Today we stayed in Ambalavao and cycled to the Anja lemur preserve 12km south of town. It was an interesting place to stop.

Slept in, we’d been getting up before sunrise to give enough time for longer rides. Rather than breakfast in the hotel we went looking on the street. A standard fair seemed to include rice, bread, some meat in broth – though we were also looking for eggs.

So we mostly explored the market for a while before finding a place with table out front. It seemed a bit more like a drinking stop – but with some conversation we agreed on an omelet, tea and bread. They sent someone out to get ingredients and soon enough a nice breakfast.

Before breakfast some market photos shown below. It was active and lively with plenty to buy…

Fish

Charcoal

Bundles of wood

Eggs

Some sort of root, not sure what

Carrots

Bicycle parts

This seemed to be a bicycle repair place. A bicycle does seem to be a common mode of transport here.

After breakfast, we walked back to the hotel and late in the morning were on our way cycling to the lemur preserve

It was located in front of dramatic granite outcroppings. They were able to stash our bikes and then we got an obligatory guide and went for a 90 minute tour.

We saw many lemurs.

All ring-tailed with 14 black stripes and 14 white

They weren’t afraid of people.

A young lemur

A pair. They lived in matriarchal clans and we’re territorial.

A leaping lemur

This also provided nice views of the area. We see more terrace farms, more granite hills than further south. We’re now also around 900m (3000ft) elevation.

On the way back we saw this stand. There was a sign for fast food. The host told us she put it up just today. There was a menu and we were able to find something she had available (tuna, fried rice and vegetables).

Ambalavao is known for having a zebu market (zebu is a type of cow). I could see them on the ridge but didn’t go off the track. However did take a photo of this zebu herd being driven down the street.

Otherwise back to the hotel at the end of the afternoon. Nice to have a relaxing day to explore.