The Kirindy lodge where we stayed was a bit of a trial. The back of our room (with open-air shutters) was less than 10 feet from the back of a local village. The dogs barked all night. And roosters are stupid - very stupid. In the middle of the night, many times, one would crow, and then all of them (at least 20) would crow for a couple of minutes, then they would realize it was not dawn and would stop. And the mosquito netting was not effective (I think bugs were coming up between floorboards). Jana and I got a lot of bites (I have two 30-star constellations on my left leg). Trucks and people are loud at odd hours. Neither of us slept well for the two nights. Jana was unable to attend the day safari, and after lunch that day, C and I fell asleep until dinner. If you go to Kirindy, make certain your room is more than 10 feet from a village.
The drive to the Tsingy Park was a unique adventure. It was 60 km over 8 hrs on very difficult roads. The first part was straightforward 4-wheel driving on unimproved, difficult roads.
Then we had a ferry to cross a river - this was an adventure, driving down a steep embankment, and across two planks onto a small wooden barge (two canoes with outboard motors, with a large wooden pallet as the deck connecting them). A waking nightmare. I was shocked that we were not asked to leave the vehicle before the driver pulled this stunt (which was repeated three more times by other drivers). A number of locals also rode the barge across for trade/barter. In the end not much elbow room left for the 30minute ferry.
At the other end, we had lunch in a larger local village. Our guide was giving non-definitive guidance as to when we would depart for the second half of the journey. After lunch, maybe 30 minutes. Thirty minutes later, we would leave in 30 minutes. We toured the village and returned to the restaurant. Thirty minutes. After more questions, we found that there was a convoy for this segment of the journey, and unless the whole convoy was ready, it was a no-go. Nominally, the caravan is because the road became much more difficult, and the group travels in case someone gets a flat or snaps an axle. We asked our guide if the real reason the convoy was needed as a precaution against the "Road Pirates" (for us, this was a joke). Our driver became quite defensive - "NooOOoo, there are no Road Pirates." So of course, everything on the road became part of our Road Pirate adventure. A soldier bummed a ride with one of the tourist vans (with his AK): "Is he protection against the Road Pirates?". "NoooOOooo, there are no Road Pirates. Termite mounds: "Are those mounds of dirt where the Road Pirates bury fallen camrades?". "NoooOOooo, there are no Road Pirates." A clear-cutting fire that came up to the road: "Did the Road Pirates set fires to bock our escape route?" "NooOOooo, there are no Road Pirates." "That bottle of water you gave the local - that was payment for safe passage against the road pirates?" "NoooOOoooo, there are no Road Pirates."
Little did we know, a week before there had been an armed robbery on the road, which had been 'resolved' by the local authorities. We found this out two days later. Oh. The convoy and the armed guard was to protect against Road Pirates.
That segment was single-lane, and pretty harsh. About halfway between lunch and Tsingy Park, we stopped at a village for restrooms and to stretch legs. Getting everyone back into cars was much longer than I anticipated, but after about 30 minutes, we were back in cars for the last segments. As we approached the Tsingy park, it degraded further up to a 2nd smaller ferry. This one was less steep and less scary. We arrived at the hotel well after dark.
Photos and video attached.
The man at the bottom is standing on the ferry. The tracks are to get the car from the shore onto the ferry.
The process of getting on the ferry. For the locals, no big deal. For us, a bit more than scary.
A loaded ferry. The schedule is: If there are 4 cars, I go. If there are not 4 cars, I wait.
I tried the 'Big Ear' magic trick with some local kids. They didn't find it amusing.
I later tried it on a different group of kids. They didn't find it amusing, either.
Traffic jam on the one-lane bridge. The zebu no longer felt like pulling the cart.
After the ferry, we ate lunch at the next village, and then toured the market.
Our Tsingy lodge overlook from the common area (dawn the next morning).
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