Peoples of the south
The Malagasy peoples of the south talk in a range of dialects of Malagasy, united (like the English language) by the one written version. Even more than in other parts of the island, these ethnic groups managed to avoid domination by the highland Merina in the nineteenth century, and even retained much of their autonomy during the six decades of French rule in the twentieth century.
One of the country’s most distinctive ethnic groups, the Bara range across the dry interior of the southwest. In this region, three traditional kingdoms strongly resisted French rule, mounting a ten-year rebellion, crushed by the execution in 1907 of one of their kings, Lahitafika. By tradition exclusively cattle herders, with a strong claim to African origins, Bara herders are often seen moving their livestock along the RN7 between the sapphire town of Ilakaka and their de facto capital, Ihosy. The inter-clan cattle-raiding that once characterized Bara society, in which every young warrior was expected to participate, has also earned them a reputation as restless bandits (dahalo), preying on vehicles when herds aren’t there for the taking.
To the west of Bara country and scattered all along the southwest coast – mostly between Morondava and Tuléar – live the Vezo, whose name literally means “Paddle!”. They are fishing people, and tend to live in villages right on the beach, using their dugout canoes (with a single outrigger of light wood) to take their nets out to the fishing grounds. While their ancestral origins are linked most closely with those of the herding, farming and trading Sakalava, Vezo identity is tied so closely to the seafaring, fishing and seafood-selling lifestyle that those who cease these activities stop considering themselves Vezo. At the same time, Mahafaly or Antandroy incomers who paddle and fish are soon assimilated as Vezo.
In the far southwest interior, the Mahafaly (literally “the fady-makers”) were little influenced by Merina rule, instead seeking French protection to keep control of their main town, Tuléar. Cultivators and pastoralists, they are also traditionally adept craftspeople, renowned for their woollen rugs and woodcarvings. They’re particularly famous for their funerary sculptures known as aloalo. These intricately detailed and painted posts, depicting the life and times of the deceased, used to feature mostly naked figures, and were all about the world of the ancestors: today they act as carved obituaries, full of cattle, cars and symbols of achievement.
In the remote far southeast, in the hinterland of Fort Dauphin, live the Antandroy (“People of the thorns”), with a closely related group, the Antanosy, forming a large part of the population of Fort Dauphin itself. Traditionally livestock herders, they now also eke out a living from rice and cereal farming, and as seasonal migrant labourers. The Antandroy are renowned weavers, and build large whitewashed concrete tombs, elaborately painted and decorated with tiles.
Parc National d’Andringitra
On the southern edge of the central highlands, the spectacular landscape of the 310-square-kilometre Parc National d’Andringitra looms up between the RN7 highway and the east-facing escarpment that drops to the coast, 100km away. Only created in 1999, the park has sharply divided ecosystems, from forest and grassland on the northern and western sides, where there’s a notable dry winter season, to mountain moorland around the bare granite peaks, to remote ravines tangled with rainforest on the eastern slopes. Andringitra is extraordinarily rich in wildlife, with 13 species of lemurs, more than 30 other mammals, 106 species of birds, 35 reptiles, no fewer than 57 species of frog and at least 1000 species of plants and trees.
You should be prepared for rain throughout the year (especially higher up) and for low temperatures at night.
Trails
Most of the park circuits start at the Namoly Gate in the east. Walks in the west mostly take place outside the park proper but give you great views and ring-tailed lemur encounters. Walking west to east (from the Morarano Gate in the west to Namoly) or vice versa takes a minimum of two days in each direction.
The trails in the park are mostly in good condition, but they’re long and quite arduous. The easiest is the Circuit Asaramanitra, a 6km loop (plus the 4km access trail from the Namoly Gate) which takes a good half-day to complete, including a visit to the base of the Riandahy and Riambavy falls, just 500m apart. To the east, the 8km Circuit Imaintso (plus a 7km access trail from the Namoly Gate) loops through primary rainforest.
Diavolana trail
If you have a full day and make an early start, you could do the Circuit Diavolana. This 13km route through a range of climate zones runs below the cliffs, above the waterfalls, and finishes at a campsite. As you climb, the landscape becomes increasingly Lord of the Rings, with streams tumbling through the rocky grassland, stone-walled Betsileo tombs tucked into clefts in the mountain and the vast, curtain-like folds of the higher altitudes creating a looming backdrop that never seems to get any closer – until suddenly the cliffs are right above you.
