We were up quite early. First thing I did was go out to see if our guide and driver were at the hotel yet. They were and I found my phone on the floor in the third row of seats. Yeah!
We left the hotel at 6:15 for the airport. We are flying to Anjajavy this morning on a private charter. At check in they weighed us and our luggage. Our luggage was 15kg overweight and initially they told us that one of our suitcases would have to go on a later plane. We were whisked through security and then driven to a private waiting room. Around 7am we were told that our plane was ready for us. They managed to get the suitcase on the plane by strapping it into a seat. The plane was a Cessna 206 with 4 seats and a seat for the pilot and the copilot. There was another couple on the flight with us. We did not have a copilot so Rick sat up front and the suitcase sat in his seat. The flight was about 1½ hours. It was very loud so we had to wear ear muffs (eventually Rick put his on).
We arrived and here is a picture of our plane and the airport in Anjajavy.
In Malagasy, An means “place of” so Anjajavy means place of the jajavy trees. Antananarivo means place of 1,000 warriors and was named this after King Andrianampoinimerina who unified the country.
We had about a 30 minute ride to the resort that can only be accessed by plane. The resort is really lovely. We got settled in our villa and had lunch. Here are pictures.
That afternoon we went out for a walk with a guide. We saw coquerel’s sifakas lemurs, common brown lemurs, and hairy crabs.
We also saw tsingy rocks. The main tsingy rock “forest” is south of us, but there are some here. Tsingy rocks are fossilized coral from about 200 million years ago. Trees can grow out of the rocks because there are a lot of nutrients and water resides in small internal cavities.
We got back to the camp in time for tea which is served on the “oasis”. There was a family of sifakas climbing in the trees above us.
A local dancing program was performed for the resort guests prior to dinner. The ladies have designs on their faces, tradition in this area.
Dinner was at the resort and it was an early evening.
