[Madagascar] Chapter XIX: In which we take a too great interest in water, and what comes of it

Once in Ambalavao, we quickly learned that the entire town (population of more than 30,000) has been without running water for more than a month. Luckily, the second hotel we looked at --- for reasons unclear --- had a separate water supply of its own, and we were thus spared --- for now --- the need to shower ourselves using a

cup and two buckets --- one with cold water, one with hot --- as suggested at the first hotel.

But it seems that some celestial trickster was watching Ambalavao from above, and on both evenings we spent there, that trickster found it opportune to shower the town with heavy torrential tropical rain --- the first of the year and according to locals quite uncharacteristic, as rains are not expected until November. And on the second night he added lightning and thunder to boot, so much so that it completely cut off the electricity to that part of the town where our hotel stood. And it didn't return until we left early the next morning.

But we did not come to Ambalavao so much for the town itself, although we did find the large rural market that we chanced upon there on the Wednesday very interesting; we came for Anja.

In many respects, the Reserve d'Anja was the exact opposite of the Parc National de Ranomafana. Whereas Ranomafana is a major national multi-trail park that contains a fair number of different and rare lemur species, Anja is a minuscule nature reserve (less than half a square kilometre) independently organised and run by six tiny local villages (combined population of less than 2,000), that is home to just one common species of lemurs --- the ring-tailed lemur. But whereas in Ranomafana we saw many more humans than lemurs, and the latter only from afar, in Anja we saw no humans but our pair of guides (one to show the way and one to spot animals), while lemurs were aplenty, and they were apparently accustomed enough to human presence not to be alarmed by us --- rather exhibiting a combination of the oblivious, the curious and the cautious --- allowing us to follow three families through woods and caves and across large rocks and small cliffs (there are no trails per se in some parts of the reserve) and watch them for over an hour from very comfortable distances.

Enjoy the pictures as much as we enjoyed the reserve.

Accommodations:
- Aux Bougainvillées, Ambalavao (2 nights; ok)

Photo captions: (a-h) ring-tailed lemurs, first family; (i-p) ring-tailed lemurs, second family; (q-x) ring-tailed lemurs, third family; (y-aa) a chameleon; (bb) a spider; (cc-ff) views from around the reserve; (gg) a pretty flower; (hh-ii) a girl living across the "highway" from the reserve; (jj-ll) local villagers waiting for a taxi-brousse to take them to market day in Ambalavao; (mm) the awaited taxi-brousse from within; (nn-ccc) market day in Ambalavao; (ddd-eee) two scenes from the Ambalavao taxi-brousse station (note the town cathedral in the background)