Another do nothing morning, as we aren’t arriving in Antsiranana until noon.  We try the gym around 6:50 – lots of breaking and entering! – with Ed managing to grab a treadmill, me not so lucky ending up out on deck 10 walking.  Then we just hang out on the balcony, snapping pictures of the gorgeous scenery as we sail around the bay into the harbor.

As we are docking a hug squall blows in with torrential rain and really strong gusting winds.  It is so bad, we can’t go in right away and the Captain has to wait in the harbor a bit to dock.  Which is fine by us, we have a ship’s excursion today to Amber Mountain, so we know we’re handled. 

Finally able to dock, alongside the 100+ Tuk Tuks that are lining the pier, we get wait with the other 300 passengers who are on tours, finally being released out onto the dock with our group where we are divided into smaller groups of 6 to 8 to stuff ourselves into 4×4’s.  Fortunately the 4x4s are real vehicles – not open-air safari vehicles – and even more fortunately, we have been chatting with a fellow tour goer, Linda, who we have banded together with to stay in the same 4×4.  Chaos ensues immediately, the tour guides are almost like touts – yelling and screaming trying to grab as many passengers as they need.  We three stick together, managing to pass from one tour guide/tout to another and ending up with the 3 of us alone in a nice air conditioned Ford 4×4.  The guide keeps saying he needs one more person, he needs 4 in the car.  But no one else is a single – and no one wants to be separated.  Finally, after just about all the other cars leave, they give up on 4 and it ends up with Ed, me and Linda on our “private” Amber Mountain tour – joined only by Flo, our fabulous guide and Hussain, our professional driver!

Off we go, through the town of Diego Suarez, past the prison, the police station, the bank, the monuments – with Flo giving us a running commentary on everything. We drive on out of the town, past markets that line the main road (all corrugated sheds/huts with businesses – and more Lychee fruit than you will ever see in a lifetime anywhere else!) then out into more natural areas where Hussain catches up with the vehicles, passing them willy-nilly as they stop on the side of the road with sightings of creatures Flo deems unworthy.  Trust in your guide! 

A little ways further down the road, Hussain slams on the brakes shouting Chameleon!  Son of a gun, there is a huge Oustalet chameleon, otherwise known as the Malagasy Giant Chameleon, right in the middle of the road.  Good eyes!  We all pile out of the car, following the poor little guy across the road before another vehicle arrives and Flo picks him up with a long stick so we can all get an up close and personal view. Linda even gets to hold the stick and walk with the big guy himself and have him on her arm for a bit. Flo then picks him up and deposits him on one of the women, where it climbs up her arm onto her face.  Eek!  Otherwise – totally cool.

Back in the car, we’re off again – now with the challenge mounted:  Flo has to find a chameleon.  Game on.  And find one he does – a vibrantly green Panther Chameleon out in the bushes on the side of the road.  We’re out of the car again, admiring this gorgeous guy on Flo’s stick.  Just look at his eyes.  And those white scales around his mouth.  He looks like a skeleton head or something. So incredible.

Then we’re back on the road again, now heading into the park where the road itself is little more than a mud puddle, and a slippery one at that.  We have Hussain, professional driver (seriously, he was really good), so we aren’t concerned, but we don’t’ get very far before we are all stopped dead as another 4×4 has to be enlisted to pull a stuck vehicle out of the muddy mess.  It is the rainy season, which is graphically evidenced by the muddy one-track road. 

Further into the park, we stop along with the other 25 or so vehicles at our “picnic” spot.  Even though it is already 3pm, the tour was listed as including lunch.  But since the tour didn’t even start until 12:30, we all had plenty of time to eat on the ship before leaving, thus they gave us picnic boxes with a ham sandwich, cookies and one “whole fruit” (i.e., banana) each.  It is a nice snack and a pretty place to sit and munch while watching the wildlife.  There is a mongoose sighting (I missed the shot) and there are also these adorable little wagtail birds on the roof of the picnic huts.

We’ve picked up another vehicle whose passengers are now with us in the picnic hut – apparently Flo is the guide for all of us – so they are now with us on the tour as eagle-eyes Flo finds a Brookesia Minima, one of the smallest lizards of the chameleon species.  How does he see these things?  It is teeny tiny with those huge eyes that see 360 degrees, little black feet and only moves 3 feet a day.  And this one is what Flo says is a “big one,” a fully grown adult. 

