Pristine Madagascar

My Madagascar tour this year included a new extension to the northeast of the island, to an incredible national park called Marojejy. Marojejy, which apparently has several meanings, among them "many rocks" and "much water," is also the name of the 2100+ meter peak that dominates the park. With the exception of a few small logging concessions from the middle part of the 20th century, the park has been left virtually untouched by man. It is undoubtedly the most pristine forest I have visited in Madagascar, with huge trees, magnificent strangler figs and abundant animal life. Its signature animals are Helmet Vanga, an incredible and bizarre bird that we had great views of, and Silky Sifaka, and extremely rare lemur that I looked for, but didn't see.

The view from Mantella Camp

The park contains three camps, which consist of simple bungalows each with two beds. Each camp has a common area with a kitchen, if it can be called such, with a number of charcoal stoves for cooking. I only saw Mantella Camp (the first camp, named after a very colorful and poisonous genus of small frogs) and Camp Marojejia (the second camp, named after a genus of palm trees that can be found just above the camp and is, in turn, named after the park). Both camps have spectacular views (see photos).

The view from Camp Marojejia. Note the cabins in the bottom right.

The walk to the first camp is 7 km, the first three through rice paddies and countryside. You then enter the forest and have a gorgeous, hilly 4 km walk to the camp, most of it through primary forest. We had porters carry in our bags and food and a fabulous cook who kept us satiated through the journey. Our guides, Moises and Doris, showed great enthusiasm for the park and were a pleasure to be with.

Me with our sifaka tracker Doris and guide Moises (right) at the park entrance on our way out

We had to wait a while in Mandena, where the trail into the park starts, for our ride to pick us up. We had a great time playing with the group of children who gathered around us, taking pictures, playing birdsongs from my iPod, and looking at things through my scope.