Sainte Luce Reserve

Sainte Luce is a fragment of a fragment of littoral forest, which is coastal rainforest, now in short supply in Madagascar. There are only three fragments left down in the south east of the country and unfortunately on the largest of these Rio Tinto have been granted mining exploration rights in their quest for ilmenite (the mineral that, makes products such as toothpaste white).

To reach the Reserve we headed out of Fort Dauphin in a 4x4, loaded up with a week's vitels for the camp, for the initial leg, the 65km road trip..... well I say road:

Two and a half hours later we stopped, in the middle of nowhere, at another rickety river crossing with 2 dugout canoes waiting to transport us onwards:

After about 40 minutes of paddling and having been asked to stop wriggling so much, as I tried to look right, left, back and front all at the same time, we arrived at this rather smart looking dock:

Good things continued to happen as I was offered this lovely little bungalow which makes a much more comfy home for the two months than my tent:

Although small, the Reserve exists to protect several acres of primary forest which extend down to a picture postcard beach to the east, with the tranquil, meandering Elimont River wrapping around the rest of it.

We generate solar power which is enough to charge torches and phones and give us light in the evening, provided the sun has been shining in the day! I haven't heard a motor here at all which is blissful. The overriding sounds are the ocean which is pretty powerful on this coast and then the cicadas, crickets and frogs. Oh, and the other is thunder, wind in the palms and torrential rain on the tin roof of the dining hut - but it is the rainy season!