I thought I’d gather the information I learnt from the trip in one place (perhaps for next time, perhaps because I was sent home from work yesterday with food poisoning!).
TravelThe obvious flights from the UK are with Air France:
UK to CDG
CDG to Antananarivo
There are other options (Ethiopian Airlines).
Connections for us were arranged by the camp (300E return, regardless of how many people were in the bus). On the way there it took 17H which meant a significant portion of travel south of Fianarantsoa was undertaken in the dark. My travel guide would suggest this isn't overly safe. The return took 15H.
If you need to stop for food, Hotel Violette is about midway and is decent (not cheap by Madagascar standards but still cheap!):
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g659311-d1063146-Reviews-Bungalow_Motel_Violette-Ambositra_Fianarantsoa_Province.htmlWe also ate at hotely arilanto further south which was 'interesting’.
Owing to a need to return to Tana we also secured transport from Fianarantsoa in a taxi-brousse (all hail the mighty Mercedes Sprinter) and a return journey via 4x4. The 4x4 was by far the best transport but essentially cost 300E one way (you pay there and back for the driver). Our 4x4 driver refused to drive after nightfall citing concerns for his/our safety.
We used ‘contact at 4wdmada.com’ for 4x4 hire.
And stayed in Hotel Vannie in Fianarantsoa:
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g298271-d12617828-Reviews-Vannie_Hotel-Fianarantsoa_Fianarantsoa_Province.htmlwhich was fine.
In Antananarivo we stayed in Sakamanga which I thought was great (the restaurant and their fast food restaurant further down the street also):
http://sakamanga.com/If you've been to Marrakech or similar, I’d skip the city in all honesty as it’s absolutely choked by traffic and pollution. I also fell down a manhole whilst bump starting our taxi!
Accommodation near TsaranoroWe stayed in Tsarasoa in the end which I feel is by far the best option. Camp Catta is closer to Lemur Wall but everything else is fairly equidistant. I think CC is having issues.
You'll pay 4000Ar for each vehicle entering the park and 5000Ar per head. This is peanuts.
https://www.google.com/search?q=convert+4000+ar+to+%C2%A3&rlz=1C1GCEA_enGB828GB828&oq=convert+4000+ar+to+%C2%A3&aqs=chrome..69i57j35i39l2j0l3.3262j0j9&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8Tsarasoa offer breakfast, sportsman's breakfast (normal + fried egg +fruit juice; well worth getting), picnic (large pasta salad; impractical for taking up routes), cooked lunch (in camp) and dinner. I thought the food was good considering where you are but I'd recommend bringing crag snacks as you just can't buy them easily (Fianarantsoa would be a day trip in itself).
They have a bar. Three Horse Brewery is the standard beer (5.4% ABV), Gold was preferred by the French/Algerian team and tasted more like Euro lager. It’s all cheap (our bar bill for approximately 9 days in camp was ~20E).
When we arrived, we were the only climbers in the valley and throughout the fortnight there was one additional team plus a single climber from Squamish. To me that was quite frankly insane and at times sobering (pulling ropes through a heavily vegetated terrace at a belay offline from the route itself).
ClimbingThe climbing was fantastic with each formation offering slightly different rock. Mostly it’s fairly runout (with the odd exception) but given it was bolted ground-up by hand in a lot of cases you can understand why. Also, as it was bolted in this fashion you tend to get bolts where they’re needed. I didn’t find many additional gear placements barring a few slings on snappy flakes. I think there’s some effort being put in to develop easier routes with more bolts.
I found that the map within Rock Around the World could do with some further explanation to save wasted time (especially as at the end of the wet season the grass was very high.
Sector Initiation and Lemur Wall (Alien and Pectorine)From Tsarasoa, the quickest and most guaranteed route is to walk the roads back to Camp Catta. Skirt Camp Catta to its left (looking towards the routes) and take a track leading uphill from the left-hand side of the camp. On the right a large angular boulder with smaller boulders on top can be seen. A feint sandy path leads off to the left towards Sector Initiation at about 2/3rd height. Alien starts just to the left of a small palm tree.
For Pectorine continue further up the path, passing the tombs (a large boulder with supporting brickwork) and then thrash by eye to the base.
Vatovarindry (Croix du Sud)From Tsarasoa take the obvious path up the valley, keeping the large rock terrace on your right. Keep walking until the path naturally intersects with the river (being careful not to take the left-hand fork to the summit of the Chameleon) at a small dam (for Mtsinjoarivo head right after crossing the river).
When across the river, take the left-hand ridge line directly up to the base of the route. Warning, tall grass can make progress slow.
