The second part of our Madagascar trip involved an internal flight from the capital city Antananarivo to Morondava on the west coast.

The main attraction on the west coast is the Avenue of Baobabs, a grouping of ancient trees that literally look like they were planted upside down with roots in the air.

We also spent some time in the Kirindy Dry Reserve on a several guided walks to see some of the lemurs who thrive in a drier environment and also got to see a fossa, a sort of cross between a cat and a weasel, which is the main predator. (if you have watched the Madagascar movies – they are ‘the dreaded fooooo-sa’ in the first film and the mortal enemy of King Julian and his dancing subjects who like to move it move it)

Then an epic road trip of 8 hours to Bekopaka began and this was via 4 x 4 vehicles as there are literally no roads.

Car pontoon ferries and the river crossings are also interesting. The concept of health and safety isn’t really active in Madagascar. They go with something between a common sense and Heath Robinson approach. And It somehow just works.

And as if by magic – there is a gourmet restaurant in the middle of nowhere for lunch, before continuing on to the accommodation, arriving in the late afternoon.

The next day, Grand Tsingy and Little Tsingy awaited.

Officially called Parc National Tsingy De Bemaraha and a World Heritage site since 1990, the park consists of a ‘forest’ of limestone pillars some as high as 50m (165ft)

Point to note about Grand Tsingy – it’s not recommended for anyone that suffers from vertigo, has knee or back problems or is a general wuss like me. There is a lot of up and downhills, scrambling up ladders, crawling and sliding into caves. And then there is the hanging bridge where you need to use the provided harness. Also, once you start the trail – you are committed to complete it, which takes about 5 hours.

Interestingly , our tour leader downplayed a lot of Grand Tsingy by saying ‘it was a little bit of ups and downs’ to someone on our group who had a knee brace. Luckily this person concerned had done some independent research and decided to not go and from what you can gather, I too skipped this one and did Little Tsingy in the afternoon instead.

Little Tsingy is clearly a smaller version of Grand Tsingy.  It took just over an hour to do the circuit. No hanging bridge but still quite tedious in places. Again, not recommended for people with any knee, back or balancing issues…but totally acceptable for wusses.

The next day we headed back to Morondava following the same 4 x 4 route, stopping in time for sunset pictures at the magnificent Baobabs which didn’t disappoint.

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