Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
You can hike through the rural countryside and be pulled across the river on a raft. You
canexperiencethepetrol-savingdrivingtechniquesofthetaxidriversrollingtoastandstill
with the engine shut off before the massive acceleration starts again. A farmer will show
you around his vanilla plantation and explain how cinnamon is grown and harvested. And
you can have a look at the huge endemic tomato frog in people's backyards.' It's good to
hear of a tour that involves local people in this way.
Andranofotsy and Navana
It is worth taking a pirogue trip up the Andranofotsy River to
the village of the same name. The vegetation and river-life viewed on the way are fascinat-
ing, and the relatively unspoilt village is delightful.
Equally worthwhile is a visit to Navana. Follow the coast east along a beach backed
by thickets, through waterways clogged with flowering water hyacinths and past plenty of
forest.Youneedtocrossalotofwateronapirogue,aregularlocalservice.Ittakesanhour
through little canals and costs very little.
NOSY MANGABE
In fine weather the island of Nosy Mangabe is superb. This special
reserve has beautiful sandy coves, marvellous trees with huge buttress roots and also stran-
gler figs. And it's bursting with wildlife including, of course, its famous aye-ayes which
were released here in the 1960s to prevent what was then thought to be their imminent ex-
tinction.Ifaye-ayesarewhatyou'reafter,there'slittlepointincomingherejustfortheday
(they are nocturnal) but there is plenty to see on a day visit, including the weird and won-
derfulleaf-tailedgecko(
Uroplatusfimbriatus
),green-backedmantellafrogs,white-fronted
brown lemurs and black-and-white ruffed lemurs.
LeoBarasispentsixdaysontheisland:'Idon'tregretonanyofit.OKwedidn'tmanage
to see any aye-aye, but the rest of the wildlife and the scenery more than made up for it. I
loved the leaf-tailed geckos, particularly at night when they took on a completely new ap-
pearance. Lots of chameleons, including
Brookesia
, some very nice boas and several other
attractive snakes. The black-and-white ruffed lemurs could be heard from all points of the
island and sounded like dying pigs. Best of all, though, were the dolphins and sea turtles
that we saw swimming around the bay on our last day - fantastic!'
Another reader who stayed five days (also no aye-ayes) 'took the circuit to the summit.
Our guide assured us that the round-trip would take no more than four hours, but we en-
counteredsomuchwildlifealongtheroutethatwehadnotevenreachedthesummitinthis
time! It seemed that every few paces we were pausing to examine another frog or gecko.'
You can see from the above that though it's famous for its aye-ayes very few see them
here these days. However, Simon Jackson got lucky: 'We were fortunate enough to have
the island to ourselves for two days in perfect weather at the beginning of December. Our
guide, Armand, feared that he had lost face on the first evening, having presented himself
as Mr Aye-Aye, then had us sit on a log in the middle of the forest for an hour in the pitch
