Capturing the Essence of the Andregna Waterfalls

By Safina Center Junior Fellow Alain Rasolo

It’s a gloomy December afternoon. I’ve been planning to take my sketch book to Andregna, but the rain threatening in the distance makes me rethink taking my sketch book to the waterfalls. “Maybe I should wait for a shinier day to go,” I think to myself.  “But if I want to capture the essence of a rainforest, isn’t it better with the rain?” So, I pick up an umbrella and start walking.

Rasolo sketches the waterfalls as the sun peaks out above the canopy. ©Alain Rasolo.

Andregna and its surrounding forest is about a 30-minute walk from my home, which is near the park entrance. The walk takes me through the village of Ambatolahy, past green rice paddies, then finally into the primary forest. The trees seem to take their role of protecting the waterfalls very earnestly as they lead me down a steep and slippery track, slowly divulge a faint burbling sound, and at last reveal two spectacular cascades. I unpack my watercolour tools, fill up the cup from the pool at the base of one of the falls, and start painting.

While I paint, the sun strains to push past the canopy. After a while, more and more frogs peep through the humming of the water. What are they saying? They speak a language that is foreign and yet seems to need no translation. As the chorus gets louder, I must put up my umbrella to shelter my painting as the raindrops, tapping leaves as they fall, finally join the orchestra.

Rasolo’s completed watercolor painting. On the left, he’s included a Nelicourvi weaver nest, and on the right a sketch of the Mantydactylus frog mimicking dead leaves and rock textures. ©Alain Rasolo.

The painting is an expression of my amazement of the overwhelming beauty of Andregna, its trees and its ferns, the way the water sprinkles their leaves, the Nelicourvi weaver nest waiting for a new life to hatch, the Mantydactylus frog mimicking dead leaves and rock textures. The beauty of Andregna reveals itself to me in a rainforest epiphany, simultaneously putting me in a dreamlike state of sensory bliss. Its charm is infinite, but it could come to an end if it’s not valued enough. Thankfully, it is now part of a recent initiative to manage and protect some the forest outside of Ranomafana National Park. It is reassuring to know that the villagers themselves value Andregna. This care protects the waterfalls and all the life they support, but also the less tangible elements of this place, the unique symphony of frog song mixing with the steady hum of the water, its charm, this dreamlike state it’s cast over me.