Last year (during our boring year of no travel as we claim…), we visited the Grand Canyon.  Both had been before, but never together so we spent a long weekend around Arizona and did some hikes and some poorly thought out climbs for photo ops along the South Rim and Grand Canyon West. [Ed. note: they were not poorly thought out.  They were calculated risks, knowing that one false step would end my life. I have an entire book about it to help understand the risks! I was careful!]  It was completely beautiful and reminded us both of what a desert canyon is all about…

When we arrived at Isalo National Park very early this morning to combat the desert heat, I was ready. It had been almost one year exactly since my last walk along a canyon rim so finally I knew what to expect of the day and the surroundings in Madagascar.  We were even told it would be a non-lemur day since they live deep in the canyon, not on top.  [Ed. note: I did agree to another non-lemur day of hiking.  Gotta mix it up at bit. But not too much – lemurs are important.] It was going to be just like last year minus the bus tours from Vegas Casinos, so all the better!

Spoiler alert: it was not just like last year…

First, we started from below and hiked up to the top.  Tomorrow, I’ll get more into the lies about inside the canyon floor, but suffice to say that at the Grand Canyon you can drive and park along each view point and walk a relatively flat path to your photo spot. We all know at this point that I love some flat walking, but every trip without fail involves uphill…both ways…(and occasionally in the snow, but only in Antarctica and thankfully never since!)  The steep uphill trek was thankfully dry verses the rainforests of last week, but it was also unshaded by those towering bamboo shoots we had come to both love and hate. [Ed. note: No shade. We’re pale. It was toasty.]

Since we were not going to see the funny lemurs, our guide took his time to find other friends for us to ooh and ahh about…but as we learned with dear Morris, the Boy’s mentality in Madagascar was “lemurs or bust”.   Ok, new tactic.  If we didn’t want to photograph the birds and the bugs, we couldn’t stand too long in the unshaded heat and admire the view (which was farmland and not colorful crevasses as far as the eye could see). [Ed. note: There were some spectacular views across the mesas…]  I really wanted to be engaged in this hike, however the words canyon rim set me up for some grander expectations…

And then the Boy’s newly discovered super skill appeared again-he spotted lemurs!  Be it pouring rain, pitch black, or in the area they aren’t even supposed to live, somehow the Boy manages to spot lemurs no matter what the obstacle!  [Ed. note: Oh yeah. That’s right.] Finally the hike was looking up.   We had our first encounter with the ringtail lemurs!

A family of six were grazing along the side of  a cliff face just past beyond us.  They were playful, jumping on the rocks, leaping through the grass, doing almost everything we expected the ring tailed lemurs to do EXCEPT wear grass skirts and serenade us with “I like to move it, move it…” but that was a long shot anyway.

The day was redeemed, our hike had excitement, we didn’t have to go another whole day sans lemur (which had been a point of depression for the Boy [Ed. note: only slightly…]). Our guide even let me pounce through the grass after the lemurs to grab some photo ops…which in hindsight seems like a terrible idea trekking willy nilly through tall wild grass as the mention of snakes was a daily occurrence…but look: