Day 275, Year 5 First Day in Ankarana
Date: Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Weather: Another Perfectly Beautiful Day
Location: Ankarana Special Reserve, N Madagascar
We made it and we did have reservations and we do have Goulam as our guide and we have already had a wonderful whirlwind introductory tour. So life is good, but what a day it has been. We only have electricity for a short time in the evening, so I’m going to have to write fast because both of my computer batteries just don’t hold very long any more. So here goes.
The day started at 5 am. We were up and ready to be picked up by 6 am. Actually Greg come five minutes early. We made it to the Nosy Be shore and before we could get our shoes on (you have to jump out of the boat and into the water to get ashore so you don’t wear shoes), Anatole was there to take us into Hell-ville. So far, so good. We got to the wharf by 6:35 am which was about a half an hour earlier than Coolie told us to be there, and that was a mistake. Immediately it seemed that everyone on the wharf wanted to be helpful and in order to do so they felt like they needed to take our little blue ticket from us to read it. Since that is the only proof that we paid for this trip, it made us a little nervous, but they were just trying to be helpful and we always got the ticket back. It was getting to be a bit of a circus as every boat boy we met when we checked in were all surrounding us with different directions on what we should do. Finally someone called Coolie. He was still in the shower and said he would be there soon. When he arrived things got even more confusing. We were supposed to be on a 7:30 am speedboat, but he said the speedboat was not running today and ushered us through a throng of people and walked us up a plank and on to a car ferry already full of cars and people. He explained that he was going our way today and would be there to help us. It’s a good thing because I don’t think we would ever have figured things out with the speedboat cancellation, the late arrival in Ankify, and all the people there who were trying to get us in their taxi or mini-bus. The ride on the ferry was ‘interesting’ as it was very crowded and it took two hours instead of forty-five minutes but it gave us the flavor of travel in Madagascar. When the ferry landed we were bombarded by people offering this and that. Coolie cut through the crowd, grabbed Mark’s backpack (with all his money and our passports) and threw it to another man and told us to follow him. We did and he led us to our mini-bus. After a wait for others to get in, our jam-packed mini-van headed north. It was almost 11 am by this time but once we got started, it was straight through except for one gas stop in the only town we went through. We arrived in Mahamasina, the little town which is the jumping-off point for Ankarana, but we would never have known we were there if someone hadn’t told us to get off. Coolie got off and made sure we got hooked up with a little boy who said he would take us to Goulam’s and another man who had been in the front seat of the van got off and told us to meet him at the same place on Saturday morning at 5 am. Of course, all of this is done in French so all we understand is 5 am. We thanked everyone and then took off with our little guide and another little boy who joined him. They shook our hands in greeting and off we went down a dusty dirt road passing an Ankarana Park sign and building on the way. Soon we saw some traditional huts and a sign for Goulam’s Lodge. It is just as described. There is a brick building which is the kitchen, store, and indoor eating area. There are outdoor covered eating areas and there are a few traditional huts for guests. Our little guide entered the brick building and started calling “Papa, papa.” Our guide was Goulam’s youngest son, probably seven years-old. Goulam came out to greet us and we immediately liked the man. He has a mild manner, a firm handshake, and a glistening smile. There was some confusion about us being from South Africa which we didn’t figure out until later (our connection to John Sheppard at Sakatia Towers), but he took us to our hut, made sure we were comfortable, and said to come back for lunch in about half an hour. Lunch was vegetables and pasta with duck and it was delicious. By this time, Goulam has sized us up and presented a plan for our stay. It started that afternoon with a three hour walk through the forest of the tsingy. Tsingy are the pointy limestone formations left after years of erosion. What a wonderland of rocks and strange trees. We saw a northern sportive lemur (a tiny little guy), a few beautiful green day geckos with red markings, and a green chameleon of an unremembered species. Goulam walks fast and packs in the information. Tomorrow will be a longer version of what we did today with more time to spot lemurs and a venture into the bat caves. It is time for dinner and time to charge the computer.
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