Madagascar Part 2 of 2… the last adventure… or so we thought.

Tuesday - another early morning to beat the heat of the sun and I'm so glad we did that. Boy did it get hot today!! Today we explored Ankarana East Reserve. Word of advice if you go... Comfy walking shoes. Preferably boots. Plenty of water. Sunscreen. Insect repellent and Take your camera for the amazing sights you will see and above all... be fit. We walked/hiked for 4 hrs today and I'm utterly exhausted. But it was all totally worth it. Within the first 30 minutes we came across our first wild lemur family. They are the crowned lemur and endemic to the north of Madagascar. Endemic was a word used very frequently by our guide. :) 

We then came across the nocturnal spotted lemur. One of two spotted lemur species. And later came across the other species. They are ridiculously gorgeous and made the entire trip to Madagascar totally worth it. I can now leave satisfied that we saw wild lemurs. 

Along the way to our destination we spotted many species of gecko also endemic to the north and then started the hard part of the journey across many rocks. It was a hike for me. The reserve is made up of limestone and when we reached our destination it was mindblowing to see. As I am scared of heights unless I'm strapped in to something I didn't cross the bridge but rather waited for Hannah to do so and return. It didn't matter as the view was much the same from both positions. Another guide passed me on the way and started conversing in Malagasy to me of which I didn't understand at all. Parlez vous anglais? I asked him. He apologised and said that I looked Malagasy. Must be the dark tan I've managed to get. Haha. 

It's been challenging but also fun to remember and practice my French here with the locals. And they have been fantastic in answering back in French to either humour me or help me better my French. 

The walk back was exhausting across the rocky terrain but I made it and it was worth it. On the way back we saw more lemurs and geckos and even a snake. 

After lunch we headed to our next lodge. Ankify Lodge which is right on the water and beautiful. 

Unfortunately this is where my trip turned a little sour. I became quite ill. Struck by a fever, vomiting and other nasty gastro stuff. All night long. In the morning we were to catch a boat to Nosy Be. Luckily we had a lovely man look after us and he escorted us across the sea, organised for a doctor to meet me at the hotel and made sure we were safe. I praise God for that man. Arriving at our hotel (Anjiamarango Resort) I immediately laid down. The doctor arrived shortly after and it turns out I had a temperature of 39 degrees Celsius. She was lovely and helpful and while only spoke a little English I was able to piece it all together with the little French I knew. Je suis malade. She put in a saline drip for 2 hours and dosed me up on meds. By the evening I was feeling better. Still not 100% but getting there. 

On the next day - Thursday - Hannah headed off to a tour and I remained behind to rest which I think was wise. Although I was jealous. She was lucky to see the black lemurs and another species and more chameleons followed by snorkelling. Snorkelling isn't my thing so wasn't jealous about that but would have liked to have seen the lemurs but even Bev and Mary said I wouldn't have made it. It was a lot of walking. And they were probably right. Rest is what I needed. I had enough energy in the evening to go for a quick dip in the pool and I organised to go on a tour of Nosy Be through the guide Dallas and Adrian recommended for Friday. 

Friday was good. Still not a 100% but better. My bag arrived on Thursday finally after 5 days without it so I had new clothes to wear which was nice. Eleonelle picked me up at 8.30am. We headed to see lemurs first. Unfortunately for me it was in a zoo type situation which I was very disappointed about but what can a sick girl do? I saw some free roaming ones that stick in the forest because it's close to food so that was nice and saw a baby ringtail even though it was in captivity. Still adorable. 

Afterwards we visited the sacred tree where I had to wear traditional clothes and enter with my right foot first because they believe it is more pure than the left side as the left side bears the heart. You can make a wish in there but if it comes true you must come back and pay your dues either in money, alcohol or a zebu head. 

Lunch was simple as I was still ill but the setting was a beautiful backdrop of a serene beach. I bought a couple of souvenirs after being accosted by a bunch of women selling me things. Lol. Then we headed to Mont Passot. The tallest mountain in Nosy Be with the most breathtaking views. It was spectacular. Then a quick drive back to the hotel so that I could get some more rest. Overall it was a good day but I'm disappointed I didn't get to see more lemurs in the wild. Perhaps another time. 

We joined Bev and Mary for dinner and I finally are something a little more substantial. Great fellowship. 

