Day 7: Ascending to the plateau

I’d slept remarkably well for the first night camping and although it was a cold night, I’d remained cosy bundled up in my sleeping bag. It’s easy to envisage Madagascar as a country that is always warm however this time of year is winter in the Southern hemisphere. Although daytime temperatures still are in the low 20’s, the night’s are typically below 10 degrees and as you progress to around 2000m above sea level they fall to around 0 degrees. A couple of members of the group complained about the cold night and their difficulty sleeping over breakfast, which made me feel glad I had come prepared with a good sleeping bag. We ate toast with peanut butter and jam with bananas before Philibert suggested we begin the next step of the mountain. For the duration of the morning we would continue the ascent through the dense forest in order to reach the rocky plateau. The guides explained that the summit would not be visible until we were 45 minutes away from reaching it but we would get a feel for the mountains once we emerge from the forest. 

The forest was dense with an extremely narrow and muddy trail. Sections were steep and slippery and I used the branches of trees to pull myself up. There were several streams to be crossed and Philibert and his team were always there to offer assistance where needed. The sound of the trickling streams and the birds singing was so peaceful. It was hard to get any sense of direction in the dense jungle, the tall canopy restricting our views and I found it impressive that the guides knew the route as the path had been reclaimed by the vegetation. Jenoux led the way, hacking his way through the plants, removing sharp branches making the route more accessible for everyone that followed. Each hour Philibert suggested we took a rest and he encouraged us to hydrate, handing us coffee sweets and giving us motivational taps of the back. After around 4 hours clambering through the steep jungle trails, the density of the vegetation reduced and it was clear we had reached the rocky plateau.  

After being enclosed in the rainforest throughout the morning, it was refreshing to emerge from the trees to see the surrounding mountains. The jagged outcrops of granite provided a stark contrast to the lushness of the forest. It was warmer on the exposed rock as there was little shelter and I was happy to find a patch of shade near a stream to eat lunch. Lunch was a tuna pasta salad, packed with vegetables and a hard boiled egg for extra protein – I was grateful for a bean and rice free meal! After lunch we reached what Philibert referred to as the “swimming pools”, small, perfectly circular indents in the rock filled with crystal clear water. I considered a little swim but opted to just submerge my legs after Philibert and Jenoux used a rock attached to some grass to show me that the depth was well above my height and the water temperature was around 5 degrees.  

After a couple more hours hiking across the plateau on relatively flat terrain the route began to sharply descend until a small patch of grassy land at the base of the mountain came into view. On closer inspection I saw a handful of tents scattered across the flat land. We had arrived at our camp. Our ports greeted us cheerfully calling over; “salama” as a pile of rucksacks formed as we relieved our shoulders and backs. The campsite was exposed and the winds had already picked up, as the tents rattled and swayed. After a brief rest we ate dinner (beans and rice!) followed by bananas cooked in rum and vanilla. Philibert briefed us on the route to the summit, we would begin at sunrise (6am) with an aim of being on the summit for 10am followed by a further 6 hours of descent to a lower camp. He explained the layers and gear we would need to carry and set expectations for the ascent.  

We relaxed with lemon tea after dinner and the conversation gravitated to football. The guides grinned as they listed their favourite premier league teams and Jenoux proudly told us about his local village team that he plays for, explaining the competition strcuture with the neighbouring village teams. Philibert smiled, telling us Jenoux is the best football player in Madagascar and then made the bold claim that Thierry Henry is actually Madagascan. As soon as he said that Fabrice and Jenoux, nodded in agreement, claiming “people think he is French, but he’s Madagascan, he one of us!” The explaination took a dark turn. Apparently in parts of Madagascar if a woman has twins or triplets, the children are assumed to be cursed and she is left with the choice of keeping them but being ostracised from her community or the more common choice is to abandon the children entirely. Hery explained there have even been cases where the babies are left to be trampled by the zebu cattle and despite NGOs attempting to re-educate, the belief is far too engrained. Philibert explained that French people come over to Madagascar to adopt twins, continuing to say, "Thierry Henry is a twin so we believe he got adopted from here and France won’t admit he’s ours". Whether the Thierry Henry aspect of this story is true or not is questionable, but the practise of abandoning twins is still common and deeply disturbing.  

After dinner I retired to my tent to get some rest ready for the early start, it was a cold clear night and the wind swept strongly through camp. I dived into my tent and buried my head in a poor attempt to block out the sound of rattling canvas.