Early start to get to Manambato in time to catch the boat for our next hotel, Palmarium, which is the only way to get to it! The N2 is a busy road from the capital to the main port so there were a lot of lorries to negotiate as well as potholes! We soon came across a lorry with its load across the road but fortunately got round quickly. Sometimes Zo says that can block the road for hours!
So we crossed the mountain chain and were apparently very lucky with the sunshine but of course it is David’s birthday!
Zo stopped to show us a cocoa plant and taste the fruit.
Next stop to look at little stalls with ginger, turmeric, custard apples, cola plants, and “corossol” or soursop in english.
So we started to see lots of traveller trees on our way down.
And we finally arrived at the pickup point for the hotel boat around midday after a very small muddy track!
Then followed a very pretty boat trip for about an hour over 2 lakes and down the Pangolanes canal to our hotel where we enjoyed lunch and a relaxing afternoon before we’re off to see the night lemurs called Aye Aye.
Our first visitor!
So the birthday evening was a real treat with a trip to see the Aye-Aye by boat to an island where there are 8. We saw 2 after a very long wait in the dark! Nearly 2 hours!
Incredible to watch how they use the short middle claw to get the milk out of the coconut.
And then back for a lovely birthday meal including cake and a special fruit dish with custard apples and star fruit. All organised by Zo!
The staff even sang happy birthday and then got David up dancing!