Then we found out that all international flights on Saturday were cancelled. Sigh. Seriously what more could go wrong?!?! I guess not much we can do with no Internet. So I text the wonderful Drew to ask for assistance. Now we just had to be patient and wait. 

Well... The next three days were very trying on me. Each day we tried to get on a flight and each day we had no luck. My patience had worn out and I'm sure I had become the most difficult of travelling partners for Hannah. It had been a tough week on me and I was ready to leave and even ready to come home. But we missed our flight home and this entered new problems. Luckily for us Hannah's mum to the rescue. Cathy organised for our flights to be flexible home and it seems Singapore Airlines were more than accommodating and understanding of our situation. Finally on the Monday after no luck of getting on the Nairobi connecting flight we bought tickets for the South African Airlink flight for Tuesday to secure a seat for us and because after all that had gone wrong with air Madagascar even if by some miracle we got to fly on the Tuesday who knows if we would have got a seat because of all the other stranded passengers and I just didn't trust the mechanics of the plane. I actually feared for our lives if we were to get on an Air Madagascar flight. So we will demand a refund from Air Madagascar on our flights and claim the difference through insurance. I don't care so long as we got off the island. 

And we did. I write this from the air. On SA Airlink and on our way to Johannesburg. What an ordeal. 

On the Monday though after our flights had been confirmed we decided to head to Lemur Park to just get out of the hotel that was driving us both crazy. The park actually isn't that bad. The lemurs are free ranging and the park is surrounded by water. So no enclosures or cages. We saw dancing lemur, black and white ruffed lemur, ring tailed, brown, mongoose lemur and another one that kind of looked like a baboon. Even though again I didn't get to see them in the wild this made getting through that day a lot easier and made it easier for Hannah cause I didn't complain as much. (I'm lucky she doesn't charge like a psychologist would otherwise I would owe her a LOT of money!) 

We were finally on our way to Johannesburg and I hope to have a surprise in store for the next blog. 

Madagascar Part 1 of 2 - The last adventure… or so we thought.

Last Day at the Sanctuary

Leaving the sanctuary was bittersweet. I love it there and it really feels like home. Over the two weeks you begin to feel like the people and animals are your family. Saying goodbye to them for now though with plans to return in the not so distant future. But the other half of me was super excited and overjoyed to be heading to Madagascar. Not many people I know get the chance to go there so this was going to be special. And special it was. 

The last day at the Sanctuary was a lot of fun. An early morning to feed and clean. As we did a lot of cleaning already on Friday during deticking there was only one enclosure to do so we had enough time to feed both the north and South enclosures in the morning and clear out dead grass and leaves from the electric fence of some enclosures. The animals get so excited for feeding and become different cats altogether. They become big scary lions. Haha. Bobcat, Suja and Tau in particular and holding the gate shut while we put food in their night pens safely can be a thrilling experience with the lion hating on you so much. Let me in! Let me in! 

In the afternoon Drew arrived ready to take us to the airport. We had the chance to show her and her daughter around the enclosures and introduce them to the lions, leopards and hyenas. Kind of felt weird doing that to be honest being an Aussie showing the South Africans around but also a privilege. We then headed off to the airport. A bite to eat before boarding our plane. 

We arrived safely on the Saturday night very late in Madagascar after being delayed by half an hour. It took an hour and a half to get through passport control and get a visa. We then had to wait another 20 mins for our bags. At this stage it was 1am already. Unfortunately my bag was misplaced. Either taken or left somewhere. Either way. No bag for me. One very upset and frustrated girl. Lucky for me we had left all our valuables with Drew and had on us my camera so in the bag is only clothes, shoes and toiletries. All replaceable. I'm trying to stay positive. 

We headed to our first hotel which was just to shower and sleep before our flight in the morning. We only got 2 hrs sleep before heading to airport to get flight to Diego Suarez. 

We were met at the airport by our guide Bruno and our driver Gabby and headed to the first hotel to settle in. A beautiful place with friendly people. Then straight off to Amber Mountain National Park for a walk through the rainforest. We were joined by Bev and Mary. An elderly British couple who we ended up running into for the rest of our trip as they had the same itinerary as us. We spotted 5 different species of chameleon and the walk was really lovely. Waterfalls, luscious green trees and even the worlds smallest chameleon measuring just 1 cm!! 

