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Why hiring ANGAP guides when visiting the park ?
Norali Says: Ever noticed that I insisted on you hiring ANGAP guides while visiting national parks? Not only because local ANGAP guides are the ones who know about "their" territory. Also, ANGAP (association nationale pour la gestion ds aires partagees) aims at protecting nature. For...
Pick up your ANGAP tour guide in Ranohira
CatherineReichardt Says: Ranohira is a bustling little town that serves as the gateway to Isalo. It is a good place to replenish your stocks, and a pleasant place to spend a few days, with some reasonable hotels and some attractive low key tourist destinations such as the colonial era church in the...
Tourist watching at La Fenetre
CatherineReichardt Says: La Fenetre (The Window) is by far the best publicised tourist attraction at Isalo, and one of the most accessible, being easily accessible in an ordinary sedan from the main road.La Fenetre is an impressive natural arch formed by erosion of the sandstone: what makes it...
Swimming in waterfall plunge pools!
CatherineReichardt Says: Hiking the Isalo Massif was quite simply the high point of our Madagascar experience, and I can't recommend it highly enough. However, it can get extremely hot - when we visited (November), the temperature climbed into the 40s and there is not a lot of shade as you trudge...
Norali Says: How would you know about this flora species, for instance, if you haven't taken a guide? Anyway, it shouldn't be a problem since guiding is mandatory, i was just told.Now, I tell you. It is named "Rose du d?sert" or "Faux baobab" or "pachypodium". I like the metallic grey...
Norali Says: OK... writing those tips just remind me that what I consider as mundane experiences can be must-see for others (for themnot having experienced them yet) or even off the beaten track ones.I wanted to limit myself to the lemurs as fauna must-see. Still, Isalo is home of other...
Guiding is mandatory otherwise you miss sthg
Norali Says: It seems obvious but one has to say that you need guiding when you visit the park. Without that, you would miss many things, you wouldn't know the places, the species, the interdicts.Enlarge the picture. Look at it carefully: what's in there ? Can you say ? Yes, you may but...
Rockpool campsite area: Sunset watching, nighttime serenades
Norali Says: I haven't had any chance to camp within the park. Still, the nightlife tip that came to my mind was camping. And yes, there is a camping site near the rockpool, from where to watch the sun setting behind the mountains. Then, be sure to book the "Maki Valley" trail (or "Lemur...
Norali Says: In Isalo park, sandstone ridges surround the grassy plains. Also, even if you don't see them, Bara tombs are secluded in the rocks. Tombs are dug in the rocks and the entry is blocked by a block of rock. You wouldn't see anything, except when the rock that serves as a gate...
Greediness: visiting without a guide
Norali Says: This is the tourist trap n?1 while visiting the parks in Madagascar. For one main reason, unless you are botanist / biologist, you wouldn't spot the animals easily (are they nightactive, dayactive ? where to spot them the best ?), you wouldn't know about the plants that...
Norali Says: Plastic bags for your garbage, esp. when you camp. Good walking shoes, hat, sunglasses sunlotion, mosquito repellent, sunglasses, extra-units of your lenses if U wear lenses, cleaning products Films, lenses, a cover to protect equipment from water spills, dust when you...
Grottes de Teniky and Sahanafa forest
Norali Says: I haven't done it but visiting Teniky grottes and Sahanafa forest seems to be the ultimate experience in there. The most interesting of the circuits (archaelogical sites), the toughest as well, requires some very good physical conditions: you will have to go through...
Experience the Wild West atmosphere of Ilakaka
CatherineReichardt Says: Madagascar is justly renowned for the quality of its gemstones, particularly sapphires. Most of these gems are mined from 'placer' deposits, where the stones have been eroded from their source and have preferentially concentrated along current or historic river...
Norali Says: Weird enough, this seemingly dry area is the starting point of two rivers: Mangoky and Onilahy. They are fed by springs that are located at an altitude of 1000m in Isalo park.Yes, there are many rivulets that fall into cascades, nurturing rockpools.
Norali Says: It's so obvious: hiking would be your n?1 sport in there.Depending on the circuit you've chosen, you will have to pay attention to your physical condition. Try to evaluate with the guide what would suit you best.For instance the Lemur/ Maki Canyon circuit would take you like...
Norali Says: Tavy is a slash and burn technique that locals use for agriculture. Thinking of it, I always understood that the more you burn soil, the more you kill nutriments in it... Peasants in Madagascar always believed the contrary. Then, for decades, they just slash and burn hundred...
Norali Says: It's after seeing those red- soil sceneries that "Red Island" comes to your mind.This is not only in Isalo area but throughout the Central Highlands too. Tana, Fianarantsoa and Toliara provinces.In the past though, the country was nicknamed "Blue island" for it being so...
Norali Says: Does it surprise you to encounter rivulets in the desert Isalo park ?It shouldn't since two main rivers in Southern part of Madagascar depart from Isalo area.Remember ? It is a massif, with different altitudes. Then rivulets and rivers run through it. :) Once again, one of...
Norali Says: You will have to go through these corridors.. It, as many others, are located in the rocks, creating some kind of oasis. See? Greenery, flowers, rivulets or sometimes cascades are located in the middle of the dry rocks...At some time while climbing, you'll have to stick to...
Norali Says: End 1997, a peasant found a sapphire stone and showed it to a tourist. The rumour that sapphire was discovered there had spread nationwide. And "small" people came to extract minerals as a job. In no time, Ilakaka region, then a hamlet with no electricity with just dozens of...
Plan a Tangorombohitr' Isalo vacation with reviews, tips and photos posted by real travelers and Tangorombohitr' Isalo locals
I appreciated there architecture and the use of materials according to the building's environment ( a kind of built in/on rocks). I really fell for it!Not only...
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Well !! What would you find in this page ? Pics; Some scientifical explanations about the fauna and flora of Isalo National Park. **Cough cough**, they rather be explanation but not scientifical,...
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Of all the wonderful places that we visited in Madagascar, Isalo was the one that stole my heart. Maybe one of the reasons why we enjoyed it so much was that we didn't have any preconceptions or...
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I've got some interesting experiences in Tangorombohitr' Isalo. I'd love to share with you the 0 tips I've written, the 3 photos uploaded, and 0 travelogues I've created.
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