After Itampolo, we drove back to Tulear. It was a 12 and a half hour drive back over rough roads, but we actually travelled 200 miles.
We stayed that night in a really nice hotel in Ifaty called the Le Paradiseur (hot showers!).
The next day, we flew out of Tulear to Morondava. When we arrived, we drove out to the Kirindy Forest, past the Avenue of the Baobabs.
Suzi made a friend with one of the local girls who walked around holding her hand the whole time. Her name was Tatsua and she remembered Suzi's name when we drove back a couple days later.
We got to the forestry station where we stayed while in Kirindy at dusk and were immediately set upon by the biggest and most tenacious biting flies we've ever seen! Like deer flies on steroids. We were being eaten alive, but as soon as it got dark, they all went away.
The campsite we stayed at was comprised mainly of huts with no air, electric or water. We won't even talk about the bathrooms.
We took some day and night walks while we were there (3 days in all) and saw some really cool critters. On one of our walks, a group of sifakas came up and got really close to the group. We got some really good pics and video.
We left Kirindy on Thursday morning and drove back to Morondava, where we stayed for a couple of days until leaving for Mahajunga.
We are probably going to stay at the hotel instead of going on the next leg of the trip, as it consists of about 17 hours on boats each way. I was prepared to be seasick for maybe 2 hours or so, not 17. Plus, it's going to be extremely hot.
More to come later. Larry
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