Our two days in Isalo National Park, Madagascar (with a stop at Zombitse on the way!)

After our time in two of Madagascar’s primary cities (Antananarivo and Tulear) we headed off for our road trip through the southeast of the country (you can read about our full Madagascar itinerary here and I put a picture of it below as well)!

We started off by driving about 150km northeast to Zombitse national park, and as we headed out of Toliara we got to see more of what life is like in the countryside of Madagascar, which was really neat.

One cool thing we saw was a lot of people making bricks. You can see in the picture below there are a bunch of people (including kids, sad) doing this, by hand. They have a mold made out of wood, and then they dig the clay out of the ground and fill the mold. They pack it down, smooth it out and then take the brick out and let it dry (you can see the rows of them in the back). Then finally the fire the bricks in the kiln they have made (out of other bricks!) and they are ready to be sold. Pretty cool.

One sad thing we saw on the way were people lighting the land on fire. Because of the poverty, the people in the countryside are often desperate to use land to grow crops to feed their families (and potentially sell) and to have grassland to feed their stock. So they burn whatever greenery is currently there and then try to grow on the land. While you can totally understand the reasoning behind it, it’s also sad because something like 80+% of the forests in Madagascar have been destroyed by this practice. There’s no good solution until the economic situation in Madagascar improves overall.

Ok, enough of the on-the-road pictures (for now), let’s get to Zombitse!

Zombitse-Vohibasia National Park

Even though the full name of the park is Zombitse-Vohibasia, most people just call it Zombitse National Park. The park was established in 1997 and is about 36 hectares in size. There is a ton of wildlife in the park – over ninety species of birds, eight species of lemurs and lots of other reptiles and amphibians.

We did an hour-long walk in the park with a local guide (you have to have a local guide to walk into/through any of Madagascar’s National Parks), and it was a great start to our Madagascar road trip.

The biggest thing we were on the “hunt” for was lemurs, and this ended up being the only place where we saw the Sifaka lemur in all of Madagascar. These are medium-sized lemurs (adults are ~8lbs), and it is mostly white-colored with some brown markings on the head and sides. They blend in pretty well but you can see them in the trees in the pictures below (and even a baby one on the momma’s back on the picture in the right!).

We saw so many momma and baby lemurs here and could have stayed all day watching them. They were just the cutest ever. We also spotted a nocturnal lemur, which you can see in the picture on the right below, his eyes are just peeping out of the hole in the tree.

After visiting Zombitse we hit the road again to head to Isalo National Park (about another 80km away), and had a little bit of fun as we stopped along the way to stretch our legs and enjoy the beautiful scenery.

Satrana Lodge – the best place to stay in Isalo National Park!

We got to Satrana Lodge in the early evening (before the sun set – apparently it’s quite dangerous to drive at night, especially in the countryside, and even locals try to avoid it). As soon as we walked into the lobby I was in awe, the place is gorgeous.

Satrana Lodge is a ‘tented camp’ right on the edge of Isalo National Park, and the accommodations are one of my favorite kind – glamping! We had a huge “tent” on a raise platform, with a big bed, big room, beautiful bathroom and an outdoor shower! There is only power in the mornings and the evenings, and no wi-fi, so it’s a great place to disconnect and relax. Damian also went on a little walk around the grounds and there was so much awesomeness around us already! (Damian did have some falcons or something try to dive bomb his neck on his walk … they didn’t get him, so I guess that counts as a win right? Ha).

After Damian’s walk we had a delicious dinner at the restaurant and settled in for the night. After another beautiful view at breakfast the next day we were off to hike Isalo National Park!

Hiking Isalo National Park

Yay, Isalo National Park! This was one of my favorite places we went to in Madagascar, so let me tell you a little about it. The park was created in 1962, became an official National Park in 1997, and covers 815 hectares total. The park overall has quite a dry climate and its signature are the huge sandstone cliffs that are pervasive throughout. It is (supposedly) the second biggest National Park in Madagascar and the second most visited National Park in Madagascar. It wasn’t crowded at any time that we were there, which we appreciated!

The Baru are the Malagasy tribe that mostly populate the area, and we had a Baru guide (his nickname was Dolphin and he was the best, even when I was feeling sick – see below) take us through the park. He told us much about his family and tribe, and how the zebu (cattle) are revered in the community. We learned about the culture, the marriage and burial customs, and daily life for the Baru people. That was neat in itself. But, let’s get to the hike in the park!

Our first stop was after about ninety minutes of walking, a beautiful lookout over a wide expanse of the whole chunk of the park. The terrain looked absolutely unreal, and it felt like we could have been on another planet. Honestly, I could have sat at this lookout for hours and taken the view in.

Our tour guide was also a pretty great photographer and he captured a couple of my favorite pictures from our entire trip so far. The one of us laughing just captures us as a couple so well. I love us so much!

Even though the park is mostly dry, there are a couple areas where water flows through and creates these beautiful swimming pools. It almost feels like a little oasis in the middle of all the dry-ness and hot-ness.

After we visited the first swimming hole we had another ninety-minute hike to our lunch spot. Even with the beautiful views, this, my friends, is where things took a turn for the worse. I had been having a bit of travel diarrhea, so I started off the day already under-nourished and dehydrated. The hike thus far had been hot and long and I was smack dab in the middle of some bad PMS. I was feeling so crappy that I literally started crying during the last 50 meters before our lunch spot, but luckily didn’t vomit everywhere, so you know, silver linings. Damian was the best in helping me make it through (best husband ever) and Dolphin was so patient (best guide ever).

The guides had set up our lunch in this beautiful spot near a swimming hole, in the shade. We had delicious, hand-cooked rice, chicken and vegetables, and then fresh pineapple for dessert. It was a much needed break and rest after a rough back-end of the hike.

After lunch I headed back to the car with our driver guide while Damian did another ~1.5 hours of hiking to a couple more swimming holes. I was bummed to have missed it but having some resting time and not hiking in the heat were definitely the right calls. Sometimes your body just decides for you and you have to go with it!

Up next – Ranomafana National Park!

We loved Isalo National Park and I would definitely want to return here the next time we come to Madagascar. For now though, we headed back to Satrana Lodge that night, rested up and in the morning were off to our next stops – Ranomafana National Park with a stop at the Anja Reserve on the way!