark canyon until we
can't go any further. The guide tells us the canyon goes on
for at least 20 kilometers. Its a fascinating idea that in front
of me is 20 kilometers of pristine, unexplored wilderness.
After lunch we have a walk to another cascade. Nature is different
here as well. Actually there's only one suitable description;
paradise. It looks like an artificial botanic garden, that's
how perfectly beautiful it is, again with turquoise creeks and
lush vegetation. It's the lemurs that remind us that all of
this is real. Again we see ringtail and brown lemurs. They are
mating on a rock, and a third one is lying comfortably on top
of them. They don't seem to care about us at all and we can
approach them so close that we could touch them, if we wanted
to. We continue our walk until we reach a waterfall falling
down from a deep cavern. I plunge into the ice cold water.
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| Brown Lemurs |
On the way back the lemurs cross our path again, on their way back to their hideouts in the mountains for the night. We make ourselves invisible and see one of the lemurs that got behind, calling to his friends in agony. They reply to his calls from the distance, and the lemur hops, relieved, into their direction. A ringtail observes the happening in a tree above our heads. The only ones that haven't showed themselves, to our regrets, are the white sifaka's. They are hiding in the woods around the rocks, high above us.
At the end of the afternoon Dyna drives us to the 'Window of
Isalo'; a hole in a rock formation through which we will see the
sun go down. All of this in an wide, unearthly landscape. But
when the moment is there, a bus full of french tourists suddenly
appears, stumbling over each other to shoot pictures. We quickly
disappear.
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