Mangroves	Picking the road's sweet spot
Sticks	More sticks
Commercial traffic	Well-worn bridge
So this is the dirt they spread	It lasts until the next rain
Watering the goats	Zebu cart in Toliara

RN7 is a two-lane paved (most of the time) tarmac running about 1000 km from Toliara to Antananarivo, and we were going to drive its length, with some side trips to parks and such. It was mostly empty, with only occasional vehicle traffic, but lots of people walking, some ox carts, small zebu herds, and some bicycles. As we drove to Isalo, we went through a wide range of terrain. Just outside Toliara was desert, with scrub brush, cactus, small stands of stick or earth houses, and mostly red dirt. At each ridge or small pass, the terrain changed, sometimes to sandstone mountains, mesas, farms, loose forest, steppes, or grass. Most of the time, large mango trees were scattered about, as were bright red termite mounds up to about one meter high.

Hitting RN7	This mesa tells Lala he's nearing (or leaving) Toliara
Wanna buy some charcoal?	The road goes on forever
Red land, pink church	Baobab and hill

One stretch took us through a baobab forest, although the tall bulging trees liked their solitude and were never very close to each other. We stopped to photograph one, and kids came running from all over to ask for bon-bons.

Baobab	Forest
	More
	They appeared within moments

Sapphires and other precious stones have been found around Iraka within the past few years, so numerous boom towns have sprung up along RN7 to support the strip mines. They've imported labor from India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Indonesia, and Bangladesh, so many of the signs have south Asian names. Near the road are a few stone buildings, many made of wood to house the imported labor, and stick buildings for the locals. Mosques and Hindu temples stand near newly-erected churches.

Taxi brousse - not very loaded	Termite mounds
Sapphire boom town	Along the main (and the only) street
Typical shop in town	And a butterfly

Tomb on a hill

Painted tomb

Colorful

Probably the guy; other sides of his tomb follow

Dancing, Rambo, Zebu

What's going on here? (The woman is carrying a knife)

Zebu horns from the burial feast

We entered Isalo National Park (2) from the west, stopping briefly at the visitor center. Isalo is a large park, encompassing sandstone mountains which rise out of the plain.

West edge of Isalo	A road runs through (part of) it
Stopping for photos	The queen
Visitor's center	Bonsai baobab

Rôti chicken, fries, egg sandwich	Adult Furcifer oustaleti chameleon
Baby chameleons - odd little feet	Work on that color, little guy
These guys were sooo cute	Slow motion
Mom?	Full-grown female

Earth and thatch	Mangoes for sale
1-brand-painted shops are common all over	Melting stairs
Firewood for sale	House

Art

Vanilla flower and seeds

Living fence posts for sale

Cucumber salad, bread, Malarone, Chinese soup

Pineapple

27-Jan-2006 Madagascar - Isalo and Anja

The beds here are basically blocks of foam on some sort of slat support. We imagine that a new one might be OK, but the well-used beds in the hotels have a compression well, making for a very uncomfortable bed. Combine that with the fact that Scott was feeling poorly, and that the power went off (with our fan) at 4:30, followed by banging next door and a church bell that went on for several minutes, he had a lousy night. Roswitha slept just fine. And our batteries were sufficiently charged.

For breakfast, Scott had Imodium and tea, while Roswitha had a normal French breakfast. We met guide Lala (not to be confused with driver Lala), and headed off to the park. We were only going to visit one area of the huge park, the Cascade des Nymphes. Driver Lala navigated his Peugeot over a road that we'd be afraid to take most 4x4s on.

School girls off to school	Valley of Cascade des Nymphes
Horrible road	Sandstone ridge

We reached the parking area and started hiking in with Guide Lala; the driver stayed behind. Lala pointed out various plants, including those of interest to lemurs and people. He found a tiny chameleon. By the time we got to the camping area, Scott was beat, and decided to stay there while he and Roswitha continued on to the cascade. There was a group there, Malgasy guides and such, and French tourists. Lala spoke to them and found that the French had also been having stomach problems, so they already had some citronella tea brewing. They offered Scott a cup, and he sat and watched their disassembly of the camp while their tourists hiked. He spoke with their guide, Sylvain, who was quite engaging.

Tiny chameleon

Citronelle tea brews in the pot on the left

Suddenly, Sylvain told Scott to turn around; a group of lemurs was heading their way. They were a family of seven White-Faced Brown Lemurs, and they just cut right across the camp ground, barely paying them any mind, although one did take a great interest in Scott's shiny camera. The French tourists had returned and were relaxing, and seemed to take no interest in the lemurs. Scott sat a while longer, and then saw some activity in the trees across the creek; it was a large group of Catta, Ring-tailed Lemurs, also called Maki. This was great fortune, because they are infrequently seen. They stayed a bit higher in a tree, eating.

