Madagascar Day 5 What's a Grey Tsingy? Iharana Bush Camp, Monday, April 8, WTRD 23 of 36

Spectacular Rock Formations and Cave Geology - Grey Tsingys

Madagascar Day 5  Iharana Bush Camp - Grey Tsingy, Monday, April 8, WTRD 23 of 36

This morning, we get our first real glimpse of our Bush Camp in the light.

Our Hut

We enjoy yogurt, fruit, cereal and bread for breakfast.  My stomach feels a little better this morning, but I feel weak, am thirsty, and need to remember to drink lots of water today to rehydrate.


We meet up with Floris and our local guide Patrick after breakfast.  We want to get an early start before the day really heats up.  We board a double canoe to cross the seasonal lake to the base of the Tsingy mountain.  Patrick did the paddling.

Our objective this morning is to explore the Tsingy mountain and caves.  A French man built an amazing staircase with bolted rocks from the base to the top of mountain.  Tsingy is  term for limestone lifted from the sea and eroded to make sharp, edgy points. The limestone edges are knife blade sharp and one needs to be careful when placing hands on the rocks as grips or grazing against them while walking.

Razor Sharp Formations

Russ finds out how sharp they are as his bare knee grazes against sharp point and he gets a small limestone incision.  Patrick whips out his first aid kit, disinfects and bandages the wound and we carry on upward.

When we are about half way up the mountain and the bottom entrance of the cave, I am feeling weak and seeing black spots on the outside edges of my eyes.

The plan is to hike to the top, and return through the cave from the upper entrance to where we are standing now at the bottom entrance.   Floris suggests that the two of us should enter the cave at the bottom and go as far as we would like and then wait for Russ and Patrick to climb to the top and come back to meet us at the bottom.  Given the circumstances, this sounds like a workable alternative so that I don’t pass out on the sharp rocks hiking to the top.  I am disappointed not to see the overview of the Tsingy forest, but will have to be satisfied with what we have already seen and Russ’s photos.

Rock steps wedged into the tsingy

Floris and I, make our way into the cave. I take off my hat as Floris explains that ancestral bones have been found here and hats should not be worn out of respect for the ancestors.   We are wearing headlamps and I wonder what the ancestors might think about that.







The passage is narrow and claustrophobic.  We make it to a chamber that has columns and stalactites.

Floris says this is the most interesting part of the cave and we really don’t need to go any further.  I am relieved and look forward to returning to some light and fresh air.  

The two of us find a relatively smooth spot to perch in the shade at the mouth of the cave.  I offer Floris some mosquito repellant as he keeps slapping himself while I am not being bothered at all.  We chat for over an hour about teaching.  Floris is a teacher’s teacher and we have a lot in common.  

Guiding is his primary source of income as he does not make enough to support his family on a teacher’s salary.  He was once offered a regional directorship, but would have had to pay bribe money to get the position.  He refused to pay.    Corruption, bribery, and paying off people to get a good paying job is the way of life here in Madagascar.  Hard work and merit are trumped by nepotism and who you know and how much you will pay.

Eventually we hear Russ and Patrick descending through the mountain cave.  Russ had forgotten to taken off his hat.  I am glad.  His head would have looked like a cutting board had he done so.  Not only were the passages narrow they were low and jagged.  Here are the photos Russ took climbing to the top of the Tsingy and descending through the caves.

As we descend the path down to the lake, we hear lemurs, but do not see them.  They are not habituated to humans and remain shy.  We spot some millipedes that make the ones at home seem like miniatures.  These millipedes are as fat a giant Tootsy roll and a foot long. We also find a coiled snake.  Floris says it is harmless and eats frogs.  Nevertheless, we give it a wide berth and move on.  We return to the bush camp where we cool down with cold showers.  There is a small breeze blowing through the dining room cooling our skin. 

We are free until 4:30 in the afternoon when we meet up with Floris and Patrick again for sunset canoe paddle around the lake, and enjoy sundowner apple tea as the sun sets and a warm glow shines on the Tsingy.

We are the only guests tonight.  It is very quiet.  We have the whole bush camp  to ourselves. We don’t know why the Germans couldn’t get a reservation, but given the nature of the camp, this would not have been a good or easy place to supervise two very young children. The air is cooler tonight.  We dinner, shower again, and go to bed with just a hint of cool air dropping down from the windows.

All is Well with the Worrall Travel Rs in Madagascar