Floating down Tsiribihina

Shopping at the Miandrivazo market

Our Pirogue

Early next morning we had to check-in at the local police station before we proceeded onwards on our expedition. After the police station we went to the Miandrivazo local market to buy last minute supplies since for the next two and a half days as we float through the rural and remote areas of South West Madagascar, we won’t be able to restock any supplies as our encounter with humans will only be restricted to a handful of small hamlets along the way.

Punting the pirogue


We had hired 2 pirogues (a small, flat-bottomed dug out canoe) and in addition to the 6 of us (2 Aussies, 2 Dutch, 1 French and an Indian) we had our chief guide (Bernis), 4 paddlers cum cooks cum porters, 2 kids who I suppose were undergoing training and 2 chickens to give us company and be our meal on the last night. The water for the first day was pretty shallow even though the river was fairly wide and one could easily cross the river walking with the water barely going over waist high in its deepest section. The water along the whole river (especially the 1st day) had small flakes of Mica floating in the currents and it gave the impression of the river being filled with gold dust.

Fresh caught lunch

Gold dust (Mica) on the floor of the river

The rest of morning we waded through the shallow river jumping out of the pirogue as soon as we hit a sand bank to push the pirogue to a deeper part of the river. It was all fun until the morning started to heat up under the blazing sun when I had to pull my beautiful pink umbrella out. All along the way we saw numerous species of birds and if I had been an avid birder or ornithologist it would have been a paradise. For lunch we stopped by a small hamlet (about 4-5 houses) where there were kids doing what they do…swimming and splashing around in the river while some of the adolescent girls were washing clothes. We set up shop under the shade of a tree while out lunch (fish caught on the river) was prepared by our crew.

I decided that I had rested enough on the pirogue already so took a walk around the hamlet and tried to interact with an old women who was shelling beans…it was pretty difficult to communicate with her as we did not have the same medium of communication and she was very reserved but matters helped a little when her grandson who interpreted my sign language better acted as an interpreter between us. It was a pretty relaxing 20 odd minutes sitting in this little hamlet some where in Madagascar and shelling beans with her.

The design of the hamlet was interesting in that the 4 houses in it were all at 4 corners of the square and a central place for cooking and social area. The houses where pretty rustic with the major material used in their construction were stone, mud, straw and river bamboo with the perimeter of the houses being surrounded by a small fence like area made with river bamboos the function of which is still a mystery to me.

Our Companion (dinner)

Most of the afternoon was uneventful other than it got pretty hot under the sun. Around 5:30pm as the sun started going down, we stopped on the sandy banks of the river, set up our tents and then let the chickens free and I got some exercise trying to catch them with the 2 kids who were a part of our crew. Later as out food was being prepared that evening by our super energetic crew, we just relaxed under the stars gazing at the Milky Way and sharing our travel adventures with each others.

Random view

The Crew

the tour group

We were all in our tents by 8:30pm as we had to wake up early the next morning to get an early start before the sun got too hot. I made sure that I wore all my warm clothes to bed even though the evening was extremely pleasant because around 2am it got really cold (since the region is somewhat dry it has the temperature effect of a desert with heat in the day and cold at night).

Mouse that was hiding in one of the tents

The second day on the river was pretty much the same except that the landscape changed with shrubs and grasslands giving way to wooded forests and gorges but it also was special since I encountered my first lemur and chameleons from Madagascar. It was mid morning as I was just lazing in the pirogue with my feet caressing the water when Bernis pointed out in the distant trees and shouted “Lemur! Lemurs!” and I jumped up from my lazy posture to see them. They were lemurs for sure but they were pretty far away and we got a glimpse of them just for a little while before they jumped out of sight.

Water fall where we took a dip

pics of a Verreaux's Sifaka from Wikipedia.org 



Oustalet's Chameleon

So…that was my first sighting of a lemur but since they were so far and so fast I don’t have anything to show for my first encounter with a lemur other than the fact that I will always remember seeing four to five all white monkey-looking creatures with long while tails basking in the trees. Bernis reckoned that they were Verreaux's sifaka (one of over 100 species of lemurs on Madagascar) and considering that he has traversed that river multiple times I will believe it was one. 

Our camping ground

I have included a picture of the species that I think we saw (it's not from my camera, got it from Wikipedia). It was a bonus seeing the lemurs there since the region that we were was not a protected area and I had not anticipated seeing one there.

For lunch we stopped by a pristine waterfall with a breathtaking aquamarine color perfectly complimenting the dry forest…and while our lunch was being prepared we splashed in the beautiful cool waters. Later that afternoon one of our paddlers spotted a beautiful Oustalet's Chameleon and it was perfectly camouflaged in a grayish-brown shade to match the surrounding dry grass. It was amazing how the paddlers were able to spot a still animal that was so well camouflaged all while they were paddling.



The poor chicken :(

 
So all in all that day was pretty satisfying considering I had my first sighting of a lemur, a chameleon and taking a dip in a picture perfect waterfall. Unfortunately though the journey of our chickens came to an end that evening with them being served on the dinner plate …sometimes we humans are pretty cruel.