We had a late lunch at a cute little restaurant before going back to the hotel to rest. It's been lucky our itinerary is so jammed packed I haven't had too much time to think about my lost bag. Dinner was lovely and we had the chance to chat to another couple from Australia, Dallas and Adrian. Their itinerary is the reverse of ours so they were able to give us tips for Nosy Be when we get there. 

Monday - An early morning to try to beat the heat with walking we headed to see the Red Tsingy. Again passing Bev and Mary. :) These rock formations can not be found anywhere else in the world and were spectacular. Here are some photos for you. 

We then stopped and had lunch with Bev and Mary and shared some great fellowship with new friends. They have done a lot of travelling and are now just spending their children's inheritance. The way it should be. Mary reminds me a little of my Nan. So adventurous. 

Then a long drive to our next hotel. Passing many villages and that all familiar smell of burning charcoal. The people are very happy here despite not having much and they have fulfilled lives. Something we should remind ourselves of often. 

Finally reaching Relais de Ankarana Hotel we settled in and relaxed for a bit. Dinner was delicious with fresh pineapple for dessert. 

A good nights sleep before a full on day on Tuesday. 

To be continued...

South Africa Part 3

My apologies for the delay in posting this. We have been without internet for a little while. But it has meant that I have been more focused on being here and being in the moment. Being in Africa really teaches me that there is more to life than behind a computer screen or looking at my iphone for hours on end. We really need to be more in the moment and live our lives with the people around us. Being in Africa also teaches me that it is only just the beginning of my adventures, particularly with animals. I only started this journey 2.5 years ago and I have a long way to go. I am fascinated by the African animals. Don’t get me wrong, I love Australian native animals as well (I mean seriously how cute are quokkas and koalas!) but there is just something about the African animals and nature of the big big animals that draws me to them. I have so much to learn though so this is why it is the very beginning.

Monday was an extremely hot day. Actually the whole week has been hot. It’s been in the 30s all week (Celsius) and I will definitely be coming home with a tan. (Don’t worry I am putting sunscreen on every day but we are outdoors working so it’s hard to avoid!)  

We started off with some animal checks and then I joined George to fix some electric fences. Hannah and another vollie joined us and we found some faults and George used his expertise to fix them. We then cleaned the north side of the big enclosure. We managed to pick up an entire otto bin full of bones. Skulls, ribs, pelvis, all of the body parts. This is leftover from when we feed the lions. As the big enclosure has no night den, the food is thrown over the fence and the lions are free to take it wherever they like in the enclosure. Therefore a big job to get through it all.

We only got through half of the big enclosure before heading back to the camp for lunch. The food has been absolutely delicious here. I’m bound to come back a few kilos heavier.

In the afternoon we did some enclosure maintenance and watered some trees. I didn’t take many pictures on this day.

Tuesday – another hot one. This morning in the morning animal checks we gave Vayetse and his girls Olivia and Virginia (Livvy and Ginny) a whole kudu carcass as part of enrichment. It was dragged into their enclosure and then the lions released to enjoy. The girls first who played with it trying to kill it (even though it was already dead) and then finally settling down for a bite before we released Vayetse. Some very satisfied lions.

In the afternoon, Hannah and I joined Lozanne in the North to move some rocks and do some enclosure maintenance and general tidy up and clean. Before we headed to do another load of rocks for the blood pit we also headed to the dam for a swim. Well I didn’t swim but Hannah did and so did Bailey the pup.

In the evening we joined Daka, one of the workers here, and watched the Orlando Pirates play the Black Aces in the South African football league. Aces won unfortunately 2-1. Was good to get a bit of football in though. I’ve missed it.

Wednesday – FEED DAY! I love these days. I joined Lozanne and two vollies in the north enclosures (Meg and Amy, the four boys Icarus, Delta, Aslan and Unathi, and Gandalf, Sibindie and Khussasa along with the two black leopards Nikita and Coal and Geena’s hyena group) to feed and clean. It’s so thrilling to see how excited and worked up they get about food. 

In the afternoon we spent some time with Nicholas, the baby hyena and also watering plants and filling up water holes for the animals as well as the dirty horrible job of fly trap cleaning. Not everything is glamorous.

We spent a lovely evening watching a movie together and eating popcorn.

Thursday – This morning the decision was made to wake early and work from 6-10.30am and then 3.30-6pm. A much better idea and it made moving rocks a little more bearable as the heat had not hit yet. This morning after an animal check we did 4 loads of rocks for the blood pit. I finally feel like we are getting somewhere with it. It was so good relaxing during the middle of the day and then we went on a game census drive and wild lion tracking just beating the storm back to the camp before we got caught in the middle of it. Was kind of scary driving into it. But we made it out.

