You can only reach Ankany Nofy by boat, its about 1 hour from Manambato. We pass a few small villages along the way. Everything looks deserted. No one is about. But its raining so that would be logical. THe thing you start to learn about Madagascar after being there for a bit is that it's ALWAYS an adventure... every single day. About halfway to our destination the boat starts to sputter and then dies. We look at each other, wishing we could just get there..... the captain pulls out an oil can and we realize our boat is drifting, slowly but surely towards the bank. He tries to start the engine.....its noisy, but no go. He tries again.... a third time. This time it rumbles and starts. We continue on our way. We pass lush jungle greenery.... it would be so pretty, if not for the misty haze that blocks it all.
Eventually we sight land ahead and pull up to a dock. We can see several bungalows overlooking the water, they look nice, but are told these aren't ours, and the French are disembarking here and we are continuing on. We cross to the other side of the channel to another dock and see just trees. I have a moment of slight worry... maybe we should have reserved at the other place, but are greeted by friendly Malagasy who take our bags and we rush up to dock out of the rain to our next location, Palmarium.
We are led to the main lodge where we are greeted by a friendly young man who gives us a welcome drink and we dry out. Palmarium http://www.palmarium.biz/ turns out to be a beautiful, incredibly remote resort on an island with its own animal reserve. Clean cut trails weave around small sand "gardens" of Malagasy plant life, mostly desert. He tells us that electricity will turn on around 5:30 (it's the bush after all, thank you for your consideration, says the welcome page in the bungalow....) One garden contains Madagascar radiated tortoises. Madagascar radiated tortoises are an endangered species found living only in the extreme south of the Island of Madagascar. They are called radiated tortoises because of the unique pattern of coloring on their shells, where yellow streaks radiate from the the 'scales' on the top shell.
We are led to our bungalow and are surprised and pleased to find the largest bungalow yet, with a nice big porch with a hammock and sitting area. We also have our own private walk down to the beach. We change out of our soaked clothes and spend some time reading and writing on our porch. In my journal, I write, "I am now sitting on the porch, listening to the birds, rain and the ocean crashing. It will be 10 minutes until the electricity comes on and then we can have a hot shower, our first in three days. It's beautiful.... it's paradise. Again, if only not so cold and rainy, but hopefully the weather will clear up tomorrow. I certainly feel like I'm finally on vacation. A deep relaxation has set in that only takes place after being away from "real life" for several days... and we are FAR away. I think we are both ready to stay in one place for a bit, and perhaps to have some other company. While we have certainly been enjoying each other, it will be wonderful to see our friends in a few days."
The electricity finally comes on and we turn on our water heater to take a hot shower. After 2 hours, the water is "not freezing" and I decide that cleanliness worth more than the chilly shower it will take to get it..... I take the "whore's shower:" hair, armpits and crotch. It will have to do.
Dinner is, yet again, surprisingly tasty!! Its tuna this time. The dining area is remarkable in that there is a bar with these huge tree stumps carved into stools. We see several large jars filled with what looks like oranges, vanilla, and other unidentifiable food. Its rum, and it looks strong!
Our company at the next table are three older women. We listen to their conversation... I swear I hear Spanish, but then we hear French and what seems like Portuguese.... we debate their nationality, but finally determine they are Spanish, just speaking French too. After dinner we play some more cards and eventually head to bed.
GOOD DAY SUNSHINE!!!
A welcome sight this morning - the SUN!! Blue skies, for the first time we have been here! We eat a fast breakfast (the norm, bread and jam with a side of bananas and cheese). We have an unexpected guest at breakfast, a brown lemur.
He leaps around the rafts holding up the roof, and slowly makes his way down. We are enchanted..... so are the Spanish women next to us apparently, as one makes its way to her shoulder, only to grab the piece of bread from her hand and leap back to the roof... cheeky lemurs. We finish and go to the Palmarium lemur tour.
Another day, another lemur tour.... JUST KIDDING, seriously I'll never get tired of this! The Palmarium lemur reserve definitely has the most variety of different lemurs in one area that we have seen and will see. These were "wild" like the first we saw at Perinet, though these would eat from your hand. We saw a few new species, the Corona lemur, or "crowned" lemur,
and a dark orange one and, the ultimate for me.... a mother Sifaka and 11 day old baby, clinging to her belly. It was absolutely adorable. As you can see, we got many great pictures of that!
We continue to walk through the forest and see more plants and some other lemurs come for bananas. Then, he starts to call for the Indri. He walks through the forest calling and calling.... and all of a sudden, there is an answering reply. It's LOUD!!!! All of a sudden, shades of Vakona.... we are off and running through the forest again!! We see a black Indri up in the trees, but he coaxes him to come down - something we never saw at Andasibe. We couldn't get remotely close there, but this one eventually comes down.... he wouldn't climb on you, but this one ate right out of my hand.
We look at our watch and realize that our boat leaves in 20 minutes and we are way out in the reserve. We jog back to the resort, shedding layers along the way... it's HOT (finally!) The three hour boat ride to Tamatave no longer seems like the worst idea in the world. We pick up the French tourists from before from their dock and we are off again.
