Madagascar - Sambava and Marojejy

Air Madagascar is notoriously known for its frequente delays and cancellations, but my flight to Sambava was right on time (as was later my flight from Sambava to Diego Suarez, and the flight from Nosy Be to Tana was just 30 minutes late, so I cannot complain!). It’s only a 1 hour flight from Tana to Sambava, and a short taxi ride took me to the Orchidea Beach 2 Hot el, a very nice hotel by the beach I had booked from Lisbon. My first view of the Indian Ocean, just outside my bedroom.

So I changed into my swim trunks and had my first dip in the ocean. Pleasantly warm water, they say there are riptides and sharks, so no swimming offshore. It was Sunday, and as time passed, the beach became filled with locals – I was the only Caucasian around. Lots of people came to the beach, but only kids were bathing, the rest were strolling and chatting, as you would see in Lisbon mall. And a chameleon fell from a tree on the sand, eliciting giggles from two pretty girls sitting next to me… My first chameleon in Madagascar!

I had dinner in a local small restaurant, a tasty mine sao with THB (Three Horses Beer, the most common beer in the country); there was a party celebrating a football match, and I got lost on my way back to the hotel, and a nice man drove me there in a packed Renault 4 with his wife and four children…

I met a nice young French couple at the hotel that was also heading to Park Marojejy, so we went there together. The car that took us was an old Renault, whose speedometer needle didn’t move and whose windows were stuck – “nous n’avons pas d’argent pour voitures neufs à Madagascar!” – but it got us there, through a beautiful vanilla-scented country.

From the Park bureau, where we hired our guide, to the park entrance, at the foot of the Marojejy mountain, it’s a 9 km hike. It’s a beautiful walk, we passed two villages, poor houses made of bamboo, people grinding cassava and washing clothes in the river, vanilla drying in the sun, lots of smiling children hailing us with “salaam, vasaha!”. The valley was really beautiful, and it was sunny and hot, so we reached the park tired and drenched in sweat (I kept thinking: these guys must think Europeans are crazy, having nice comfortable houses and coming here to do forced marches in the sun!).

Entering the park, the trees were a welcoming shade. But there were also the mosquitoes who, not knowing they should be repelled by our mosquito repellents, had a great time feeding on our calves. But the hike was great, the rainforest beautiful, with birds, millipedes and lemurs, and a refreshing dip in a cool lake with a cascade. We reached the 1st camp, where we stayed for the night, sharing a tuna and pasta dinner cooked on a charcoal stove and sleeping in the small bungalows, listening to the soft rain that fell during the night. Our guide was a young guy, with a somewhat unpleasant smell, but funny and very proud of his English speaking skills.

The next morning, after a summary wash and a summary breakfast, we hiked up the mountain to the second camp. The rainforest at Marojejy is incredibly beautiful and wild; we spotted some lemurs, several beautiful birds and lots of huge millipedes. The second camp is in a stunning place, by a cascade with amazing views over the mountains. I had to pull a couple of leeches from my legs… It’s really true about their anti-clotting properties, the blood flowed extremely smoothly. Then we headed on our search for the silky sifaka, the white lemur we can only find in this park.

It was quite an epic search! We started up the track to camp 3, which is a really steep climb. And, after about 1 km, we went off the trail into the jungle. And THAT was quite an experience! Crawling through roots and lianas, muddy ground, using hands and feet, sometimes I asked myself “what the hell am I doing here?”, my glasses sliding with the sweat… But at the same time, it was exhilarating, the walk (or crawl…) through sheer wild nature. After despairing to see the elusive silky sifakas, there they were, a whole family, idling in the trees, complete with a baby playing. It was a moment of pure delight, well worth the trouble to get there. We just stared at them for a long time, feeling happy and accomplished.

After the no-tracks-jungle, the trail back to the camp was extremely easy. And we were even rewarded with a group of albiphonse lemurs crossing the trail, moving gracefully above our heads. It was a peaceful hike back to the villages, passing some nice zebus grazing – I touched a zebu calf, and his fur was surprisingly soft. Tired but happy, we drove back to Sambava. Marojejy will always remain in my mind as a magical place.