5 hours and 400m difference in height To enter this region filled with history, we leave Ambalavao and head south, to the rural community of Ambohimahamasina. It’s a 45km ride, but we will need more than three hours round trip to reach our objective. Starting from the center of the upper town, we head down, for an hour and a halftoward the village of Vohimarina Andepo. There, a small number of women have been weaving silk for generations. It used to be wool made out of wild silk but this practice has been lost over time and now it is cotton that is used. However, some craft shops want to come back to this old technique, and they reopened a workshop in Ambalavao, this development is partly funded by the NGO CCD Namana. From there, we have a pretty intense walk throughout the eucalyptus forest and the tall grass in order to reach the primary forest at the roots of the mountain of Anbondrombe. Pierre RAMOMA will be our traditional guide for he is the guardian of the forest. This means his Saotra (gifts for the ancestors) are necessary to the good climbing. For three hours we will walk in the middle of a tropical and humid forest whose sacred essence has kept it preserved from all human activities for millennial. We’ll take breaks of course and take the time necessary to admire the thousands floral beauties endemic to this very mountain, orchids epiphytes, tree ferns, impatiences, etc. the guide will also give you all the expertise of his people on the different properties of each plant for everyday life and pharmaceutical use. After this lesson on the magic of the forest, we’ll continue our ascension to the camping site of Andragnombazaha. We’ll spend the night, in the absolute silence of the forest.