21 May - 25 May - Isalo to Ranomafana

It was a struggle posting this one due to spotty internet, but it's now done.

 

21 May 2017 – we leave Isalo for Ihosy, leaving the cliffs and entering several changes of landscape. This day is 105 km and we’re in hilly terrain, lots of climbs and descents.

 



The roads have exceeded our expectations with the exception of a few places where erosion has completely removed the surface. We can usually avoid the potholes on the bikes.

looking back at Isalo. The park we visited yesterday is in the hills behind the town

...and into prairie like terrain for a while.

That's Ursula down there with terraced fields behind

Lunch time... a snake had caught a mouse and was in the process of trying to swallow it.

The town of Ihosy where we will be tonight

 22 May 2017 – Ihosy to Ambalavao – 130 km with a very long brutal climb from 100 to 112 km. At that point Rae was finished and got on the support truck. Ursula, bless her, had it in her to keep going, do another steep 6-km climb before descending to Ambalavao. Again, we went through noticeable changes in landscape. Dwellings changed from single room wooden construction to mud-brick and eventually more substantial brick. Rooves changed from thatched to corrugated steel or wood shingle. They grew from single room huts to two and even three-storey structures.

 

JoJo, a Namibian national team rider (he's faster than us) riding with us while recovering from an accident.

 

Not far from here, fatigue and heat got to me and I got a lift to the hotel on the bus. Ursula had enough in her to finish... it was a long day with long steep climbs

 

23 May 2017 – Ambalavao – Ranomafana National Park – 121 km starting with another tough climb – close to 10 km as if we were climbing Thunderbird ridge on the way home. More changes of scenery ending the day in rain forest which is as far east as we’ll be on the trip. We chose to ride the morning but catch the lunch bus into the hotel for the rest days hoping that we’ll get good recoveries from fatigue, sun, saddle sores, and other minor ailments.

There is smoke everywhere. Cooking fuel is either the gnarly hard wood that people carry in from all over or, if they can afford it, charcoal.

Brick making is everywhere and often mixed in around rice paddies. This is a fairly substantial operation but we've seen other that are maybe 20 feet by 20 feet in the middle of terraces.

 

 

These four-wheel carts are everywhere. Wheels appear to be made from wood. We've seen big heavy loads being pushed up hill and we've seen people on them riding them downhill. They are steerable, but it's pretty loose steering.

Ursula's answer to the adequacy of SPF 50.

Lunch in churchyard. We were watched by locals... see the next photos.

 

 

Rae and Ursula with Derac. He is the son of our driver during the first two weeks that we were here and is working both as a translator and support staff.

Amazing butterflies in this country

 

24 May 2017 – Rest Day and a visit to Ranomafana National Park – a four hour hike with a local guide – they are outstanding at finding lemurs and chameleons. We saw golden bamboo lemur, grey bamboo lemur, red-fronted brown lemur, and sifakas. In the evening, meaning after dark, we did a walk along the road for about an hour, briefly saw a mouse lemut plus at least a dozen different chameleons.

 

Our room for three nights, and so far top of the list for fancy mosquito netting.

Herd of zebu that we encountered on the walk to the park. Apparently these are on a 500 km journey and they jusy walk them down the road.

Golden Bamboo Lemur

Grey Bamboo Lemur

Grey Bamboo Lemur

Sifaka

another bird for my brother to ID

...and then at night, chameleons...

...and a tree frog.

25 May 2017 – a real rest day… massage in the morning for both of us, then blog and repacking for the next leg which will be four riding days (one night which will be the first to be camping, then two days on a river boat, camping that night, then another riding day to the next rest in Morondava.