We had an early start for the drive westwards into the mountains for our visit to the rainforest national park of Ranomafana. The park was established in 1986, basically to protect the habitat of the golden bamboo lemur.
We started our drive through rich coastal agricultural land and stopped at a roadside village to buy some fruit. Custard apples and bananas were the main fare.
It didn't take long for a little crowd to form...
..and this lady was happy to pose for a photo in the hat worn by her ethnic group, the Antaimoro
The scenery changed as we entered the hills...
...many covered in travellers palms, an indication of deforestation.
We continued higher...
..through several village markets...
...the boy grating casava behind the food stall caught our attention...
..until we reached Ranomafana and the Manja Hotel.
It is freshwater crayfish season, so we had some for lunch - a $6 meal including chips or vegetables.
After lunch we headed off for a guided walk in Ranomafana NP.
It's thick rainforest with lots of bamboo, and it did rain, but it was short and sharp.
As stated above it was created to protect the golden bamboo lemur. We spotted a small group. With the taller trees and thicker vegetation photography was more difficult, but we did get a couple of keepers.
We also saw two greater bamboo lemurs. There are only 3 in the park and 150 in Madagascar, hence the world, and none had been seen for 3 months. They have ears not unlike a koala, in the words of our guide, ie white tuffs. These we got closer to, but in thick vegetation.
Other notable? sightings were two giant snails....
...a pair of mating moss stick insects....
..and stone monuments to the ancestors of the forest dwellers who previously inhabited the park.
We left the park just before it started raining again. It was so hard during dinner it was hard to have a conversation. Still we can't complain, it virtually the only rain we have experienced in all our time in Madagascar.
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