Imarivolanitra trail
With two or three days available, you could tackle the tough, 28km Imarivolanitra trail, which takes in the 2658-metre summit of the same name. The second highest point on the island, it’s still more often known by its old name, Pic Boby, so called after a French hiker’s dog that went missing up here in 1920. To reach Pic Boby at sunrise, you’ll need to leave the plateau camp by 3am.
Wildlife
Although the park is extremely biodiverse, its wildlife isn’t always easy to see and the greatest number of species is found in the inaccessible eastern rainforest. Andringitra’s most emblematic species is the ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta) and you’ll invariably encounter ring-tails at Camp Catta, as well as higher up in the mountains. Other lemurs – all found in the eastern forests – include the red-fronted brown lemur (Eulemur rufifrons) and red-bellied lemur (E.rubriventer), Milne-Edwards’ sifaka (Propithecus edwardsi) and the greater bamboo lemur (Prolemur simus).
Birdlife
Outstanding birdlife includes the handsome and relatively common Madagascar blue pigeon (Alectroenas madagascariensis), with its distinctive red tail, and the much less easily seen, hook-billed and stump-tailed yellow-bellied sunbird-asity (Neodrepanis hypoxantha), which is like a diminutive flying lemon, flashing through the high forest.
Reptiles and amphibians
Andringitra’s most notable chameleon, found in bushes in the high-altitude grasslands, is the unmistakeably jewel-like Campan’s chameleon (Furcifer campani), with its three lateral stripes and multicoloured scales. Above the tree line, look out for two Andringitra endemics – the mottled mountain climbing frog (Anodonthyla montana), which breeds in rainwater puddles in the granite and can often be found tucked under stones, and the prettily green-patterned Andringitra bright-eyed tree frog (Boophis laurenti), which makes do with heather bushes for trees and breeds in fast-flowing streams above 2000m.
Parc National d’Isalo
The popularity of the Parc National d’Isalo owes much to its location, midway between Fianarantsoa and Tuléar, and its accessibility, straddling the RN7 highway from Antananarivo. This 810-square-kilometre sandstone plateau is a dramatic spectacle, its towering mesas and sculpted pillars creating a desert-like, Monument Valley-style landscape that is especially striking at its southern extremity, where the tarmac highway twists past the cliffs. Cut by streams and springs into countless, sandy-floored, oasis-like canyons, filled with forest, with several alluring natural swimming holes of cool, crystal-clear water, the whole region offers tremendous scope for hikers and anyone aiming to escape the blasted heat of the prairies of the high plateaux. The park ranges from just over 500m up to 1268m above sea level and the canyons are in places as much as 200m deep.
Scenery aside, Isalo is less convincing as a wildlife destination: although still blessed with 14 species of lemur, 77 varieties of birds and more than 400 species of plants, there simply isn’t the range of ecosystems here to support the fabulous riches of some parks. Culturally, however, the region is richly endowed. This is the heartland of the Bara people, believed by some anthropologists to have come from mainland Africa. Their traditions, including the cult of warriorhood and pogo-like ritual dances, are similar in some respects to those of the Maasai cattle herders of Kenya and Tanzania. One of the old Bara clans’ royal family seats is at the village of Ampika, by the mouth of the national park’s Canyon des Makis. Bara burial caves are still scattered in canyon walls throughout the plateau, and in the far north of the massif, sixteenth-century Portuguese explorers are said to have married Bara women and lived in cliff dwellings – a good story for which there’s scant evidence.
The park headquarters is at the town of RANOHIRA in the park’s southeast corner.
Interpretation Centre
For an interesting introduction to Isalo, visit the interpretation centre, 10km southwest of Ranohira, a small museum on the south side of the road, which explains the geology and ethnology of the area. There are photos of the tomb of King Ramieba, the last Bara king, ensconced in a rock cleft, with one of his guards shown in Napoleonic headgear.
Trails
Isalo has several standard options for brief and extended day walks, as well as multi-day camping circuits. Most of them are helpfully marked with point métrique stones at 50m intervals, though you will be accompanied all the time by a park guide, so you can’t get lost, or bite off more than you can chew. Nevertheless, take a good hat and carry enough water: above the cool canyons, the trails on the plateau can be hot and steep.
