Anja Reserve – 1st Nov
Before we left Ambalavao we asked if we could walk around the town for a good 30mins to take some pictures. It was a very pleasant way to discover this very colourful little town with its many wooden balconies and it looked extra nice against blue skies.
We then had a long boring drive ahead of us, taking us through the Plateau d’Horombe, very high up, with no vegetation.
We then eventually reached an area of stunning landscape with large granite rocks dotted around the land and stopped at La Reserve d’Anja. It is famous for its scenery and its 3 colonies of ring-tailed lemurs. We loved every minute we spent there and is an absolute ‘must’ along the N7... there were babies everywhere (we must have seen about 40) and the rock climbing was fun and helped us get a bird’s eye view of this majestic area. It really is a must-see and one should never head for Isalo without a long stop at Anja.
We even visited a kind of small cave that was the ‘lemurs’ meeting room’. Our guide explained that lemurs do tend to hold meetings, pretty much as featured in the Madagascar Disney movie. Such large caves are where they socialise, play and sleep at night, away from eagles.
Anja also has some famous tombs high up in the cliffs. Bodies are left there to decompose and when the flesh is gone, the bones are taken down again for a proper burial. The art of buryinge people is quite significant in Madagascar and every Malgasy’s dearest wish is to be buried back in their native land.
We found out that some lemur species, such as the Sifaka, never drink, they get enough moisture from the leaves they eat.
We had a nice lunch there (climbing down from the rock with ropes as it was too steep) and then had to tear ourselves away, rather painfully, from this beautiful place.
We had to get to Ranohira by 4.30pm. However, once again, it was way too soon as there was nothing to do once we were in town. We had asked if we could stay in Anja some more but our driver had said it was best to go on... we were therefore not too happy to be back in our hotel far too early – with no internet connection either.
Before we left Ambalavao we asked if we could walk around the town for a good 30mins to take some pictures. It was a very pleasant way to discover this very colourful little town with its many wooden balconies and it looked extra nice against blue skies.
We then had a long boring drive ahead of us, taking us through the Plateau d’Horombe, very high up, with no vegetation.
We then eventually reached an area of stunning landscape with large granite rocks dotted around the land and stopped at La Reserve d’Anja. It is famous for its scenery and its 3 colonies of ring-tailed lemurs. We loved every minute we spent there and is an absolute ‘must’ along the N7... there were babies everywhere (we must have seen about 40) and the rock climbing was fun and helped us get a bird’s eye view of this majestic area. It really is a must-see and one should never head for Isalo without a long stop at Anja.
We even visited a kind of small cave that was the ‘lemurs’ meeting room’. Our guide explained that lemurs do tend to hold meetings, pretty much as featured in the Madagascar Disney movie. Such large caves are where they socialise, play and sleep at night, away from eagles.
Anja also has some famous tombs high up in the cliffs. Bodies are left there to decompose and when the flesh is gone, the bones are taken down again for a proper burial. The art of buryinge people is quite significant in Madagascar and every Malgasy’s dearest wish is to be buried back in their native land.
We found out that some lemur species, such as the Sifaka, never drink, they get enough moisture from the leaves they eat.
We had a nice lunch there (climbing down from the rock with ropes as it was too steep) and then had to tear ourselves away, rather painfully, from this beautiful place.
We had to get to Ranohira by 4.30pm. However, once again, it was way too soon as there was nothing to do once we were in town. We had asked if we could stay in Anja some more but our driver had said it was best to go on... we were therefore not too happy to be back in our hotel far too early – with no internet connection either.
posted by Sylvie at 9:47 PM
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