Our visit Ankarana Park- By Emily

It was six o'clock in the morning and the sun had just risen. Mom, Dad, and I were taken to shore by Peter in his dingy. We said goodbye to our boat Emily Grace which was rafted next to Peter's boat Lovina. Once ashore, we took a taxi from Crater Bay to Hellville were we met up with the family from Mojumbo. From there we all took a fast ferry boat to Ankify. We were on our way to Ankarana Park in Madagascar. 

 

We waited in Ankify for Michelle who was going to drive us to our destination. Mojumbo, who was traveling with us, was a family of two adults and two kids. The parents were Vicki and Gary, while the kids were ten year old Nina and twelve year old Zeke. I kept everyone amused by making difficult origami, and Michelle finally arrived. The taxi-brousse wasn't very big, and when we left there were nineteen people plus a family of chickens behind my seat. It was a scenic, if bumpy, van ride, and once we even forded a river! The locals had made the water semi shallower by stacking a lot of rocks there, but there were still several inches of water under our tires. We watched villages at regular intervals with colorful markets, people walking zebu, and large rice patties and grazing fields. Halfway there we drank a free soda out of glass Coke bottles, typical of the 1950s. We drove through a village and one of the men in the van threw biscuits for the kids. They yelled and ran for the biscuits he threw to them, and it was like a race to be the first one there. Dad bought a bunch of fresh roasted cashews on the side of the road and we ate some of them on the way. After three hours of being jammed next to a fuel jug I was relieved when we arrived at our lodge.

After lunch we went on a tour with our guides Joachim and Simon. We weren't even in the park yet when Joachim said, "Ok, there is a chameleon within a two meter radius." Sure enough, there was. A big male chameleon, about 1 foot long, stood on a branch. Its alien eyes swiveled independently to lock each one of us in its gaze. The next creature we saw was also a chameleon, although this one was a Panther chameleon, the most colorful of all the 71 types of chameleon. We entered the park and a harrier hawk swooped above to welcome us. There were many green geckos, and they were quite pretty to see. Joachim showed us trees including the Sardia tree used for making canoes, Rosewood, and Sandalwood.

After a while we arrived at a cave and we donned our headlights. Great stalactites and stalagmites rose from the floor and ceiling. Bats flew round and filled the air with their high-pitched voices. When we exited, night had fallen and we got to see the forest at night. We saw a leaf gecko and the eye-shines of many animals, including a crowned lemur.

When we got back we explored the workings of our very basic lodging, and declared it... Interesting. There was a double bed on the ground floor with a shower and toilet, and there was a foam mattress in the loft above. There was a generator that ran from dusk to ten and that activated one light bulb hanging on the loft railing, other then that, no light except lanterns. But that was well with us because we were tired and fell right asleep as early as we could. There was no running water, but Simon had brought us buckets of water from the well. The toilet flushed by quickly dumping in water, and the shower was a bucket of freezing water that you poured over your head with a dipper. The beds were covered by mosquito nets and the pillows were filled with the natural kapok. We felt right at home on the very lumpy stuff that was used to make lifejackets. At three in the morning we were woken by the roosters, and we longed for the quiet nights on the boat.

The next day we woke early to have breakfast and set out at a leisurely pace. Birds called out and presented themselves one by one. We saw the Crested Drongo, Creole Bird, Greater Vassok parrot, and the Crested Cua. We saw a few Crowned Lemurs, still groggy, resting on a branch. We saw leaf bugs, which are so strange I can barely describe them. The young look like ticks with white fluff on their backs, but the adults were green moths. We saw more trees too; the Fikias tree (Which was huge!), a bottle vine (likewise big), and a sunburn tree that had a reddish, peeling bark. We got to the lookout point and admired the view of the forest and the Tsingy rock. Joachim showed us another leaf gecko with its weird, flat look, and we saw a long thin snake that Zeke had spotted. We got back to the lodge at lunchtime with the rest of the day to relax.

The last day of our stay was the longest. Nina, Zeke, and I were thankful for the car ride to the park entrance while the parents walked. When they arrived we started out with a couple other people. We saw a Crocodile Gecko to begin our hike and a big baobab with a trunk that had a 1 meter circumference. Our guide told us that a baobab was one hundred years old for every meter of circumference. The trail eventually left the forest and took the track of a dry riverbed. Joachim explained to us the water level could reach over ten meters high in the rainy season, and showed us a sinkhole that marked the entrance of an underground river. The underground river would carry the water away and come to the surface three hundred meters before the ocean. We also found fossils of shells in the rock.

We entered the woods again and saw a deadly bug. What was it? A scorpion. Simon lifted a couple of rocks, and there it was. After a few photos we moved on and saw a few more birds we hadn't seen, like the Magpie robin, Blue Vanger, and the Paradise Fly Catcher. The male paradise fly catcher had a blue back and a long white tail. The female was brownish red and didn't even look like she was the same species. Later we found two of Sanford's Brown Lemurs lying on a branch above us, regarding us with a bored expression. The female was gray, but the male had a white ruff around his face. Joachim explained that there were normally seven to fourteen in a group, so the others were sure to be nearby. Shortly after that we saw a Sportive Lemur snuggled up in the hollow of a tree. He was surprisingly smaller than the other lemurs we had seen, though his eyes were big and round.

Suddenly and abruptly the landscape changed from trees and leaves to sharp pointy rock formations. Gray, thorny plants and elephant Baobab were the most common plants we saw. We had arrived at the tsingy rock. Our guide showed us an ebony tree and a sun bird, which was small with a shiny blue back. Finally we reached our destination: Point suspendu, the suspension bridge. It was a simple suspension bridge, and we all went over it, one at a time, to have a snack on the other side. Zeke, Nina, and I had fun pointing out the dinosaur-shaped tsingy rock to the adults. Eventually we crossed back over and retraced our steps. On our way to lunch, Joachim showed us a huge 400 year old baobab, about four or five meters in circumference and very high.

Now, my favorite event that day was lunch. No, not the food, I liked the lemurs that tried to steal our food. As soon as we sat down and the containers were out, crowned lemurs started gathering around us. They perched on the wood that supported the roof over the eating place and waited for the banana desert that was sure to come. When the bananas were put on the plates we had to hide them behind napkins to keep the lemurs off. After our meal I delighted in watching the lemurs leaping from tree to tree as they departed.

Next morning we left, and went back to our boat. I must say that Ankarana Park was a wonderful place to see the wildlife of Madagascar.  Enjoy the video of some of the highlights of our trip.

Emily