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.
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