White-faced brown lemur	Here they come
They rambled right through camp	Let me have that camera
And here come the catta	One of about 30

Meanwhile, Roswitha and Lala hiked up to the cascade, and then on to the black (very deep) and blue pools. It was wet and humid going. Along the way they saw a snake (a viper), several chameleons, an endemic bird, butterflies, and dragonflies. They did not, however, see any lemurs. While walking, Lala told Roswitha that most Americans and Australians were very interested in the animals and plants, while French and Italians were mostly interested in the landscape, but not the creatures.

What is this?	It's an orchid
Bird	Valley
Ant nest in tree	Ants nest off the ground
Water in the desert	A narrow walkway
Flower	Spider under a fern
Viper	Lala
Black pool	Blue pool
Dragonfly

Lala and Roswitha arrived shortly after the Cattas had moved on, but we found them still in the area. Lala mentioned that he had never before seen a mother Catta with twin babies, like was in this group.

Arriving with the good lens	Quick - come look

Why is

everyone

looking at me?

On the way back from the park, Lala amazingly (from the moving car) spotted a large Furcifer oustaleti chameleon in a tree, and then found his mate. She was actually mimicking the seed pods of the tree, seed spots and all.

Doing laundry in the stream

Male chameleon

Female mimicking seed pods

We had a cool beverage, got some charcoal tablets for Scott, and drove northwest. The sandstone of Isalo gave way to granite mountains. In some places, there were almost no signs of inhabitation, although a random person might suddenly appear. The quick lunch stop (stew, plain white rice) in Ihosy was at a busy restaurant with a parrot walking around, and a few dead chickens on the back porch. The deep red of the soil contrasted sharply against the green of grass and rice paddies. Mango trees dotted much of the landscape, and large (red) termite mounds were almost everywhere. People break them open to feed the termites to their chickens and turkeys. As we came closer to Ambalavao, the center of the zebu trade, we saw more of them. Ambalavao holds a weekly zebu market (which we had missed by a day), and people drive their cattle up to 1000 km to sell at the market. The zebu trails open up wide red swaths across the hills.

A charcoal smile	Huts on the red plains
Beginning of the granite mountains	Deep red earth
Narrow bridge!	A tomb of piled rocks
Earth houses	Zebu herders
More granite mountains	This mountain is the traditional border of the South
Amazing red earth	Lunch
Burning in the rice fields	Classic zebu
Driving the herd	Is Ambalavao the goal?
Working the field	Rice country
Family village	Rare white house
Zebu & rice	Beautiful, rough landscape

Mango tree under the Anja rocks	Frog in the rice field
Guide & Roswitha	This plant is good for stomach ache
Butterfly	Big lizard
Ants with their friend, the grub	Long snake
Leaf chameleon	It hangs out on the ground, and hides from the snake
Catta on the rocks	Look at me

It was a big group	I'm hiding
There he goes!	Shoot fast!
Snack before bedding down for the night	Watch out for the angry, angry wasps
Rare bird hiding in the rocks	Lala paid to go on this tour

Anja Private Reserve

Every once in a while, a rough stone column sat in a field or next to a road. There was one in the middle of a playing field right near the reserve, and we asked about them. The guide explained to us that sometimes someone will die in a remote place, and the family cannot bring the deceased back for burial. In that case, they may put up one of these stones. The one in the field, however, was put up to commemorate a big win by the village's soccer team. But, it seemed that there was some sort of curse on it; everyone who touched it would soon suffer some injury. He had broken his foot soon after he touched it.

The cursed stone

Along the road

We then drove the rest of the way to Ambalavao, and checked into our hotel, which is on the grounds of a paper making factory. We got a tour of the factory - they make a very coarse paper with impressed flowers - and then got to see the factory store. Roswitha went to the red silk factory, where they make coarse silk products.

Paper with real flowers	Drying the paper	Plant used for paper fibers
Boiling silk pods	Boiling in the dye

Silk weaving

Then, we tried to mosquito-proof the room (there was no place to hang a net), and ate in the hotel restaurant. Scott had another "Chinese soup," and Roswitha had dessert. Four of them.

Bungalows at the hotel (we did not stay in these)	We thumbtacked the mosquito net into the window	4 desserts, one soup