We finally decided to leave the safely and security of Nosy Be and head to the main island of Madagascar. We left our hotel at 6:45am and headed to the docks, where taxi boats leave daily to transport passengers, mainly locals, to the town of Ankify. The boats only go in the mornings because later in the day the water becomes more wavy and therefore harder to navigate.
The town of Ankify is very small, with a few restaurants and shops, and of course a taxi bus stop. The cheapest way to get to Mahamasina, the town just outside Ankarana Park, would be to take a taxi bus to the town of Ambanja, and there switch to another taxi bus to Mahamasina. However, another boat passenger has hired a private car (kat-kati) to travel to the park. We were given the option to ride with him. While it was probably 8 times more expensive, it saved us a lot of time. Cars travel much faster than taxi buses, we didn't have to wait for a bus to fill up, and it's way more comfortable. And costing $16 per person for a 3 hour drive wasn't too bad anyway. Except of course it ended up being more like 5 hours, since we got a flat tire, and then had to get it repaired. We stopped for some beer and a coke in the larger town of Ambilobe while we waited for the tire to be fixed. Overall, not a bad travel day, especially since we made friends with our travel companion and his adorable daughter (see picture).
We spent our first night in Mahamasina at a hotel called Relais de l'Ankarana. It was nice and clean, with spacious bungalows, generator power for a few hours in the evening, and cold running water. However, after one night we had to switch hotels because they had filled up and we didn't have reservations. Which, in the end, I think worked out better. There are several other bungalow hotels near the entrance to the park and they have a more local vibe, with really nice hosts. One other option is a hotel across the street from the park entrance. This one was also full, but we got to know the inn keeper and his lovely wife, Kathy, who ran the convenience store (just to the left of the park entrance). We ended up staying at Gulam Bungalows, past the park office on the left. The inn keeper there was really nice, the food was great (garlic spaghetti and fish, which I fed to a cute kitten), and the bungalows were comfortable. It turns out that our guide, Seth, who lives in Ambilobe and only comes to Mahamasina during tourist season, was staying in a shack just behind the hotel (which allowed him to keep tabs on us and make sure we were ready to go hiking by 7am). The only problem with Gulam was the lack of running water. They brought 4 buckets of clean water to our room every day, but it's just not the same as a hot shower. Also, mosquitoes were a problem; we burned mosquito coils and double checked our mosquito net every night. If this all sounds like too much, another sleeping option is the fancy Ankarana Lodge with hot showers, 24/7 electricity, and a pool. The Lodge cost about 100 euros, our bungalow was about $16 a night.
We spent three days touring Ankarana, only on the east side of the park. There are caves on the west side of the park, but they are hard to get to. One option would have been to drive to Ambilobe and hire a car and drive ($300 for a day) or to camp overnight in the park and walk across. We decided to see all we could in three days in the east and move on.
Pictures include a Malagasy house on the side of the road, Mayah, our sassy travel companion, the car with a flat tire, and the entrance to the park.
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