Namaza Trail
The easiest trail, the Namaza Trail (up the stream and canyon of the same name, 1.5km in each direction) starts at a car park 4km northwest of Ranohira. From here, the easy footpath runs for 800m through the beautiful Namaza valley to the Namaza campsite. Even at the height of the dry season, pretty greens and yellows fill the canyon, with purple-flowering Koehneria flowers, related to purple loosestrife, everywhere. After a further 700m, with a little climbing (60m gain), you reach a beautiful, cool pool at the base of dark cliffs, where the Cascade des Nymphes waterfall tumbles from the plateau above, and you can swim.
Circuit Piscine Naturelle
The well-known Circuit Piscine Naturelle (Natural Swimming Pool Trail; 3km from the car park to the pool in each direction), starts from a car park 3.5km west of Ranohira (the turning is on the south side of town, by the Toiles d’Isalo hotel). From the car park, the footpath ascends 70m over the Isalo plateau before dropping after 3km to the pool itself, the largest and most popular in the park, with its fringe of Bismarck palm trees. From the pool, a 3km path running northwards across the plateau descends (180m drop) to the Namaza valley, enabling a circuit to be made.
Canyon des Makis and Canyon des Rats
In the northeast side of Isalo, two spectacular clefts into the side of the Isalo Plateau, the Canyon des Makis (maki: ring-tailed lemur in Malagasy) and the Canyon des Rats, are accessed by a 13km dirt road along the Manamaty river valley from the RN7, starting just northeast of Ranohira. The Canyon des Makis is the southernmost and easiest of the two: starting from its car park, you take the footpath for 1km or so, crossing a couple of streams and irrigation ditches and then cutting through fields and gardens, before breaking through a tangle of bush at the mouth of the canyon to emerge in the glorious ravine. Here, multi-directional sunlight bounces off the orange sandstone walls, illuminating the stream and pools on the canyon floor, where lush flora bursts from the damp ground against a backdrop of dripping water and little rainbows fizzing over moss-covered boulders.
The mouth of the Canyon des Rats is just 700m to the north of the Canyon des Makis, though you’ll need a long half-day to do justice to them both (including driving time). Alternatively, explore the Makis canyon, then walk the 6km trail that starts from further up the canyon and runs southwards through the park to join the Circuit Namaza.
Flora
Isalo’s plants and trees are some of its most distinctive natural assets: spiky and fan-like Bismarck palms (Bismarckia nobilis; satrana in Malagasy) are scattered across the landscape in this, the heart of their natural habitat (the Bismarck is now found all over the world, and particularly popular as a garden tree in the suburban canyons of Southern California). More unusual is the extraordinary elephant’s foot (Pachypodium rosulatum, or vontaka in Malagasy). It looks like a stumpy little baobab with pipe cleaners for branches until it bursts into yellow flowers at the end of the dry season. You’ll see it on the canyon walls on the Circuit Piscine Naturelle.
Fauna
As for animal life, while lemur sightings in Isalo are likely to be either far off away on the cliff sides, or scampering with rather too much familiarity around one of the campsites, the park does have some interesting denizens. You’re almost certain to see ring-tailed lemurs in the more open, rocky areas, and in the forest Verreaux’s sifakas (Propithecus verreauxi) are also likely. Look out, in and around the streams and pools, for the regionally endemic large western white-lipped tree frog (Boophis occidentalis) that’s often encountered around the Cascade des Nymphes. If you see one, you’re more likely to notice its red webbed feet than the colour of its lips. Also keep your eyes open for the very rare, strikingly green-black-and-red-marbled painted burrowing frog (Scaphiophryne gottlebei) – a species that is strictly endemic to Isalo and critically threatened by collection for foreign frog fanciers. Among Isalo’s seventy-odd birds, keen ornithologists won’t need reminding about the robin-like Benson’s rock thrush (Monticola sharpei bensoni) for which the park, and especially the plateau top above the Namaza trail car park, is a key habitat.
Ilakaka and Sakaraha
IKAKAKA and SAKARAHA, the two towns nearest to Zombitse National Park, have boomed on the highway from almost nothing over the last twenty years, as rural migrants have arrived seeking fortunes from mining for gems – particularly the sapphires of which this region is now the world’s biggest producer. The fortified emporia of Sri Lankan gem traders and others line the streets of each town – pure Wild West, and none too welcoming. Sakaraha has a new bank with a useful ATM, the only one between Tuléar and Ihosy.