By boat to Palmarium Hotel Ankanin'Nofy (Lake Ampitabe) and Night visit to see the Aye-Aye - Sunday the 27th of May

Had a decent night sleep so did feel a bit better in the morning so managed to get everything packed as it was also time to move on and went for breakfast with Heather and Dan to just get a bit of bread in my stomach. Believe it was good we were leaving this place today since managed to break 2 toilet seats, something fell off the tap in the sink in the bathroom, one of our mosquito nets got ripped and in the end our key couldn't lock the door from the outside either - so let's get out of here before the whole place is falling apart. Today we were having a 3-hour transfer to Manambato Harbour where we were going to catch a boat to the Palmarium Hotel Ankanin'Nofy. Was a beautiful transfer through the mountains where our driver did a few interesting overtakes where you are just praying for the best. Did I forget to mention that none of the seatbelts are working in our car - so makes it slightly more exciting I guess - but of course no-one of us wants to end up in a big accident and we did see a major one on the road where a massive truck with a trailer slipped in a corner and ended up in the ditch.

Despite that we only paid £37 per person for all the drinks and food we had in the last 3 days - we were all running out of cash since the hotel didn't take credit card - so managed to make us understandable enough to the driver so we got him to stop at the only cash point en-route. Luckily this was a good cash point where there was still some money left and I managed to get £80 out this time, which was an achievement. While Heather and I drew out cash - the driver just found a chameleon for us in the trees next to the bank. Amazing how he just spotted that - so went to get a few pictures before continuing the journey. The last 7 KM down to Manambato was on a proper dirt road which you wouldn't have managed without a proper 4WD - so good our car was capable of coping. Was a very interesting drive which just finished at the most beautiful beach by the lake we were going to sail on.

Our driver was not coming with us to the Palmarium Hotel and Reserve the next 2 days - so dropped us by a blue boat where we got handed over to someone else to take us to this special place, which can only be reached by boat. Was around an hour beautiful boat ride through a narrow passage between 2 lakes, where we had a chance to watch some of the people living along the side of the lakes, which was really interesting. Got to Palmarium Hotel in time for a late lunch and got a briefing by our guide Rico, who would be with us for the next 2 days. The afternoon was free to relax, so did some washing and catch up on diary whereas Heather and Dan also went down to the beach for a bit and Dan went for a swim. The water looked lovely but also very shallow - so I missed out on the swim this time.

At 5.30 PM we were meeting our guide Rico who was going to take us on a boat to a small island where there were 7 Nocturnal Aye Ayes living. The island was built as a sanctuary for the Aye Ayes, since they are one of the endangered species and difficult to spot in the wild. On the island the staff give them coconuts and bananas to eat so you are also guaranteed to see them here. The Aye Aye was quite different to any of the other lemurs we have seen with a very long fur and some extremely long fingers - so it was fascinating to see them peel a coconut with their 4 teeth and then get all the meat and juice from the coconut out by using their long fingers. Spent around an hour on the island where we saw the Aye Aye at 2 different spots. Got back to the hotel in time for dinner where we decided to try a bottle of red wine. Clearly not a big thing here since there was only 1 red to choose from and definitely not the best wine I have had - but went down with the food. There were 2 choices on the wine card for ½ a carafe of White wine, which we decided we could try and bring to the room for a night cap. However the waiter said that the 2 choices were the same despite them being mentioned by completely different names on the card - weird. Anyway ordered 2 x ½ carafe to take to the room - so we could just sit and enjoy on our nice terrace. Hmmmmm - now I am saying enjoy - turned out that we basically bought two ½ carafes of vinegar, since that was exactly what it tasted like - so pretty grim - but now we can learn being too greedy and absolutely have to order 2 before tasting any of it. Of course we were not going to waste the wine - so with some help of some salted nuts we managed to get through both carafes - but we're definitely not going to order that again.

A day around the Palmarium Hotel and Reserve - Monday the 28th of May

Breakfast got served at 7.30 AM so got up an hour early to have a proper shower. Rico did say yesterday that you have to let the water run for 7 minutes before it gets hot (not 6 or 8 minutes) because there was a water tank a bit away from the bungalow, where they lit a fire every morning and evening (you only get hot water twice a day) - but takes a bit of time for the hot water to travel to the bungalow. I couldn't wait with the water running for 7 minutes (also felt bad about all that water waste) so ended up with pretty much a cold shower - whereas both Heather and Dan got a warm one - since I got the hot water running when they jumped into the shower. At 8.30 AM we were meeting up with Rico again to take us on a morning walk around the Palmarium Reserve where we started off in the garden to get close to all the lemurs living there and to see the special plants they were growing there. Must admit I was not a big fan of the start of the walk since there was quite a few people staying at the hotel and we all seemed to start on the walk at the same time - so the garden got really crowded. As much as we thought it was weird that we had the last place pretty much to ourselves - then this suddenly became very touristy. Also there were lots of lemurs turning up at the garden and a few of them jumped on the people as well - so Dan made a big jump when one of them suddenly landed on his shoulder because it is so unexpected. You know the lemurs are only there because the guides feed them bananas and also that jumping onto people shoulders is not natural lemur behaviour - so not my cup of tea really.

