Isalo National Park

Taking in the view at Isalo

One perk of Kristen’s fellowship is her time off. She has a standard vacation package, but in addition to this she gets all U.S. public holidays off, plus any Malagasy ones too. We recently used the Malagasy holiday of Assumption to plan a long weekend at Isalo (pronounced E-sha-lou) National Park. (Assumption is…anyone, anyone? The bodily taking up into heaven of the Virgin Mary. Yeah, who knew?)

Based on geology alone, you could easily think you were in parts of Nevada, South Dakota, Arizona, and Utah. But, throw in the tropical vegetation and otherworldly lemurs and you cannot help but feel awed by what the unusual and wonderful confluence of geology, botany, and evolution has produced in Isalo. As clichéd as it sounds, you feel like there is no other place on Earth quite like this.

We left Fianar on a Friday morning and drove four hours south to Ranohira, the gateway to Isalo. The freshly paved road and gorgeous scenery of granite slabs and mountain ranges truly made the drive a pleasure. Ranohira is a proper town, with a filling station, shops, restaurants, and hotels, and now seems to be in the process of developing its ecotourism market.

Our plan was to spend one night in Ranohira and two out in the park camping. The Park office, located in town, is where you pay the park entrance fee and arrange a guide for your visit. In a departure from our normal hiking and camping practice, we hired two porters to carry our packs to and from the campground. We arrived at the Park office Friday afternoon, after finding a place to sleep for the night, and it was hopping with other tourists. Friends had warned us to properly vet any potential guides using the «Livre d’Or », a registry used by visitors to rate their guides. After hearing stories of guides tossing their cigarette butts on the side of the trail, making uninvited passes at women, and refusing to honor the agreed upon itinerary, we wanted a good guide.

We were also warned that during the tourist high season, finding a good guide to go out in park overnight with one client would be tough. During this busy time, a lot of visitors are interested only in taking day trips to see the sights easily accessible by car. Guides know this and avoid making overnight trips, preferring instead to take as many day trips as they can, with as many clients as they can, to maximize their earning potential. This proved to be the case with us. Upon arriving at the Park office, guides besieged us and offered to take us into Isalo. Then, after learning we wanted to spend two nights out camping, nobody seemed available to go out with us. It was frustrating and at one point I walked out of the office to check on the truck and cool down. While I was at the truck a young guy approached me and offered to be our guide. He introduced himself, Dolphin, and explained he was a guide-in-training with two years experience and wouldn’t mind going out for two nights. Not having many other options, we vetted him against the registry and agreed to go with him. He arranged to find two porters and we agreed to meet at the Park office early Saturday morning to get an early start.

With the details of the park visit hammered out, Kristen and I struck off to explore some of the sights around Ranohira. We took in a nice exhibit at a nearby museum and then wandered out to La Fenêtre, a rock formation with a cutout in the middle, where visitors can go for a spectacular sunset. Arriving a bit early to witness the sunset, we took in the scenery, which was very picturesque in late hours of the afternoon. Some rocks sported strikingly green lichen that contrasted nicely against the orange hues in the rock. After La Fenêtre, we wandered out to a posh hotel to watch the sun go down. «Le Relais de la Reine » is an up-market, French-owned hotel built harmoniously into the landscape. The choice of building materials, colors, and layout reflect the extreme level of detail that has gone into the hotel. (Just for comparison, check out where Kristen and I spent Friday night after our drink.) We sat on an outdoor landing and enjoyed a drink as the setting sun reflected off nearby canyon walls.

Saturday morning came quickly and we waited for Dolphin at the Park office. He showed up late; we learned afterwards that his watch would not keep the time, something we all laughed about throughout the trip. We watched the porters walk off to the market, wearing our packs, to buy their food for the two days, and then Dolphin, Kristen and I headed off to the park.

During our two days we saw about as much of the park as is possible without a 4×4 vehicle. We walked across fields, through canyons, over mountains, and down crevasses; swam in natural pools, in water that was unbelievably clear (and cold); spotted all kinds of birds and three kinds of lemurs, including a little baby lemur still clinging to and breastfeeding from its mother; marveled at miniature flowering baobab trees that could have been over 1000 years old; and drank in the expansive landscapes like thirsty travelers. Living up on the plateau and around the corridor has made us a tad claustrophobic and eager to spend time in the wide open country.

We camped both nights at an established campsite that had running water and a proper toilet. Both nights the camp was completely full. Apparently tour group operators bring their clients to the camp for a real “backcountry” experience. It’s a pretty slick operation, complete with guides, porters, and cooks. Both nights after dinner when the clients had been fed and were sated, the tour staff broke out guitars and drums and worked through a long set of Malagasy classics. In our tent, a stone’s throw away, we enjoyed the music the first night, but the second night the band played until 11:30pm and kept Kristen awake.

Monday morning we broke camp, packed up and watched as our backpacks, again strapped on to the porters, disappeared ahead of us towards Ranohira. We walked slowly, groups of incoming visitors and their guides passed us on the narrow trail, and we settled back slowly into the reality that we were going back to Fianar and that the next day Kristen would be leaving bright and early for a trip into the field.

Back at Ranohira we saw our packs leaning against the outside of the Park office. We settled our bill with Dolphin and the two porters, and Kristen made sure to add our review to the registry. As we drove back to Fianar we schemed up more ways to take advantage of Kristen’s days off.