After yesterday’s false start, we managed to rise early enough today visit Canyons des Makis (Canyon of the Monkeys), in hope of catching a glimpse of the local lemur population.

Arriving in Ranohira at about 8:30, we met up with our guide who had already arranged some transportation to the base of the hike. I was a little confused as to why we needed to hire another car and driver, but it soon became obvious; the road ahead was rough and dusty, which was better suited to an older car.

It didn’t take us long to get to the start of the hiking trail, which was set against a backdrop of paddy fields and mountainous scenery. We could see the rock-face about a kilometre away, split in half by the canyon we would be walking through. With our work cut out, we headed off on foot at a brisk pace.

We managed to get a good view of some Verreaux’s (White) Sifaka lemurs in a small forrest area. These are very similar to the Golden Sifaka we saw earlier in our trip, apart from the obvious colour difference. Despite being wild, they are very timid and apparently very used to tourists traipsing through their home.

We followed a freshwater river up the canyon for about 1.5km, traversing some rocky terrain, until we reached the waterfall that fed it. As it was wetter here there was a lot more foliage, with almost oasis like pools, palm trees and sandy banks makimg it almost beach-like.

We hiked back to the start of the route, and headed back to the town in our hired car. It turns out that our original car has suffered some serious wheel damage, so we had to pay this driver extra to take us back to the hotel. Proving how poor this country really is, our original driver had to ask us to loan him the £15 to get the wheel fixed. For us, getting something like that fixed as cheaply as this would be unheard of, but he was extremely embarrassed to have to ask. Anyway, we are going nowhere tomorrow if it’s not fixed…