Anyway Rico decided to take us further into the forest and towards a viewpoint and suddenly the tour got a lot nicer since we escaped the crowd and were pretty much on our own. On our way we came across a couple of Indri-Indris and in the beginning didn't think anything special of them - since we have seen a few of these now. However the guide suddenly got over excited and said she just got a baby. We were not sure what he meant at first since couldn't see a baby anywhere - but after looking closer we realised that the female carried this new born baby on her stomach, which was really special. The guide said he has never seen this before and that we were so lucky and yes it was really amazing to see this. Couldn't believe how small the baby was - but the guide thought it was literally just a day old - so no wonder it was tiny. After some exciting times with the Indri-Indri family we continued to the beautiful viewpoint where we also had a glimpse of the Indian Ocean. At the end of the tour we walked a bit along the beach, where we saw a special blue frog and some nice plants. Just before the tour finished Rico also managed to find us a few lemurs - so despite the touristy parts it was still a very nice 3 hour morning walk.

It was quite warm so when we got back just before 11.30 AM - we decided it was definitely beer o'clock - so had a great cold beer outside the bar before lunch, which got served 12.30 PM. Heather had wanted to get her hair cut since I arrived and decided today was the day to get it done - so after lunch the deal was to go back to our bungalow where Dan would use his hair trimmer to got her hair down to 12 millimeters. I know Heather has got short hair anyway - but I am still not sure I would have done this - so had to take some good before, halfway and after picture shots. Unfortunately the battery in the hair trimmer didn't last very long so Dan was only 1/3 through when it died out the first time. This now meant that Dan had to go to the reception area to get it re-charged since we had no electricity in our bungalow midday. We were the last bungalow on the path - so a bit of a trek down to reception - but Dan went since of course Heather was not going anywhere with only 1/3 of her hair done. After ½ hour - Dan went back for the hair trimmer and this time she got another 1/3 done - so now 2/3 way though. Felt sorry for Dan that he had to go for re-charging again - so this time I took the hair trimmer to reception - since also felt it was time for something strong particular for Heather to deal with the hair loss. Brought back some nice coconut rum for the 3 of us and did seem to help a bit. Also had a lemur visiting us on the terrace while enjoying the rum - so got a few more close up lemur shots. After nearly an hour of re-charging I went back for the hair trimmer and for the 3rd time Dan tried to finish the hair style, while I tried not to pee my pants from laughing too much. This time he nearly succeed in finishing and what can I say Heather went from being Dan's wife to suddenly looking very different - so have to be careful now that she is not going to hit on me :-). Also later in the night I decided to sing a bit of Mamma Mia for Heather and especially the sentence "How can I resist you…." - had to make a joke of this and in the end of the day it is only hair and I am sure she will get it back very quickly. One thing for sure - the hair is very practical and doesn't need a hair brush or a lot of shampoo :-).

Yesterday we were offered as an optional activity in the afternoon to go and visit a fishing village - but after speaking to a German girl - we were told it was very touristy and she would recommend that we did a walk along the beach instead where there was a local fishing village nearby. Therefore decided to follow her recommendation for a walk and Heather just put a cap on - since still needed to get used to her new hairstyle. It was a beautiful walk along the beach just an hour before it got dark so the light was really nice. The beach is full of some interesting trees and at the end by the village there was a half built wooden bridge, which made some great photos as well. There were some young kids watching us from a distance and a little girl was dancing a bit around so I decided to make some dance moves as well. After a little while the kids got too curious to what this big white woman was doing - so came running down to see us and tried to make the same dance moves as me, which was really funny. Heather then joined in as well and did the song "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" with them, which they just loved and they quickly got the moves and also some of the words - so was really cute.

Walked back to the hotel just before it got completely dark - but where the full moon came out - so another great photo opportunity. Back in time for a pre-dinner cocktail and afterwards we decided to try another one of their local rums - so Heather got one with vanilla and coffee taste and Dan and I got one with pineapple taste - but nowhere near as good as the coconut one. One of the waiters were telling us that if we stayed around the bar - some local kids would come and dance and play for us at 7 pm - so thought we might as well see this before dinner. I must admit that I do find these things very touristy and I also knew they would ask people to dance with them - so decided to just enjoy it from a distance whereas Heather and Dan went for the fun inside the bar. 2 of the girls where dancing with a bottle on their head, which they of course are very good at - but at one point they offered the guests to try this as well. Both Heather and Dan gave it a go and were definitely at the better end of the guests who tried - so well impressed. Maybe they have some African blood in them - but just don't know. Dinner got served after the show and today we had some delicious zebu meat balls - really tasty. Tried to get a different red wine for the meal and when we pointed at one of the other wines - the waiter said yes yes - this was a red wine. However when he came with the bottle we got exactly the same red wine as yesterday - so clearly this was the only red wine they had got. Brought a coconut rum back to our bungalow for the night cap and Dan did the final touch on Heather's hair in his drunken stage - he he - guess it was already so short now so not a lot could go wrong.