Before getting into the day’s hike, a few words about camp life. We were now spending our nights right inside Isalo National Park, and the facilities turned out to be better than expected. There were proper toilets and even showers – admittedly cold ones, but still. A small kitchen had been set up, and the camp crew treated us to some excellent food for all meals.
The first evening also turned into a little Rhum Arrangé tasting session. Ginger remains the clear winner, although the peach version was surprisingly good as well. The night itself, however, was a different story. The sleeping mat provided very little support, and it felt pretty much like sleeping directly on a concrete platform.
After breakfast, we set off for our first full day of trekking in Isalo National Park. The trail took us steadily uphill towards the plateau, with several viewpoints along the way offering spectacular views across the valley and far beyond the park. The landscape here is quite remarkable: Isalo is essentially a massive sandstone formation, with rocks dating back some 200 million years. Originally deposited as layers of sediment, the sandstone has since been shaped by millions of years of erosion. Water and wind have carved the plateau into the cliffs, canyons and bizarre rock formations that make this place so distinctive.
Much of the hike was out in the open, with little shade and the sun beating down on us at around 35°C. So when we finally reached the Piscine Naturelle around midday, a natural pool beneath a small waterfall, it was a very welcome sight. We took a break of about an hour, enjoying the cool water and a chance to escape the heat for a while.
Afterwards, we continued along the trail towards another camping spot, where a late lunch was waiting for us. A hearty pasta salad and a super-tasty beetroot salad – simple fare, but very welcome after several hours on the trail.
Refuelled, we continued past more viewpoints and a number of traditional Bara burial sites. The Bara people have a long-standing tradition of placing their dead in natural caves and crevices in the sandstone cliffs, often in locations that are difficult to access. Bara funeral customs can involve several stages, including an initial burial, later gatherings and, in some cases, the reburial of ancestral remains. Such sites are a reminder that the Isalo landscape is not just a spectacular natural environment, but also a place of considerable cultural and spiritual significance.
Eventually, we reached another exit from the national park, where our bus was waiting to take us back to camp. A well-deserved cold shower, a final round of Rhum Arrangé and an excellent dinner brought the day to a close – and after a busy day the sleeping mat felt so much softer. A hard day’s night, indeed!
