The Tsingy Rouge... What are they?
- Friendly Fins
- Dec 21, 2024
- 5 min read
Updated: Mar 7
The second day of Tour of Northern Madagascar
The alarm at Ankarana Lodge was supposed to ring at 7, but the first lights of dawn entered the room forcefully and so at 6 I found myself already operational and charged for the new day of Tour. (Do you want to know what we did on the first day? Click here!)
Madagascar is very windy at this time of year and, in these months, I have always struggled to fly the drone (a pleasant hobby), but this morning there is a surreal silence, despite being on a 300 m high plateau there is no wind, unlike the day before, and so I can finally dare. The drone fascinates me a lot because it allows me to see the landscapes from another perspective and give me further details just like the gray tsingy of the Andilana Lodge, which reign supreme in this barren and immense landscape. Breakfast is ready for 8: fresh tropical fruit, jam and freshly toasted bread, crepes and a super tea drink like I love to make at home!
Done! Ready and loaded for our next hike!
The Tsingy Rouge
Stefano came to pick us up at 8:30, always on time, with a bit of melancholy we say goodbye to Ankarana. Now we have a two-hour drive to get to the “province” of Diego Suarez, exactly to the Tsingy Rouge Park.
The landscape continues to change: we go from the savannah to the sapphire quarries, to the Rafia forests until we find the long-awaited sign that signals the start of the park. Easy to understand even without a sign because from there on the earth has become completely red. We have arrived, or rather we are entering the park, we still have to drive for about ten km before reaching the tsingy!
We pass through a kind of red canyon until we come out on a plateau with an incredible view of the city of Diego Suarez and the sea. The off-road vehicle stops in this small village with a restaurant (where we will then stop for lunch) and small huts around.
Stefano tells us that in this area there is night-time sport hunting of wild boar, some tourists come here to practice this activity using these huts to sleep.
Needless to say what we ate for lunch!
UNESCO World Heritage Site
We immediately set off on a path downhill inside a large canyon between small shrubs and... Clay! Everywhere around us is clay soil. At the base of this canyon we begin to see the first constructions? Sculptures? Masterpieces of Mother Nature? I honestly can't give them a name to give you an idea, so I'll just call them by their name Tsingy Rouge.
I am truly amazed by the beauty of this place, Stefano begins to tell us that these tsyngy, unlike those of Ankarana, have a very delicate structure so you can't touch them or lean on them. The particular structure and color is given by the overlapping of 4 well-defined layers:
marble - clay - stoneware - iron,
depending on their age they are more or less colored; in fact the newly "born" tsingy are very red and rich in clay that, over time, is washed away, giving a lighter appearance to the older tsyngy. The tsingy are born from an erosion process called Lapiaz whose protagonists are an underground river, clayey soil, wind and rain. However, their growth is not infinite and as they slide down the valley they lower again and disappear.
At first sight they immediately seemed to me like many little ghosts close to each other in a timeless place.
The route is well-defined and Stefano leads us to a breathtaking amphitheater until he tells me: “Here, now you can launch the drone because it is the most beautiful place!” So I don’t need to be told twice: I prepare everything and in an instant it is in the air about twenty meters higher than us and the show is sublime, it really seemed like being on another planet.
After an hour of walking among the tsingy, we start to go up the canyon, but after taking dozens of photos with the drone and just as many with the phone, I'm still not satisfied! We sit on a small bench that overlooks this wonderful canyon from above: we are the only guests of this Park today!
Ci siamo goduti questo momento magico al meglio e sono sempre più convinta che la Natura abbia un’anima e, che ci permetta di percepirla proprio visitando questi luoghi surreali.
Rientriamo nel villaggio per il pranzo a base di cinghiale (chiaramente) e poi si riparte!We enjoyed this magical moment to the fullest and I am more and more convinced that Nature has a soul and that it allows us to perceive it precisely by visiting these surreal places.
We return to the village for lunch based on wild boar (obviously) and then we leave again!
Direction Diego Suarez
The famous city of Diego Suarez is about an hour from the Tsyngy Rouge and in fact we arrive in the city around 3 pm, we will have time to visit it a bit! I have to admit, I am not a great lover of cities but we have always heard about it so a nice walk is right!
Diego-Suarez presents itself as a colonial city and with one of the most important ports in all of Madagascar, Stefano tells us that it is named in honor of two Portuguese who discovered it, taking the wrong route with their ships: Diégo Diaz and Fernan Soares.
It is very famous from a naturalistic point of view for its bays and emerald sea, but alas we have 4 days and we had to make choices! Maybe next time!
We chose to stay in a central hotel run by a Malagasy family. So, after a nice shower, we go out for an aperitif followed by a very “local” dinner, so much so that we need Stefano to understand what is written on the menu!
Surely, having dinner in a typical restaurant with live music and the Malagasy people looking at us in amazement, wondering what we are doing there, is not something that happens every day!
Qui la pubblicità “Solo nei peggiori bar di Caracas” ci fa un baffo!
After the local dinner, we return to the hotel, the alarm tomorrow will be at 7:30, after breakfast, Stefano will come to pick us up, we will return south, towards the National Park "Montagne D'Ambre".
Ready?!
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