Bekopaka

Another day’s drive reminded us how happy we are not to be self-driving. This became even truer as we had several very interesting ferry crossings. On the first ferry, which was ~45 minutes long, we had to drive up onto a pontoon with 6 other cars via 2 thin metal ‘planks’. Absolutely no room for error. Yikes! The second ferry was very short (~5 minutes) and involved driving into a river up to thigh-level, then driving up 2 very steep narrow planks onto a ferry which dropped you on the other side of the river and again required traversing the narrow metal tracks.
While here, we took a river trip down the Manambolo River to see the beautiful gorge and did some hikes in the small and grand Tsingy Bemahara (another world heritage site). The scenery and landscapes have been incredible. The walks have been challenging, not only because of the insane heat (it’s >95F), but the walks require scaling ladders, using ropes and harnesses on some of the steepest bits, squeezing through narrow canyons and caves, and trying not to cut your hands on the incredibly sharp limestone edges. The Tsingy are limestone outcrops that have been eroded over millions of years into unique formations of razor sharp serrated pinnacles, canyons and caves. The local guide we had for two days, Narcis, was great and taught us not only about the flora and fauna, but also educated us about Madagascar history and culture. We also had some good lemur sightings, adding a new species to our count (9 total now).
Did we say it’s hot! This is the hottest weather we have had in Africa with temps reaching 38C (100F), which usually means starting activities early with a siesta during the hottest part of the day. We’ve also encountered the worst mosquitos since being in Africa. Christy has not resorted to wearing her mosquito suit yet, but we promise a picture of her wearing it at some stage in our time here.Read more