Awesome African Adventure. Day 30- May 8, 2025

Tana to Morondova/Kirindi NP

OMG first time I’ve woken to the alarm from a dead sleep. I’ve woken prior to alarm till now.

Packed up and ready for breakfast. Benja explained last night that we have ‘American’ breakfast which includes continental and more. We had ordered poached eggs for Suzie and omelettes all round for the rest.
Tea and coffee in pots was awaiting us and then a plate with a crispy baguette, some cheese, 3 little pancakes, apricot jam and yoghurt and a banana. Followed by our eggs.
Then it was back into the van to Ivato Domestic airport.
ALL bags weighed and we all scraped through with luggage (me with only 400g to spare). Hand luggage was a different matter. Benja offered to carry some – so he took my lens and charging bits and pieces. Suzie opted to pay excess baggage.

We flew West to Morondova – about an hour flight.
The country looks pretty rugged from the air. Around Tana there is lots of buildings on hills and flat land/valleys seem dedicated to crops/farming. The land is hilly, with very few trees around Tana. I also noticed quite a bit of water – lots shallow possibly for rice fields.
As we left Tana there were more treed hills and lots of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory brown rivers.
Interesting topography that’s for sure. Mountainous, craters, bald hills, farming and buildings. As we neared Morondova and the coast it flattened out substantially.
We landed in Morondova at 8:18 after having departed slightly ahead of schedule.

Luggage arrived and our drivers – Tony and Julio. Nissan Patrol for us. Off to explore Madagascar at 8:45.

Our first stop for water and some snacks for the road, as Benja had explained there was no place along the way to get lunch today.

Driving out of Morondova and through some smaller villages, Tony put the windows up as we drove through a village. Benja also told us we are going to experience a lot of begging.

We stopped for pics of the first Renialai boababs. There are 8 species in the world and 7 here in Madagascar. Kids came out of nowhere asking for money.
The roads are living up to their reputation and B has told us today is a good road. Unmade and generally bumpy, quite sandy too.
A twin boabab – rare to have two main trunks.
The next stop was at Boabab Avenue (Adansonia grandidieri)- where had a loo stop and walk along the Avenue. They really are amazing prehistoric looking trees. A range of different coloured trunks. They are often Sacred and provide good shade. The trunk is quite fibrous and the locals will sometimes strip the bark and use it for rope, roofing and for medication/calcium. Taking the bark leaves a scar which eventually heals again. Of course there is the fruit as well.
We continued north on a sandy, track with lots of dips and woop de whoops. One muddy section was being worked on as it was deeply rutted and boggy. The work was all being done by hand and they were piling dried grass like hay into the boggy rutted section. We shared the road with delivery vans and several cow (Cebu) driven carts.
We stopped off to view the Sacred Baobab (and another sort of Baobab was there as well. More reddish in colour and more strangled at the top like a bottle, also very straight sided – grandi??? The locals bring offerings and pray, Benja mentioned women who can’t fall
Pregnant seek fertility. They offer rum and honey and will also pour the blood from a cow (also sacred at the base of the tree) they place cloth around the tree and the cow sarong (pictured ) had a saying on it.
“Benediction from parents can get you far.”( saying on sacred tree)
We had to take shoes and socks off to enter the area of the tree.
Our vehicles are two Nissan Patrols Tony is Suzie and my driver and Julio for Mary and Phil. (Green GR Patrol) today Benja is travelling with Mary and Phil in lead car.
Kirindi Reserve. We arrived early at around midday. Earlier than anticipated. Time to have a drink and wait for rooms and ordered lunch. While sitting and planning the day here, we met our guide Delicia and managed to see the first wildlife:
Scaly Tailed Iguana x 2.
Madagascar has 110 species of Lemur. More are being discovered over time. The Madagascar population is $25million.
Sonosaurus lizard.
Just as we were eating lunch we saw a Hog-nosed Snake slither into the garden and across the front of dining area.

After lunch we were taken to our rooms. B has told us last night that this accommodation was basic and we work up from here.
Basic was definitely basic. Suzie and I have a family room. 1 double and three single beds. The man told us low water pressure- he wasn’t kidding. There was no wire or mesh on windows or doors. We relied on the mossie nets over our beds.
The toilet gave us two flushes before constantly running and the cistern would not fill. The shower looked ok initially until the loo started running and it reduced to a cold trickle. It is hot here, probably 30degrees in the afternoon, thankfully it cooled enough to sleep later – with all the windows and doors open.

Our arvo walk with Delicia through the forest resulted in a few more critters.
Oatality Chameleon (or Oustalet’s)
Lesser Vissa Parrot
Red tail spotted/sportive Lemur nocturnal. A mother and young one were peering out of their tree trunk hollow until a bird called and they both dropped down the hollow. Cute as can be with those big eyes staring out at us.
Malagasy tsy hanihimposa (protective tree, with short spikes, for the Lemur cos Fosa can’t climb it. )
Paradise Fly Catcher
Camouflage tree
Magpie Robin (m)
We returned to camp for an hour or so. Suzie had stayed back to wash some underwear as we haven’t been able to wash for a couple of days. She hadn’t done it all as the water was only all trickle.
At 6 we met, ordered our dinner, (I asked B to ask them to fix our toilet) while we were ordering we had a Gray Mouse Lemur running around the edge of the ceiling. A tiny and extremely cute and mouse sized critter with huge eyes and quick to dart around up there. Next we drove into the forest with guide Delicia again for a NIGHT WALK to spot nocturnal lemurs – fingers crossed. There were quite a few cars at the starting point. Off we went following the paths that crisscrossed through the forest. We spotted
Gray Mouse lemur x 2. So tiny in the trees.
Paradise Flycatcher pair sleeping up above. Beautiful blue beak and eyes and the male had a long white tail.
Magpie Robin also sleeping
Madagascar Cat eyed snake
Rufous Vanga – another sleeping bird.
Red Tailed Lemur (f) biggest nocturnal Lemur and another one down low.
We returned home again Suzie and attempted a shower. There was no shower pressure at all, given the still running cistern.
I had a go at fixing it, with no luck. So I turned the loo off and sink tap and got a little more cold water. The hot tap was such a dribble/trickle I’m not sure it would ever heat up. (If anyone came to look at loo they didn’t fix it) We had brief cool shower/wash before bed. Another spray of Bushman DEET around the room and off to bed.
My itchy bites around the ankles are particularly annoying, becoming so unbearably hot and itchy. Thankfully the cool shower and Suzie’s itch cream helped soothe things a bit.
I did get to sleep for about 2 hours before resorting to half a Suzie sleeping tablet.
A surprisingly good night’s sleep, given the challenges of the room. Heard a few clunks in the night but I’m pretty sure we had no unwanted visitors. I did hear lemur sounds in the night.