Tsaranoro Kely (Out of Africa, No Woman No Cry, Bravos les Filles)Take the path out of Tsarasoa, ignoring the path that cuts backwards after approximately five minutes. A more feint path leads over a few small rock bridges and down to the river via terraces. Cross the river directly.
At a vague fork take the left-hand track and turn left at the next t-junction.
When the path splits take the right-hand fork, crossing a stream and then following cairns placed atop boulders throughout the grass. The path leads almost to the base of Kalombony before cutting leftward into trees (continue to a small pool for Col de Nullard), arriving at a slabby apron at the base of the routes. Out of Africa starts further round to the left of the apron (a cairn is nearby). The bolts can clearly be seen arching rightwards across the low angled slab.
Take care not to confuse the start with the nearby No Woman No Cry (bolt just to the left of a small overlap?) and Bravo Les Filles (low bolt within trees?).
The route can be rappelled with care (the need for re-direction on the traversing middle pitches).
Tsaranoro Atisimo (Life in a Fairy Tale, Varavaran Tontolo, La Via de las Rubias)Follow directions as per OoA but take the left-hand fork signed towards Tsaranoro. The obvious track leads (used by many walkers) to the large plateau then the base of the cliff (comfortable bivi spot?). Life… starts with a short pitch to a large rounded diagonal feature. Torontolo starts 15m or so to the left of the large pillar. The majority of the first pitch bolts can be seen.
Chameloeon (Chameleon Air Society)From Tsarasoa walk towards the Chameleon, past the eating area. Continue uphill beyond the flagpole. The path intersects an obvious orange path at a crossroads, turn right. When the orange trail ends, continue up to the base of the cliff by eye. The route starts 5m to the left of an old dry-stone wall. Note, additional bolts (+2 Petzl) have been added to the first pitch. Rock Around the World sells this as a good indication of a team’s ability to climb OoA, I’d disagree with this quite strongly (it’s much easier IMO). Nevertheless, it's a good route and a good introduction to the bolting and rock.
The East face has a newly bolted line called Les Vazahameteurs (FFME Rap). It has significantly more bolts than most other routes:
ToposRumour has it that both Arnaud Petit and a team from La Reunion are each working on a guidebook. For now the Camp Catta topos:
https://www.campcatta.com/topo2.php Tobias Wolf Topos (a few years out of date now?):
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.steinfibel.de/madagascar/Tsaranoro_Valley_Collected_Tops_08_2016.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiAzJ-Twv3gAhUfQxUIHXW8DQUQFjAOegQIAhAB&usg=AOvVaw20RCslFH-qxgVFD7pmTPCa Rock Around the World (select):
http://thierrysouchard.com/en/rock-around-the-world-2/ will need to suffice.
For me RATW has unrealistic approach times (although it does suggest people double the timings for when the grass is long). Plus 50% seemed accurate for us.
MedicalGov advice:
https://www.fitfortravel.nhs.uk/destinations/africa/madagascar Rabies:
I opted for the pre exposure vaccination in the end as I wasn’t convinced that realistically you'd make Fianarantsoa in the time window for Ammoglobulin. After receiving several dog bites to my upper arm (a bit of bad luck) I can confirm that assumption was correct. Furthermore, I couldn't obtain Rabies treatment anywhere other than in Antananarivo (Institut Pasteur). Also, don't get injured on a Sunday as medical treatment isn't forthcoming!
Clinics:
Espace Medical; Dr Henrietta (very friendly and speaks good English):
http://www.espacemedical.mg/Institut Pasteur:
http://www.pasteur.mg/General AdviceThe Bradt travel guide was worth every penny:
https://wordery.com/madagascar-daniel-austin-9781784770488?currency=GBP>rck=b09iTEt3WFNteVdnV1FoeFNXWTlFc3N1TnJTbkdrOTBCNWRiQlR1RThIb1E0ZklMU3FoRDQvZWVTUHdHYVUzMGVEdFNrOFg4U2twQi9uN2YzdDc3b1E9PQ&gclid=Cj0KCQjwjrvpBRC0ARIsAFrFuV_n480Pz_vWTgljg3xRvwzfvT2oleVP9yXyVjuUoxqzhKdyrc9ty6IaAgpyEALw_wcB I’d recommend anyone thinking of visiting buys a copy and reads it before booking anything.
We found a knife recently on a route and it made its way onto the back of my harness; I ended up replacing a large number of belays (cord) as many were badly worn or completely sun bleached.
Gilles, Michel and all the staff at Tsarasoa are lovely and so enthusiastic about the place (and rightly so). Tourism is on the decline in Madagascar and this year climbing numbers are really low.
I’d urge anyone who's keen on this kind of climbing to get right to it as it features highly on my list of top designations!