Setam Lodge Ranomafana

... fluent in at least 4 lemur languages and able to copy their calls to attract them - very handy. <br><br>The park is steep and paths are slippery - full of ancient lichen-covered trees, vines and creepers. Now I know where all the house plants I've struggled to grow over the years ...

... the local tunes (which i know all the words to) . I have learnt how to make the best out of fish, rice and beans at every meal. My french and malagasy are coming along nicely; I have learnt not to miss internetm phone , telly or news. I have met some fabulous people many of whom i hope will be friends for life and I have managed to get through it all relatively ...

The first individual travellers i met in Madagascar. A bunch of funny people ;-) National Park was great, too. Many different kinds of Lemurs, free leeches for everyone and a nice itinary (6h) through the rainforests of National Park Ranomafana which ended in the village of Ranomafana! Also, there's a nice place to camp right at the entrance of the forest.

... Forest Lodge. It was about 10kms away from where we were staying and so it seemed too good an opportunity to miss, taking advantage of Lova. We had nothing else planned after all. And it would be a great opportunity for Ferdi and Danik to see the semi-tame lemurs. So we all took off for Vakona. Again on arrival we made arrangements not to buy tickets for the 'animals in cages' bit and just headed for the lemur island. We saw Caramel again ...

... so far. Our first morning was an early one. After breakfast we set off down the road towards Andasibe National Park. Split into 2 parks we went to the smaller Reserve Speciale d'Analamazaotra sometimes referred to as Perinet. The landscape consists of primary forest with a couple of lakes. Lac Vert and Lac Rouge (green and red for those of you not familiar with French). This park is extremely well visited because it's main attraction is to see the rare and ...

... now you are changing it, so on your bike.......well not quite as he still had his car and it was us without even a bike but on our feet!! Then he tried to go back to the price he agreed last night. But he had blown it by now, we would show him that 'you ain't gonna mess with these back packers' and we gave him the amount for the ride to the ATM and walked off along the road to find another taxi. There were plenty of them lined up and the first guy we ...

... if they want to play cards again or try again to sell me one of the few English books they have in their store. Moving on, I stop in at a Coiffure stall and finally have my hair cut. It costs me 1,500 at the hands of Martin Touva, a 22 year-old "qui etudie d'argent" (who studies money). He has rented this stall out and clearly is excited to have me in his shop. I am his first white customer ever and he takes his time trying to ...