John’s Big Adventure at Tsingy

Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park

Today we are up early again at 5:30am, have breakfast at 6:00am and head to Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park at 6:30am. 

We have a different jeep and driver today as Louve is getting his jeep fixed (see yesterday’s blog). Instead we have Louve’s father driving us in his jeep. We have a one hour drive to travel 17 kms to the Park on the bumpy roads that we are slowly acclimatizing too. 

Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is a natural fortress made of pointy and sharp limestone. This geological wonder was created about 200 million years ago. This site has canyons, caves and vertical stone spikes, some of which are 100 metres high. 

Nature Walk and Easy Part of the Hike

You are not allowed to visit the park without a guide. Special equipment is required and visitors do not have the knowledge to know where to hike the paths that lead into the rock fortress. I panicked when told we need a special harness for part of our full day hike. We are also told there are ladders to climb, cables to pull ourselves up and a suspension bridge over a deep, limestone gorge.

Whoa! I quickly and excitedly explain to Charles, our park guide, that I am a poor climber, suffering from some dizziness and afraid of heights. He says that we can do the easier entrance route and I can turn back with Tony, our guide when I feel that it’s getting too much for me.

The weather is hot, hot, hot. We see a few different kinds of lemurs, birds, all kinds of rock formations, caves, trees and fossils. The climbing starts to become harder but I still endure, only balking when Charles pulls out the harnesses and announces that it is time to ascend into the rock formations.

I return with Tony to the carpark (really a jeep park) and John will describe his hike from that point:

John Does the Climb

Charles rigs me up in the harness which has two rope carbiniers attached (clips to attach to cables). The route to the top of the Tsingy park invokes a combination of climbing ladders, bum sliding through low ceiling caves, hand climbing and climbing using the carbiniers to clip my harness onto fixed cables when traversing dangerous sections. The climb involves stepping along ledges, small jumps over crevasses and using hand & foot holds to ascend rocky and narrow sections. It’s definitely not a hike for anyone afraid of heights or lacking arm & leg strength. 

I am breathing heavily when we reach the top and get an amazing view of the razor sharp pinnacles that define the park. 

We continue traversing the rocks and reach the suspension bridge which can only be crossed one person at a time.

Then it’s using ladders and the carbinier cables again to descend to the base of the rocks.

It’s now noon and the sun is blazing. We have a 30 minute walk around the base of the Tsingy rocks to get back to Kimberly and Tony. The heat drains what little energy I have left and my rubbery legs stumble back to the jeep.

It’s times like this that I ask myself if I’m getting too old for these kinds of activities… but I’m glad I did it.

Meanwhile Back at the Carpark

Back to Kimberly narrating: Meanwhile back at the car park I spend time in the shade going through today’s pictures… after all, one can only have so many pictures of the same lemur.

A young boy comes behind me and looks over my shoulder at my pictures. I let him sit beside me. Gaining confidence, he points out pictures he wants to see full size and sometimes touching my phone to enlarge them. Next thing I know, I am surrounded by a whole group of kids ranging from around three to ten years old. They are especially intrigued by pictures of my dog, pet bird and baby grand nephews. They keep going through my pictures wanting to see more and more. Next thing I know they are going through my past Italy and Albania trip. The original boy is most interested in sculptures and artwork. He keeps magnifying those pictures.

Hundreds (thousands?) of pictures later, I start losing my audience, they drift away one by one until finally only the original lad is left. Even he leaves when another tourist gives him a half bottle of Coca Cola (called World Cola in Madagascar).

Finally I see John and our park guide Charles cresting the hill. John looks like death warmed over. He’s not talking much and guzzling water. We get in the car for the one hour drive back to the hotel. John perks up.

We spend the rest of the day relaxing at the hotel.