We decided to get up early to begin our trip to the rainforest in Andasibe National Park. At 6:45, we met Romeo, the driver and then went to the hotel Café for coffee and croissant or a raisin bun for me and a pain chocolat for Nicola. The pastries at the Hotel Colbert are fantastic if you're ever in Tana.On the way out of city, we saw man fresh vegetables such as carrots and tomatoes for sale along the edge of the road and along the bridge. Nicola and K chatted in the back and I fell asleep. When I awoke everything was green around me. The vegetation was getting more lush and tropical. We'd been driving for a couple of hours when K asked Romeo if we'd passed the chameleon park. He said yes, about 50 kilometres ago, not an insignificant distance with twisty road. Romeo wasn't sure what to do to which K replied, Let’s go back. And we did.
The chameleon park was pretty cool. I believe it's a private venture with different types and chameleons and snakes penned up in different cages. That said, these areas are huge in relation to the sizes of the chameleon. There's a door and we walk in. The largest chameleon we saw was the Parsons chameleon. The guide fed grasshoppers on the a stick to the animals to demonstrate their very quick, long and deadly tongue. (For some reason, the grasshopper just remained on the end of the stick.). It was very entertaining to watch. We also saw, the elephant chameleon which lives up to its name with big, flappy ears and a bit of a snout. The snakes were all smaller constrictor snakes because there are no poisonous ones in Madagascar.
We arrived at Vakona Forest Lodge in Andasibe National National Park at about 3:30. After lunch in a circular restaurant with floor to ceiling windows sitting in the middle of lake, we visited a smaller lemur park attached to the hotel. A number of lemurs were there to be fed, all living on an island accessible by kayak with a push from the guide. The lemurs are afraid of water even if it's only an easy jump away. A white ruffed lemur, about the size of a large cat, greeted us first sitting patiently on a railing close to where we exited from our kayaks. As we approached the diminutive creature, the brown lemurs arrived in a wave. The white ruffed lemur continued to sit patiently on the railing waiting for the pieces of banana he was offered. He also allowed me to pet the fur on his back which was incredibly soft. The brown lemurs, about the same size as the white ruffed mobbed us. They jumped onto our shoulders and head and ate the food offered to them from there. The bamboo lemur was the cutest being about the size of a large hamster with a delicate temperament that allowed it to gently take pieces of fresh bamboo picked from the grass and the size of a long blade. They were very sweet and a big favourite of K.
Following the feeding frenzy, we returned to the canoes, K and the guide In one and Nicola and me in the other. We wended our way down the stream seeing little but hearing some brown lemurs in the trees. Eventually we arrived at a landing where ten of fifteen ring tailed lemurs were there to greet us. They proceeded to climb onto the kayaks and claim the remaining bananas waiting for them.
The rain drizzled during the entire duration of our paddle but as we neared the docking area it really began to come down where we made a mad dash for the hotel.
I had the jumbo prawns that night which were more the size of regular lobster tail. They were delicious and as I was given four, also very filling. After dinner, we were offered the usual rum arranger which is rum that has been soaked in another fruit or spice. I had the pineapple which was very tasty. Nicola had the vanilla which was also good. By this time, we noticed that we had not only been one of the first customers to the restaurant that evening, we were also one of the last. Nevertheless the ladies had to look into the window of the shop upstairs at which point one of the hotel clerks arrived to open it up. Of course, purchases were made and off we went to bed to prepare for another early rise.
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