Looking for Lemurs

Trip Start Dec 18, 2008

Trip End Jan 07, 2009

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Where I stayed

Setam Lodge Ranomafana

(Ranomafana hotels)

Flag of Madagascar Ranomafana, Madagascar
Wednesday, December 31, 2008

The Setam Lodge is pretty nice. It is surrounded by the rainforest and just down the street from the Ranomafana National Park entrance. It is composed of cabins on several levels of a terraced hillside which meant that we were constantly climbing up and down the stairs to get to our cabin.   The stars visible in the night sky was just spectacular!

Breakfast was at 7:00am and consisted of mostly French bread and tea which is common for most places I've stayed with a French heritage. Babba drove us to the national park where we met our guide who I'm sure was the only English speaking one of the group available. You must have a guide to visit the park and these guys were pretty good at finding animals.   The trail led downhill to a waterfall on the river and we crossed on a rickety old wooden bridge and headed back uphill into the forest.   It was a beautiful day with a nice blue sky but quickly got hot (and humid) when the sun got higher in the sky.   There was lots of up and downhill hiking over rocks and tree stumps which got pretty tiring after a while.   Our guide found a couple of golden lemurs in a tree and being the first we've seen we took lots and lots of photos.

The trails here were fairly well maintained with steps carved in the very steep parts yet us and the other hiking tourists we came across were soon drenched in sweat.   We then came across a family of "Bamboo" lemurs and got very close. Again took lots of photos.

We were back to the lodge by 11:00am and after a shower, lunch and a nap , Babba took us to the nearby town of Ranomafana.   The town wasn't much more than a collection of old wooden shacks. The post office in the middle of town was probably the nicest building and there wasn't much to it at all.   The old thermal springs hotel has since been converted to a weaving arts place.   It was very hot out and we sat in the shade watching some local school kids playing soccer in the heat. Bought a few postcards from a shop then headed back to the hotel.

At the hotel we had a vegetarian dinner of spaghetti and THB (Three Horses Beer - a local favorite). After dinner we took a walk down the road away from the hotel lights to see the stars. Funny how the constellations were upside down from what I'm used to.   Occasionally heat lightning would flash and the whole sky would light up.

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