Tuesday, October 11, 2016: Andasibe to Antananarivo
We slept until after 4AM today, which was a good night of sleep for us. We were prepared for the small hot water tank today, and we had figured out how to shower faster and more efficiently. I managed to get clean before the water ran out which was a plus!
We headed down for breakfast early, around 7:00. One of our companions was already there - by himself, as his wife was sitting out today’s hike. Turns out that she had tweaked her knee on the first hike two days ago, because her hiking boots were in their packed luggage (these were the bags that had been lost in Johannesburg). Though their luggage had caught up with them on the next day, she was without her hiking boots just long enough time to mess things up. We were sorry to hear that...
We packed up and brought our bags down to the office for storage while we were out hiking this morning. The porters were hovering outside our bungalow, so we had help whether we needed it or not.
This morning, we were off to the closer reserve at Analamazoatra, just past the village of Andasibe. Only about 20 minutes driving time this morning, unlike yesterday!
We started out easy, hiking on wide flat paths, with flowers and nice scenery.
The first lemur of the day was the common brown lemur.
Soon enough, we started climbing higher into the forest.
Suddenly, our guide shot off the path into the jungle, moving quickly. Soon, we could hear the haunting calls of the indri. We could hear their haunting cries long before we saw them. I have a video recording of their calls, in true "Blair Witch Project" style.
I turned on the video as we ran through the woods, and let the camera hang at my side, so it is nothing but trees and forest floor rushing by as we ran through the jungle. If you have never heard the cry of the indri, it is haunting.
We got great views of a few indri, posing, eating, leaping through the treetops. They kept moving and it was a challenge to keep up and get a sustained clear view of them for pictures.
While we were concentrating on the indri we almost missed a trio of eastern wooly lemurs, only a few feet off the ground, looking timidly at us. We only saw them when we looked down for a minute to rest our necks. It was a great sighting!
As we walked elsewhere in the reserve, we also saw the giraffe-necked weevil, a most curious little bug, and a few assorted birds.
Our resident reptile lover spotted a chameleon, and we all took turns holding it, letting it crawl on our arms before finally putting it back on its tree. It really felt a little funny, as it has thin hair-like "claws" at the end of its toes, which tickle your skin a little bit as it crawls up and down your arm.
We went back to the hotel after our hike for drinks and lunch. At least in this hotel, there are more choices available for lunch than there are for dinner - a bit unusual, but most dinners tend to be a smaller, more set menu and lunches are a la carte. We only ordered two courses this time, but we could pick anything from the a la carte portion of the menu.
Chris had the duck breast that she had been eyeing since we arrived, which was not available on the dinner menu. I had a beef wok with vegetables, and with it, some very hot sakay to liven things up. Desserts were chocolate mousse and a lemon tart.
We piled our luggage and ourselves into the cars for the four-hour drive back to Tana. Luckily, I was paying attention, because my backpack with my laptop and all my charging gear didn’t appear at first. I had to go back to the office and find it before we left. Close call!
It was a pretty and scenic drive with the late afternoon light.
But we were treated to a beautiful sunset outside of Tana.
Traffic was terrible as we approached the city, and we took a series of detours which according to my phone and Google maps, headed in a direction away from our hotel.
Eventually our driver parked at the office of the tour company, went in and seemingly got directions, then we were off again for our hotel. Maybe we should have stopped for dinner?
There seemed to be a few options, though the unrefrigerated sausage might have given me pause...
We headed up the (seemingly) correct street, and drove just past the landmark that I'd stored on my phone map, but we didn’t see a hotel. Shortly, our driver stopped across from a building that said “Embassy of Monaco” and announced that we had arrived. Very interesting!
We were escorted through the front door and promptly checked in. We explored the house and marveled at the beautiful rooms, tiled bathrooms, hot water, and super fast wifi connection.
And yes, we were actually staying in the building where the Consulate of Monaco stays when he's in Tana!
This was a small hotel with only four rooms, and we were occupying three of them, so we pretty much had the place to ourselves.
Dinner was quite nice for us, though they didn’t accommodate those in the group with dietary restrictions very well. We had a delicious pumpkin soup to start.
The main course was beef and pork cubes, cooked in greens and served over rice. I liked it very much, and found that it was similar to the pork with cassava leaves that I’d had previously. Dessert was chocolate lava cake. The wines were OK though the selection was limited; certainly not unexpected from such a small place.
Tonight we had unexpected great news! Tomorrow’s Air Madagascar flight to our next destination in the northern part of the island was postponed from 6:00AM until 11:30 AM. We could look forward to a full night of sleep in our beautiful hotel!
Off to bed, but we wanted to try to use the fast internet to post a few pictures before falling asleep, as we would be without much internet access for the next week. So, we fought with the free Photos app in Windows 10 to try and organize our photos for posting. It was a most frustrating and time-consuming process!
I was really missing my tried and true Photoshop Elements program, which I hadn't installed onto the new laptop before we left home. Eventually we got some photos posted and went to sleep.
We slept until after 4AM today, which was a good night of sleep for us. We were prepared for the small hot water tank today, and we had figured out how to shower faster and more efficiently. I managed to get clean before the water ran out which was a plus!
