03-1 Antananarivo to Mandrare
We arrived in Fort Dauphin in time for lunch at a local restaurant and then began our 4+ hour drive to Mandrare River Camp, in Ifotaka. We had been warned about the roads and they certainly lived up to our expectations!!
03-2 Sacred Gallery Forest
Located south of the camp, we were canoed across the Mandrare River to reach this largely deciduous forest. We had a sighting of an inquisitive group of ring-tailed lemurs who came down to the ground and the always entertaining Verreaux sifaka.
03-3 Saturday Village Market
We visited the local markets where everyone had gathered to buy and sell everything including livestock, clothing, food and various other supplies. Many walk 10 km to reach the markets.
03-4 Spiny Forest
We did a night walk in the Forest of Zenavo to see diurnal lemurs bedding down, and the nocturnal lemurs begin to wake in the eerie and prehistoric Spiny Forest. The next day we did another afternoon walk.
03-5 Mandrare River Camp
Located under Tamarind Trees along the banks of the Mandrare River, the camp is an old colonial sisal plantation. It is three kilometres from the village of Ifotaka and opposite the sacred ancestral forest of the Antandroy Tribe.
03-6 - Sacred Location and Sundowners
In the late afternoon, we visited the sacred spiny forest filled with the ancestral tombs of the local Antandroy tribe. Even though there were spots of rain we enjoyed sundowners on the Mandrare River beachfront.
03-7 Boababs Sunset and Dance
We started with sundowner amidst the baobabs and on sunset our guides built a traditional fire. Local village people then appeared to perform traditional dances.
03-8 Mandrare to Antananarivo
After breakfast we drove back to Fort Dauphin for our flight back to Tana.
