点评:Andringitra (aka where there are stunted plants) National Park, is where I climbed Chameleon Peak, to see a stunning mosaic of colors and textures in the vast valley below.
The sign at the start of the trail said it would take six hours to complete so that’s what I prepared for mentally, not knowing what was ahead of me. Tonga, my guide was a very young man but knew the plants, animals, and trail very well. The trail is 9.3 km long and you ascend 620 meters. I am not a climber, but a strong hiker (in my late 60’s) and the hike took less than three hours to traverse this near lunar landscape – less than ½ the time posted.
The views from there were stunning and I wished I had the time to climb the famous Pic Boby as well – but alas – the journey had to go on somewhere else. Should I be lucky enough to come back, I’d stay longer to hike Pic Body.
This place felt more like being part of an agricultural village than a national park. Women walking by with colorful dresses and hats, kids with backpacks going to school, boys with nets or buckets going fishing, men working the fields, herders walking their sheep, villagers carrying items they will trade between their two villages: Betsileo and Bara, locals swimming in cool water holes, and zebus roaming where there are no rice fields. There was always some type of activity no matter where I was on these remote trails.
From lush rainforests to sparse high-altitude windy grasslands, it encompasses a variety of ecosystems. This is where I saw the most ringtail lemurs in my travels throughout this wonderful country for over a month. Several plants were in bloom, my guide pointed out small cave like spaces within the rock formations where the herders spend their nights while taking care of their flocks.
I also saw several termite mounds broken open. People harvest the termites to feed their chicks as it is a good source of proteins. The termites can return and fix the mound if the food, humidity, and shelter conditions are still good. People who collect the termites know that and don’t seem to damage the mounds too extensively in hopes the termites return and rebuild them.
When entering the park, we had to stop at an office where you get a guide – they seem to rotate the guides so that everyone has a chance to earn a living. You don’t really get to choose one. When I left for my hike, an additional ‘guide’ suddenly started tagging along offering to carry my backpack. He was quickly rebuffed by my own guide (not the park guide) for doing so and he then disappeared.
I had hoped to meet the man who helped reforest this valley (Gilles Gauthier) but he had just passed away. I was looking at some of the seedlings popping up near the trails to help reforest while teaching the locals about sustainability. Many of the endemic tree seedlings were dead or stunted so I don’t know how many of the over 700,000 seedlings (so I read but can’t confirm) planted will eventually make it. Either way it's a worthwhile endeavor.
Beautiful, though not easy to access, place – not to miss in my books. Enjoy!
翻译:安德林吉特拉国家公园(又称“矮生植物丛生之地”)是我攀登变色龙峰的地方,从峰顶可以俯瞰下方广袤山谷中色彩与纹理交织而成的绝美画卷。
路径起点的指示牌上写着全程需要六小时才能走完,于是我就做好了这样的心理准备,尽管对前路一无所知。我的向导通加是个非常年轻的男子,但对这里的植物、动物以及路线了如指掌。这条路径全长9.3公里,海拔上升高度达620米。我并不是个登山爱好者。不过我是个体力不错的徒步爱好者(60多岁了),这段穿越这片宛如月球表面的地带的行程只花了不到三个小时——还不到官方建议时间的一半。
从那里看到的景色令人惊叹不已,我真希望有时间也能去攀登著名的博比峰——可惜的是,我必须前往别处了。如果运气够好能再来一次,我一定会多待些时间来攀登博比峰。
这里给人的感觉更像是某个农业村落的一部分,而非国家公园。穿着色彩鲜艳的连衣裙、戴着帽子的妇女们漫步而过;背着书包去上学的孩子们;拿着渔网或水桶去钓鱼的男孩们;在田地里劳作的男人们;赶着羊群的牧民;肩负着货物、准备在贝齐莱奥和巴拉两个村庄之间进行交易的村民们;当地人则在清凉的水潭中嬉水;而在没有稻田的地方,水牛们自由地漫步。无论我身处这些偏僻小径的何处,总能看到各种活动正在进行。从茂密的雨林到人烟稀少、风力强劲的高海拔草原,这里涵盖了多种生态系统。在我在这个美丽国度旅行的一个多月里,我就是在这里看到了最多的环尾狐猴。当时有不少植物正在开花;我的向导还指给我看岩石群中那些类似小洞穴的空隙,牧民们就是在那里过夜并照料他们的羊群。
我还看到了好几个被破坏开的白蚁丘。人们采集白蚁来喂养雏鸟,因为白蚁是优质的蛋白质来源。如果食物、湿度和庇护条件依然适宜,白蚁便会重新返回并修复蚁丘。采集白蚁的人明白这一点,因此通常不会过度破坏蚁丘,希望白蚁能重新回来重建家园。
进入公园时,我们必须先在办公室登记并安排向导——他们似乎会轮换向导,好让每个人都有机会谋生。其实你根本没法挑选向导。出发去徒步时,突然有个“额外的向导”跟了上来,还主动提出要帮我背背包。不过他很快就被我的真正向导(并非公园的官方向导)制止了,随后便消失了。
我原本希望能见到那位帮助重建这片山谷植被的人——吉勒斯·戈蒂埃,但他刚刚去世。我看着小径旁冒出来的那些幼苗,它们有助于恢复森林生态,同时我也在向当地人传授可持续发展的理念。很多本地树种的幼苗都死了或者生长迟缓,因此我不确定在种植的70多万株幼苗中(这是我读到的数据,但无法核实)究竟有多少能最终存活下来。不管怎样,这都是一项值得去做的工作。
这是个风景优美但不易抵达的好地方——在我看来绝对不容错过。尽情享受吧!