Southern Gate
As we headed from Anja to our lodgings for Isalo, I was delighted by all the granite mountains we saw sticking up everywhere. I had no idea there were such great climbing opportunities here. The Southern Gate looks like what we often call "Rabbit Ears." To the Southeast we could barely see Andringitra Mountains and the area of Andringitra National Park, which are supposed to have lots of great hiking.
We transitioned to the lands of the Bara Tribe. The Bara have smaller houses than the Betsilelo, and do more zebu grazing and less rice farming. A young Bara man is not supposed to marry until he has stolen a zebu.
The land became flatter and drier. On the road, we encountered many old diesel cars and trucks belching huge amounts of smoke.
We stopped at Tiana Hotel and Restaurant near Ihosy for lunch. It was cool in the shade, and we enjoyed a refreshing soft drink. They had some big balls hanging up as decorations and we couldn't figure out what they were made of.
After lunch we continued on to Isalo Ranch, where we would be staying while visiting Isalo National Park.
We were pretty hot when we arrived, so after checking in we went for a quick swim in the pool. Then we wandered around checking out some of the many plants of the region.
There are six species of Vanilla endemic to Madagascar: Vanilla coursii, Vanilla decaryana, Vanilla madagascariensis, Vanilla perrieri, Vanilla humboltii, and Vanilla francoisii. But when you buy "Madagascar Vanilla" in the store you are actually buying a native Mexican vanilla, Vanilla planifolia, which was introduced to Madagascar and is cultivated. Furthermore, when they brought over the Mexican vanilla plant they didn't bring the polinator; they had no idea how it was naturally polinated. Even today it is still unclear. The blossoms are open only one night a year, and they must be hand polinated. No wonder it's so expensive. A 12 year old slave on the island of Reuniion discovered the polinating trick. Vanilla is an orchid, and of the tens of thousands of orchids in the world, vanilla is the only one considered edible.
Everywhere we have stayed, lunch and dinner have been three course meals. There seem to be four "standard" meals, so a limited variety:
On this evening I had the opportunitity to try something different, so I tried a new appetizer, Madagascar frittered veggies. I don't think it was anything special...
The next day we started with a short ~1 km hike up Namaza Canyon. We took our time and our guide, Roland, showed us quite a bit. We've seen three very different kinds of rock on our trip: Tsingy limestone, granite domes, and now Isalo sandstone.
After our hike up Namaza Canyon, we returned to the village near the entrance for lunch. Then Caesar drove us to where Roland and I got out to hike up for a view and some Bara burial caves. On our way we found another vehicle stuck in a stream crossing. We told them we would be back.
When Roland and I got out to start hiking, it was sprinkling. Caesar, Lova and Dona drove back, rescueing the stuck vehicle on the way. Dona was not feeling well and returned to Isalo Ranch.
Soon it was pouring hard. Roland asked if I wanted to return. I figured I had my boots on and my raingear, and I would never have a chance to do this again. He later told Lova he was surprised the old guy kept going. It poured, really hard. The trail turned into a river; my supposedly waterproof, waterproofed additionally by me, boots, leaked. But it wasn't cold, and it was pretty. The flooded trail pictures below are from after it stopped raining hard.
The land in and around Isalo is open country, with Tapia trees — the hosts for the wild silkworms and their cacoons.
The Bara people bury their people in caves in the rocks, sealing them up with a rock wall on the outside. They are all over the place.
Roland pointed out some endemic plants of the area including Ceropegia dimorpha isalo and a 50 year old Pachypodium. It's easy to see why these trees are endangered; it takes them forever to get large enough to be safe from damage by foraging animals.
I thought one of the plants I took a picture of was the poisonous Cerbera manghas, used by Queen Ranavalona I to test the innocence of her subjects. But my pictures don't look like the plant when I look it up, so probably not.
When I got back, Dona was in bed with a temperature of 102°. No idea what it was, but she was better the next morning, although weak from not having eaten much. My clothes were soaked, so I spread them around the room to dry.