We headed down for breakfast early, around 7:00. One of our companions was already there - by himself, as his wife was sitting out today’s hike. Turns out that she had tweaked her knee on the first hike two days ago, because her hiking boots were in their packed luggage (these were the bags that had been lost in Johannesburg). Though their luggage had caught up with them on the next day, she was without her hiking boots just long enough time to mess things up. We were sorry to hear that...
We packed up and brought our bags down to the office for storage while we were out hiking this morning. The porters were hovering outside our bungalow, so we had help whether we needed it or not.
This morning, we were off to the closer reserve at Analamazoatra, just past the village of Andasibe. Only about 20 minutes driving time this morning, unlike yesterday!
We started out easy, hiking on wide flat paths, with flowers and nice scenery.
The first lemur of the day was the common brown lemur.
 |
| Common Brown Lemur, Analamazoatra Reserve |
Soon enough, we started climbing higher into the forest.
Suddenly, our guide shot off the path into the jungle, moving quickly. Soon, we could hear the haunting calls of the indri. We could hear their haunting cries long before we saw them. I have a video recording of their calls, in true "Blair Witch Project" style.
I turned on the video as we ran through the woods, and let the camera hang at my side, so it is nothing but trees and forest floor rushing by as we ran through the jungle. If you have never heard the cry of the indri, it is haunting.
We got great views of a few indri, posing, eating, leaping through the treetops. They kept moving and it was a challenge to keep up and get a sustained clear view of them for pictures.
While we were concentrating on the indri we almost missed a trio of eastern wooly lemurs, only a few feet off the ground, looking timidly at us. We only saw them when we looked down for a minute to rest our necks. It was a great sighting!
 |
| Eastern Wooly Lemur |
 |
| Madagascar Magpie-Robin |
 |
| Giraffe-necked Weevil |
Our resident reptile lover spotted a chameleon, and we all took turns holding it, letting it crawl on our arms before finally putting it back on its tree. It really felt a little funny, as it has thin hair-like "claws" at the end of its toes, which tickle your skin a little bit as it crawls up and down your arm.
We went back to the hotel after our hike for drinks and lunch. At least in this hotel, there are more choices available for lunch than there are for dinner - a bit unusual, but most dinners tend to be a smaller, more set menu and lunches are a la carte. We only ordered two courses this time, but we could pick anything from the a la carte portion of the menu.
Chris had the duck breast that she had been eyeing since we arrived, which was not available on the dinner menu. I had a beef wok with vegetables, and with it, some very hot sakay to liven things up. Desserts were chocolate mousse and a lemon tart.
We piled our luggage and ourselves into the cars for the four-hour drive back to Tana. Luckily, I was paying attention, because my backpack with my laptop and all my charging gear didn’t appear at first. I had to go back to the office and find it before we left. Close call!
 |
| Rice paddies everywhere. No wonder we eat it all the time! |
It was a pretty and scenic drive with the late afternoon light.
 |
| There's that Half-dome mountain again! |
But we were treated to a beautiful sunset outside of Tana.
Traffic was terrible as we approached the city, and we took a series of detours which according to my phone and Google maps, headed in a direction away from our hotel.
Eventually our driver parked at the office of the tour company, went in and seemingly got directions, then we were off again for our hotel. Maybe we should have stopped for dinner?
There seemed to be a few options, though the unrefrigerated sausage might have given me pause...
We headed up the (seemingly) correct street, and drove just past the landmark that I'd stored on my phone map, but we didn’t see a hotel. Shortly, our driver stopped across from a building that said “Embassy of Monaco” and announced that we had arrived. Very interesting!
 |
| Our room, at Maison Gallieni |
We were escorted through the front door and promptly checked in. We explored the house and marveled at the beautiful rooms, tiled bathrooms, hot water, and super fast wifi connection.
 |
| Dining Room, Maison Gallieni |
And yes, we were actually staying in the building where the Consulate of Monaco stays when he's in Tana!
 |
| Nice bathroom! Maison Gallieni |
This was a small hotel with only four rooms, and we were occupying three of them, so we pretty much had the place to ourselves.
 |
| Pumpkin Soup. Yummier than it sounds. |
Dinner was quite nice for us, though they didn’t accommodate those in the group with dietary restrictions very well. We had a delicious pumpkin soup to start.
The main course was beef and pork cubes, cooked in greens and served over rice. I liked it very much, and found that it was similar to the pork with cassava leaves that I’d had previously. Dessert was chocolate lava cake. The wines were OK though the selection was limited; certainly not unexpected from such a small place.
Tonight we had unexpected great news! Tomorrow’s Air Madagascar flight to our next destination in the northern part of the island was postponed from 6:00AM until 11:30 AM. We could look forward to a full night of sleep in our beautiful hotel!
Off to bed, but we wanted to try to use the fast internet to post a few pictures before falling asleep, as we would be without much internet access for the next week. So, we fought with the free Photos app in Windows 10 to try and organize our photos for posting. It was a most frustrating and time-consuming process!
I was really missing my tried and true Photoshop Elements program, which I hadn't installed onto the new laptop before we left home. Eventually we got some photos posted and went to sleep.
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