Fianar

After that first full day in Tana, I hit the road, grabbing an all-day taxi brousse (bush taxi) to Fianarantsoa. On the way we stopped for lunch and I was late getting my food, due to the need to locate an actual bathroom. As a result, I had a secret (as in he didn't know about it) eating contest with the last person not already back in the car. No one blames the second-to-last person back for holding everything up, so I wolfed down a plate of rice and barely beat him out the door. When we got to Fianar I got a taxi to my hotel. Now, all the taxis here are the most ancient Renaults ever created. Most of them have no door handles, and one I've ridden in the driver had to hold his door shut while he drove. This one couldn't make it up the hill to the hotel. It would get half way up ... and the engine cut out. Finally he grabbed my bags and just walked to the hotel.

Bright and early the next morning I was at the taxi brousse stand looking for a ride to Parc National de Ranomafana. I made it there shockingly quickly. I chose a guide and we went for a 3 hour hike through the remaining pqtch of protected rainforest. We found a family of Golden Bamboo Lemurs early on, then a Greater Bamboo Lemur, of which the park only has two. I believe this is the only park with bamboo lemurs. I also spotted a Milne-Edwards Sifaka and several interesting Madagascar birds and reptiles.

On the way back to Fianar the taxi brousse made a stop and some girls came with platters of snacks to sell. The first one: chicken feet. No lie. Second: duck heads. Seriously? Even Tanzanians throw the heads away. There was a third platter. What culinary horror could this last plate contain? Vegetable fritters. I have a constant impulse to buy street food, so I got two. A Brazilian also leaving the park saw me buy them and said he was afraid of the food here. I tried to explain how street food is the best thing for you. Keep your immune system on its toes, and besides, I never get sick from it. He wasn't buying it.

Unfortunately we got back too late for me to do anything else that day. The next day I got a taxi brousse to Ambalavao, and after a long wait, another to Anja Reserve. Its a community conservation project, and I highly recommend it. Not only is it a community initiative, but 5 minutes after getting there I was in the middle of a whole mess of ringtailed lemurs. They were amazing and had tiny 1 month old babies! This was a dry forest, not like Ranomafana. There was a lot of unexpected scrambling over rocks involved, and at one point I thought "Just give me a rope, I could rappel it easier than climb it." Then guess what we arrived at. Yes, a rope, to help in a particularly steep descent. After the hike they told me ther was a Peace Corps volunteer stationed there. I wanted to say hello, but it turned out she was away that day. Too bad.

After my lemur adventures, I rode back to Tana and today flew to Île Sainte-Marie.

More to come...