Snack and chameleon done, we head toward the waterfall, passing a tomato tree. Yes, that is what I said (well what Flo said) a tomato tree!  Too bad they aren’t ripe, we’d love to try those.  As we are heading toward the waterfall path, what do we spy but a whole horde of Sanford’s Brown Lemurs.  Yay!  The males are the ones with the black head and white hair around its face.  The brown faced ones are the females.  They are all out there eating berries off the tree.  Hopping around, looking at us – those eyes! – and then grabbing berries and stuffing their faces. 

Yay.  Lemurs!  Taking our leave, we find yet another chameleon species:  The Calumma Amber Chameleon.  Perched in the crook of a tree, blending in with his greenish tannish body as a chameleon is wont to do.  Further on Flo also spots a Calumma Lumotin Blue Nose Chameleon – look at that little blue nose. 

Navigating the muddy, water filled and slippery path, we make it to the waterfall for a few pictures just as the rain starts to pour in.  Time to abort!  Of course, it is a rainforest, in the rainy season, so what else can you expect?  We’re prepared. 

Heading back to the car we pass a sacred tree used for Anamalist sacrifices of Zebu – there is even a Zebu skull and horns still in up in the crook of the tree. 

It has been decided that we aren’t going to take the entire hike that was advertised in the tour description.  The guides have decided it is too muddy and slippery and since we’ve already seen 4 species of chameleon and the lemurs – it doesn’t make sense to try the hike.  We’re fine with that.

Gathering our other group, our 2 vehicles head out of the park and back into town on no less treacherous road. It is probably even worse now because we are going down hill.  But Hussain is a master and delivers us safely onto the paved roadway as we make our way toward Diego Suarez, passing plenty of Madagascar 4x4s – ox driven carts – on the way. About halfway to town, Flo stops to buy some Lychee for his kids at Hussain’s cousins’ place. Hussain comes back to the car with easily 10 pounds of lychees, while Flo arrives with at least 5.  A few are distributed throughout the car and we happily sit there peeling and munching on the sweet fruit the rest of the way.

In town, our first stop is at a viewpoint where we can look out over the bay where the French first arrived and then subsequently fought off attackers.  A  gorgeous place, filled with locals trying to sell us everything from vanilla to hats to little toys to sarongs.  Flo isn’t having any of it and corrals us together effectively shooing off all the kids and women trying to hawk their wares.

Then it is onto the War cemetery dedicated to the sailors, soldiers and airmen who fought and died here in WWII.  The island was prized for its location within the major sea supply lines and a battle ensued between the French and the British.  In the end, the British took control and the 315 causalities are all buried here.  The cemetery is amazingly well taken care of, beautifully landscaped and clean, with a large Baobob tree at one end.  At least we got to see one of these iconic trees – which Flo explains is not a tree at all.  It is hollow and not a tree, but categorized as an herb, a Jurassic herb. The bark and leaves are used to help babies grow, and for other healthy purposes.

Our final stop of the day is the shopping area where Flo directs us into a shop to buy our requested vanilla (the vanilla being offered at the picturesque bay stop did not meet his approval – nor probably his kickbacks either) and a quick stop at the grocery store across the street for THB – Three Horses Beer.  The local specialty of the island.  Flo and Hussain also managed to find an open pharmacy for us, where we replenished our supply of Doxycycline for our Malaria protection regime (will not even go into how easy it is to buy here and how cheap), then we are back to the ship with a plenty of time to spare.  Great adventure!

Quickly showering, we manage to make it to dinner virtually at our normal time and are treated with a fabulously presented gyoza appetizer and….poke!  A lot of poke! Far better than on Quest.  Whether it is the chef (although Shiju is gone now) or just the ship or what, we don’t know, but we are not complaining!

We are hitting the town tonight – early music in the Living Room with Harmony Hive and then the Cabaret for Six Strings, a great rock show with the Journey band and singers and dancers.  Then it is the balcony for night caps under another spectacular full moon.  We finally made it to Madagascar!  And had a wonderful adventure.  Tomorrow, fingers crossed for the same!