Even in the early morning the heat was building in Ankarana (west) - but we were off today on the next leg of our journey so we left Iharana bush camp just after breakfast and headed towards our next stop Montaigne de Ambre and its cooler climes. The first part of the trip took us through previously unseen countryside and further insights into the Malagassy way of life. After reaching the Ankarana Park entrance,in the east, we were back on the same old potholed ...

At 0730, after breakfast, we left the lodge for the east entrance of the park our intention was to meet the driver at the other end of the trail have a picnic lunch and then visit a cave before going to our next lodge, Iharana bush camp, for one night. At 0730 it was already getting warm but a nice breeze and the forest gave us good shade - the forest with all the wildlife is really a narrow strip bounded by areas of Tsingy (jagged limestone) - in the west it i...

We woke before the 4am alarm and got ourselves ready for our 5am journey to the airport......we were given a breakfast pack - freshly cooked rolls and pastries - butter and jam but no knife - I improvised - what else are fingers and wet wipes for! The journey only took 20-25 minutes as there was hardly any traffic on the roads. I jumped out at the international terminal so I could restock our money supplies from the ATM there while John went straight to the domes...

A travel day so this is an opportunity to showcase another picture (the chameleon mentioned in Fridays blog) and say little unless we have other unexpected travel adventures! We had a nice leisurely Sunday morning as we were not collected until 1130 for our hopefully 1330 flight back to the capital. Yes - the plane arrived on schedule we left almost on schedule @1345 - one downside - on board it was boiling hot with limited air conditioning - it did get better...

Today after a lovely cold shower - it was a hot night - we set off for breakfast and our first walk. We had 4 beds (1 double and 2 bunks) in the hut so I opted to sleep in the lower bunk bed which made it cooler and probably safer than both being in the double bed - we were not sure it would take two people because when I initially sat on it the slats dropped out and John had to fix it so it was at least comfortable for one to sleep on!! Breakfast concluded - bu...