On the game census we spotted Kudu, Wildebeest, Zebra, Giraffe, Waterbuck, Blesbuck, Thebessa antelope, guineafowl, Jackal, plenty of birds and warthog. Unfortunately for us no elephants and no lions again. Even with the aid of the telemetry it was still difficult to find the wild lions… so I guess that still remains on my bucket list. There is always next time. A lovely dinner and birthday celebration for one of the vollies before going to bed. We have two more days here and then we are off to Madagascar. I won’t be able to blog from there as there won’t be any internet but stay tuned for the blog upon my return from Africa.

South Africa Part 2

Friday 17 October – As I woke with anticipation for the events that would follow on Friday, I paused to pray and really take in the moment of spending time in South Africa and the majesty and beauty that comes with that. The air was fresh and clean and with the knowledge that the day was going to be a good day without even knowing what was to happen exactly I was excited to be alive and living my dream.

After a quick animal check to make sure everyone was where they were supposed to be, we met up with Kevin and loaded Icarus into the truck. We drove for a bit and then let Icarus out of the truck and Kevin walked with him while we sat safely in the game truck behind him. Icarus had his own ideas about this walk so unfortunately we didn’t get much viewing but that’s ok, as a lion will go with his instincts and his instincts were to follow the calls of the other lions back to the sanctuary. I managed to get a couple of photos. J

We then headed back to the camp where Mandy and Kevin and their daughter joined us for lunch. It was a lovely afternoon of chatting and asking questions and playing with the hyena cub. Was a great opportunity to enjoy the company of people that I greatly admire and I am so blessed that we were able to do this.

In the afternoon we headed back to the enclosures to give the cats some enrichment by throwing elephant dung into their enclosures. What this does is stimulate their senses like it would be in the wild and provide them with different smells and keeps them active. When you have an animal in captivity, it is your responsible to ensure that they have the best life possible and that sometimes means replicating things from the wild and this is what we did. As one of the vollies, Leanne, was throwing the wet dung into Vayetse’s enclosure I turned at the wrong time and got spashed with dung in the face. Smack bang on the forehead and almost in my eye. I laughed so hard. As did all the volunteers. It was rather amusing and we are still laughing about it now. I only wish someone had caught it on camera.

Smelling like elephant dung, we went into the striped hyena enclosure and spent some time with the two boys Sparkey and Dhuba. It must have been the smell of the dung that made me attractive to the boys and become what we call the ‘chosen one.’ As we split up in the enclosure and just sit down and allow them to come to us, I was frequently visited by both of the boys. They have the calmest nature. And this is a type of enrichment too, our visits. Hannah got some photos of me and I got some of her. I thoroughly enjoy this bonding time with the animals.

Hannah collecting elephant dung

The boys in a bit of a scuffle

Vayetse

Livvy giving the big yawn

Sparkey

Secrets from a hyena

Sundowner Hill

Jade and I. 

After we watched the sun go down at Sundowner Hill we headed back for Potjie dinner. Dinner was laid back and great fellowship with the fellow vollies.

Saturday was clean and feed day again. Unfortunately we were a little pressed for time as Lozanne needed to go fetch a dead cow for the lions and therefore we didn’t have a truck to take food to the lions early. When we did, we split into two groups, north and south to get things done faster but unfortunately still ran out of time for cleaning but everyone got fed. I didn’t take much photos today as I like to have ‘live in the moment’ days. But I did get a couple of photos with the mongoose.

Sunday – GAME DRIVE DAY!! One of my favourite days. We just got back from this actually. This morning we did a quick animal check and then headed out to Mongena. Mongena had a lot of expectations to live up to as the game drive last year was amazing. And it didn’t disappoint. Lunch was delicious and very well priced, zebras were roaming in the grounds and we got to see some wonderful animals on our drive. Including a cheetah and her 3 cubs. Mind you the cubs are almost fully grown at 16 months old but it was still wonderful to see. Let me tell you the story in pictures.

Tonight we are going to have a bonfire with marshmallows before we say goodbye to some of the vollies that leave tomorrow. One week down. It went so fast. I’m so glad we are here for another week. More adventures to come!

Alison