Ranomafana

This morning, our group split into the active ones going to Ranomafana National Park, and the lazy ones sleeping in. As Seb wasn't over his illness quite yet, we belonged to the lazy group. However, we did do something in the morning as well. We went to the hot springs of Ranomafana (which is the translation of the city's name). We had to buy very nice shower caps before entering the swimming pool that was filled with the filtered hot water. We looked like idiots :D
When we entered the pool area, we could feel that we (especially me) would become THE hot topic of the village now, as they were whispering and taking pictures of us. I thought that lots of tourists would come to the hot springs, however my white skin seemed to still interest them a lot.
The water was actually really hot, like around 40°C, which made it difficult to stay longer in the pool thsna few minutes. But it was enough to give us kind of a kick-start back to life after leaving it again. We walked back to our hotel which took about 5min. On the way there, we were stopped by a local who showed us his needed chameleons. At least he protects them because they bring him money.
After packing our luggage, we took off to pick up the other NP group, however it was taking more time than anticipated, as there has been an accident on the only road we could drive on. There were policemen around, but they weren't really helping. So it took some time, but after around half an hour, we could drive again and picked up the others. They shared some great pictures of new species they saw in the National Park which I put into tje next footprint for you to enjoy as well.
After having an early lunch picnic, we drove on to the Ranomafana waterfall for a quick photo stop. After that, it was another 4hrs to drive to Ambalavao for the night.
The landscape changed from jungle to open savannah and mountains, not even remotely looking like you'd imagine Madagascar. But to be quite honest, the whole tour hasn't been like I've imagined it yet, soo...
We arrived in Ambalavao and visited a silk factory. They cook the silk caterpillar cocoons in zebu fat for a couple of hours (so it's definitely not vegetarian nor vegan), and then extract the strings. They then get woven and coloured with mostly natural colours like beetroot (for purple) or flower roots (for grey). But the Malagasy silk doesn't feel like silk we're used to at all. It has a much rougher texture and is not as, well, silky. However, it's handmade and pretty cool therefore.
We checked into our hotel for the night and had a quick dinner before going to bed early. Or at least, we tried to sleep early. However, when Seb sat down on our bed, it just broke down. After laughing our asses off, we looked underneath the mattress and saw a very simple structure from wood that just broke through. So, we went to the reception and asked what to do. Luckily, we got another room for tonight fast and could sleep in an upgrade now.Read more