Day 5: massif of Itremo

After a rather difficult night spent under cloudbursts, it is a beautiful day which begins.
Here is the landscape we see when we get out of our tents...

We are going to spend the day to make a big tour, with as center our camp

 

We begin with the summit of this mountain, a big granitic outcrop.
 

Some examples of flora and local fauna met along the way:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By lifting a big stone, I come face to face with a scorpion, with all its "babies" on the back.
Next night I will Watch carefully my sleeping bag!!
It is not really dangerous, but its sting is very painful.

 

Dice the first meters, we cross " a field " of Angraecum protensum that we had seen the day before, just before the thunderstorm.

It is the full period of blooming for this species in Itermo and hundreds of flowers bloom all around.

By approaching the summit at the altitude of 1700m, we meet the first Angraecum magdalenae unfortunately with no more flower, but also Angraecum sororium with still some last flowers.

 
Angraecum magdalenae
 

 
Angraecum sororium

 

 

 

Arrived at the summit, our base camp seems to us very far, hardly distinguishable by one of our tents thanks to its red color and by a light smoke.

We discover terrestrial orchids too, as for example Cynorkis uniflora and Benthamia cinnabarina

  

Satyrium amoenum and Satyrium rotsratum

 

Sometimes, in very wet places, we found some carnivorous plants (D.madagascariensis, D.ramentacea, D.humbertii)

The landscapes are so beautiful all around us.
At the bottom of valleys we sometimes discover forests which follow small streams.

These forests are very narrow, but often rich in orchids.

We find Aerangis ellisii, Aeranthes ramosa, Aeranthes strangulata, Bulbophyllum sambiranense, Angraecopis parviflora, etc...

 

Aeranthes strangulata and Aerangis ellisii

After a few hours of walking, we find ourselves on the other side of our camp, but the "loop" is not finished yet... 

 

 

As every day, around 3pm or 4 pm, the sky becomes dark and the rain begins to fall.
It is not a thunderstorm for the moment, but we prefer to hurry up.
Our camp is just at the top of this waterfall...
The last ascent and after we can relax our legs a little.

 

A beautiful rainbow welcomes us upon our arrival to the camp

It is time to prepare the diner and to go in our sleeping bag for our last night in Itremo.