Hi all!
Lots to report since our last post from Ranomafana.
We began our main trek in a highland village called Ambohimamasina,, the villagers were really friendly and taught us some Malagasy games and numbers during our short stop. The boys also managed to get themselves involved in 5 aside football tournament before we left early the next morning. Our first day of trekking took some getting used to however we all made it in one piece! Our second day was more adventurous as most of the walk was spent under the cover of the rainforest splashing through pools, eating lunch on river banks, swinging from vines and experiencing a completley different terrain to the previous day's dry grass and dusty paths. Camping that evening proved difficult as there was very little flat ground available in the area we stopped but our moods were improved by the oppourtunity to wash in the river on top of a waterfall! Day 3 involved a lot of slippy, steep decents and was tough on everyone, especially due to the rain we'd had overnight. All survived however and made it safley to a warm welcome in the village where we were undertaking our project. The village was in the area of Tanambao and during our time there we helped to protect the foundations of the school by raising the ground levels and assissting ther locals in creating a water drainage ditch and small walls in preperation for the rainy season. We were very well fed during our stay here with 5 meals a day, none of us were ever hungry for long!
A tough 10 hour trek then took us to the small village of Ifaneira. During the trek we had to make several river crossings by canoe and also the occasional piggyback provided by the porters, but our transport out of the village was definatley our favorite! A large canvas-backed truck took us to the coastal town of Manakara where we had the best meal we'd had, consisting of fresh fish, steak, pork; vegtables, crepes and some amazing chips!
We're going to see Ring-tailed lemurs (or as we call them, the 'king Julians' from the film Madagascar) tomorrow but will write again soon!
Love from Megan D, Kendal, Joe and occasionally Jess :-)