Isalo National Park

I had a very rough night sleep due to some very painful indigestion, likely starting from dry swallowing my malaria medication right before bed. This cost me about 3 hours of sleep that I needed for my big walk today. I say big, it was only 12km in a very cruisy landscape, but given the age of my tour group, it seemed like it would take all day. Regardless, we began our trip at the top of a very large canyon, allowing us for some great photos of our path. The stratification of the rocks formed clear layers of different colours, meaning that the face of the canyon walls looked like a collection of houses. It's difficult to describe, but a thick red layer in conjunction with a darker layer on top, along with some undercut rocks, seemed to create the illusion of a large house. The photos don't really show this, but maybe some zooming in will help. This process of stratification was caused by the ancient ocean floor having different materials being deposited onto its surface. Over millions of years, these layers become compressed to form a hard rock. Many million more years later, the sea level falls during glaciation, thus creating this landscape that contains many layers on different types and colours of rocks. Many more millions of years again, as mass erosion occurs, the canyon forms.

We then walked into the floor of the canyon and followed it for about 3km to a small oasis. The sandstone rock that forms the canyon means that, in select corners, there are beaches that have formed from the erosion of the canyon walls. Additionally, there are tiny little waterways that are sustained due to the considerable catchment area in which rain is collected and funnelled into the canyon. As such, water is found here all year round, and therefore, springs can form, with tiny waterfalls and beach oases. It is crazy to stand atop the canyon and see a dry, empty landscape, but as you enter into the tiny pockets of moisture, little pieces of paradise form out of seemingly nothing. This meant we could go for a swim in some beautifully refreshing water after our short 3km start to our hike. This also meant we could carry some wet and cool clothes as we trekked through the bottom of the canyon in a very exposed area. It was amazing how quickly the landscape changed. We then 4km walking close to midday heat, on completely flat and empty landscape once again. After this, we arrived at a point where a few different canyon sections joined to form a much larger but more densely vegetated valley - the result of additional water being fed into the system. As the landscape got greener, however, we were forced to begin a bit of a hike upwards, although very manageable we were forced to a crawl by some of the others on the group. It wasn't a big deal, we had all day, but it was frustrating to stop all the time when all you want to do is get to the swimming hole and back home. I tried to be patient, as it's not their fault, but eventually, the guide and a few of us carried on. Which made little difference as when we arrived at the picnic area, after many stairs back down into the valley floor, we had to stand around for quite a while waiting for them anyway. This did give our guide the opportunity to go and find some wildlife for us to see, however. Which was great for us. He first found a Chameleon, probably the biggest we had seen so far, before spotting some ring-tailed lemurs jumping through the trees. He walked us through the bushes to help watch them. I was shocked at how close we could get. Unfortunately, the thick vegetation made getting a photo quite difficult, but I got some ok ones. Eventually, the guys joined us to spot the lemurs briefly before they carried on, and we went for lunch. Just as we sat down to eat, our guide wandered off and found some black and white ruffed lemurs, which were adorable and exactly like a toy I had as a kid. After some admiration, we headed back down for lunch. I opted for lunch in the valley made by locals, and it was amazing. They cooked veggies, rice, salad, and meatballs. It was the perfect feed after a big hike. I ate a huge amount of food to refuel, though I was still battling some indigestion before we continued to explore some waterfalls. This was probably the best part of the whole walk, we walked alongside the river, criss-crossing the waterway from side to side as the valley that we were walking through got bigger and bigger. Eventually, the canyon above us shut us off from all direct sunlight above. The greenery and moisture within the valley were incredible. There are so many picturesque opportunities as natural infinity pools formed every 100m or so that would eventually transcend into beautiful waterfalls. I can not describe it. In the end, we arrived at the blue and black pool where we could swim to cool down. The water was insanely clear and a perfect temperature to refresh ourselves. As we walked back, we enjoyed the scenery once more before heading back to the hotel to rest before dinner and bed.Read more