MIVOAKA: 17.12.2023
On Wednesday we continued to Tsaranoro . The journey was relatively strenuous as I was still not feeling well, and the last 45 minutes or so to the hotel were not exactly pleasant.
Of course, we still arrived at some point and I was immediately amazed by the landscape and the accommodation.
The hotel is the only civilization in the area, outside there are only impressive rocks and beautiful plants. The hotel was huge, there was even a pool table, a library, etc.
Our room was like a hobbit cave with crazy angles and shapes, I immediately felt at home! But the funniest thing was definitely the construction of the bathroom door:
After we had settled in, we watched the sunset and then sat with Michel for a while and played cards. At some point we felt like playing boules. That was a lot of fun and was also a real "bonding moment" between us and Michel, because it was the first activity we did together without it being part of the planned trip. Plus my team won :P
After dinner we went to bed, then the next day we had a longer hike to the Pic Caméléon (the name is quite obviously explained by its shape).
In order to avoid the really intense heat, we set off from the hotel relatively early (around 6:30 a.m.) with two guides. First we went up a few meters steeply for around 1.5 hours. I was completely exhausted because I still had stomach pain and had eaten and drank very little for two days, so I was completely dehydrated and had no energy. But the effort was still worth it because the view was fantastic!
At the top of the mountain we took a longer break until we started the descent into a currently dry river valley. This was really extremely beautiful because the stones glittered in all sorts of colors and were simply beautiful to look at. The highlight: We saw lemurs, another type of lemur.
We then ate our packed lunch in the shade of the mango trees (at least everyone except me) and walked on to a small village, which we looked at. I found it pretty impressive.
After about seven or eight hours we were back at the hotel, freshened up and then enjoyed a massage. The masseuse was blind, which made the whole experience very exciting - and she was really good at what she did!
Afterwards we played a little cards and chatted with two other American tourists until we went straight back to sleep after dinner.
Julia, Nina and I then set off again at around 4:30 a.m. for the next hike to be able to admire the sunrise. Unfortunately I had to stop after a while and stayed a little further down than the others, but it was still very nice. Especially because nature is really quiet in Madagascar. No car, no tractor, no nothing can be heard.
So I enjoyed the silence and the view until the others came back.
Showered and hungry, we went to breakfast, then packed our bags and then continued on to Isalo - a four hour drive.