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This report is more of a narrative than some of my others. It should hopefully provide some useful info for people planning to go, which I highly recommend. Madagascar is a magical place that all naturalists should visit..... This trip was not exclusively a birding trip, we wanted to see as many mammal and bird species as possible as well as get a feeling for the country and its people. Consequently, our bird list was not as high as it could have been, on the other hand we saw a total of 28 species of mammal and lots of other brilliant things. Madagascar is truly one of the most amazing places on earth, both from the point of view of the naturalist and the anthropologist. Nearly all the mammals are endemic to the island as are a large proportion of the birds, reptiles and plants, including a few endemic families. Madagascar is a very poor country. The majority of the population live at subsistence level surviving by farming and selling produce. There are very few roads in the whole country so getting around can be difficult. Initially we planned to be self-sufficient and travel on our own as we usually do. However, after doing a bit of reading I realised we would have to book some flights before departure as we only had three weeks and the flights are often full. I found it impossible to book the flights from here so I faxed the government tourism organisation Madagascar Airtours. They booked our flights, arranged car transport and organised a guide for us. This all cost money of course and it is cheaper to do it on your own but with our total inability to speak French and limited time, in retrospect it was the right decision.
PLACES & TIME LINE: Monday 8th August Arrive in Antananarivo, Madagascar from Mauritius on Madagascar Airlines (aka MadAir), meet our guide, Gerard, drive to the Solimotel through ‘mediaeval’ Tana. What an amazing place! It feels like we’ve stepped back in time. As we drive through the streets at about 9pm we notice that there are almost no electric lights. The roadside shops, which are nothing more than shacks, are all light by coal braziers (coal is still the main fuel used in Madagascar). This gives the whole city an unworldly atmosphere, the meat shops make a particularly strong impression on me. Tuesday 9th August We are woken by the sounds of horse-drawn carriages, I was not expecting this to be the main form of transport! Drive from Antananarivo to Ranomafana to the south. I am impressed at the care with which people seem to drive. There aren’t many cars on the road and not only do they drive carefully but they treat their cars with kid gloves - apparently spare parts are hard to get. We have lunch in a town called Ambositra. The countryside of the Fianarantsoa area is very degraded. There are few areas of the original forest left and erosion is obviously a big problem, the rivers really do run red. Small patches of forest remain here and there which the local Betsiloa people leave intact for reasons that are apparently unknown. Along the way we added some birds to our list, these included Madagascar Kestrel, Pied Crow, Hamerkop, Black Kite and Cattle Egret. The joy of arriving in a new place where even the common birds are new and exciting is one of the best things about travelling, I think to myself. Wednesday 10th to Sunday 14th August Camp in Ranomafana National Park
Ranamofana is a national park situated in the south-eastern section of the island. We arrive in the forest after dark and pause to have a look for mouse lemurs - and there it is - our first lemur! A tiny Red Mouse Lemur Microcebus rufus! Very cute and to my Australian eyes, reminiscent of a small possum. The night was spent in a tent pitched behind the Hotel de Thermes, which remained unseen until the next morning when we were able to view its splendours. A fabulous old French creation it has become a bit run down over the years but the cyclones last year spelled the end, I think. Apparently it was submerged under flood waters for a couple of weeks and basically just went mouldy, never managing to dry out again. After a cold shower and a leisurely breakfast (through no fault of our own) we did a bit of birding in the grounds - Madagascar Wagtail, African Palm Swift, Diademid Kingfisher and Ward’s Flycatcher-shrike. A short drive from the town of Ranamofana and we’re at the park. A few kilometres of walking through rainforest checking out gorgeous waterfalls and we spy our first diurnal lemurs - the inquisitive White-bellied Lemurs Lemur rubriventer. It’s fairly obvious by now that we are dealing with a higher intelligence than our superficially similar possums (no offence intended). We set up our tent while Gerard our guide who has come with us from Tana sets up his and the two girls we hired in Ranamofana start cooking lunch. Gerard is a Malagasy who lives in Tana. He belongs to the xxx tribe which is the highest ‘caste’ of the twelve Malagasy tribes. He speaks three languages and is a fanatic and excellent birder. While feasting on delicious, still fresh (but not for much longer) French bread we get to know the locals who just happen to be incredibly cute Ring-tailed Mongooses (geese?) Galidia elegans. They have come to feast on the left-overs in a can of tuna. Later with the help of a local boy and very good local naturalist, Jean-Kely, we find a group of six Diademid Sifaka Propithicus diadema. Wow! That night we spotlight more Mouse Lemurs, a Fossa Fossana fossa (not to be confused with the totally different Fossa Chrysoprocta ferox), a Collared Nightjar and feral dogs (yuck). The next day we spy all sorts of goodies including Crossley’s Babbler, Blue Coua, Hook-billed Vanga and Pitta-like Ground-roller. Also Bamboo Lemur Hapalemur griseus and our first chameleon, which just happened to be in the vanga’s bill. That night we hear an Avahi calling but can’t find it. And on the third day in this really special place more excellent things are seen - Yellow-browed Oxylabes, Madagascar Buzzard, Wattled Asity and Red-fronted Coua. More great mammals, too. A Sportive Lemur sunning itself at the entrance to its nest hole (incidentally this is where we saw the buzzard because it tried to make a meal of the lemur!) On our last day we find Tylas Vanga and Malagasy Scops Owl (rufous phase) before enjoying a bath in the Cascade Rien. Back at Ranamofana village that afternoon we found out where the Thermes part of the hotel comes from - the natural springs around the corner. I can’t describe the pleasure of sitting in those volcanic waters for about an hour even if we were the local joke for about the next three days - "How can people be so hideously white?". Sunday 14th August Drive from Ranomafana to Antsirabe (341 km), a fair hike with not much new to look at. We stay in a great hotel where finding our very comfortable room through the convoluted corridors is a real challenge. Antsirabe is a small, very attractive town with a distinctly French feel about it. One of the most pleasant surprises of Madagascar so far is the delicious food. Maybe it’s the total absence of chemical-use in agriculture but the veggies have a flavour that is hard to describe. The blend of French, Chinese and Malagasy influences is also delightfully refreshing. Monday 15th August Drive from Atsirabe to Morondava on the central west coast over the central plateau (494 km). This is a real eye opener, the hills have been almost completely denuded. Here and there we encounter grass fires set by the local tribes to encourage regrowth so they can feed there cattle. Above the fires huge numbers of Black Kites circle in search of food. Tiny pockets of trees (the word forest would be inappropriate here) remain only in the deepest gullies. Even so the scenery is somehow still spectacular. Imagine what it used to be like…On the other side of the plateau the climate and vegetation change completely. It is dry and the vegetation is scrubby interspersed with acacias and fan palms with the occasional breathtaking valley of pines. The birdlife changes, too. Namaqua Doves are common here but the White-headed Vanga and Madagascar Harrier-hawk on the ground were special treats. The road is incredibly bad! Even for Australians who are used to pretty bad roads in the more remote areas, this road was pretty bad… There are a total of about three major roads in Madagascar consequently most long-distance travel is done by air, but to be honest this can also be a bit unnerving. Tuesday 16th August After a morning walk around Morondava, with shops full of lambas (Malagasy all-purpose sarongs), plastic utensils and other necessities and a great outdoor market, we drive to Kirindy Forest Reserve near Marofandilia through the baobab forest(100 km). Now I’m really gobsmacked, I’ve definitely never seen anything like this before! We are surrounded by a sea of the most massive trees I’ve ever seen. The local people clear the land for agriculture, leaving only the baobabs behind. They believe that the baobab was the first tree the gods created, as a result they were a bit inexperienced and mistakenly planted them in the ground upside-down. Brilliant! Madagascar is full of such beliefs and superstitions - some good for the environment, others not so beneficial. The baobabs here are interspersed with low scrub and marshes full of water lilies. When we arrive at Kirindy, a reserve set aside for forestry research, we begin to appreciate that the baobabs really belong in forest proper with a dense middle and upper storey of numerous species. In amongst all this we spy a group of Verreaux’s Sifaka. That night we spotlight Grey Mouse Lemur, Lepilemur rubriventer and two Fork-marked Lemurs Phaner furcifer in a very large baobab. Wednesday 17th to Friday 19th August
Our camp at Kirindy Forest Reserve is fabulous, a few Malagasy forest workers live here and help us out with pumping water for our showers in the newly built cubicles. Our tents are pitched inside a basic wooden lean-to. The only problem is the +40o heat and the sticky flies - but we can cope, we are Aussies after all! Judging by the visitors book we’re shown by the forest workers some of the European visitors had less success in staving off madness…The obnoxious German tourists who bowled up in their flash 4WD, ordered their driver rather rudely to get them a cold beer (from the fridge in the back) then drove off, obviously didn’t even think it was worth looking at the place. Beats me! Over the next couple of days we have some memorable experiences with wildlife. A Fossa C. ferox chases a chook past our tent whilst being pursued by the camp dogs. Wow! We spotlight an at-that-time undescribed species of Mouse Lemur, have close encounters with a variety of chameleons, trap a Giant Jumping Rat, and see lots of great featheries like Rufous Vanga, White-breasted Mesite, Green Sunbird, Crested Coua, &c, &c. Friday 19th August Before setting out on the drive from Marofandilia to Morondava, we drop into nearby Borobaka Lake. It is very dry but there is water in a couple of spots along with a big flock of Greater Flamingo Another exciting experience especially when they fly. Flashes of bright pink. Madagascar Sand Grouse and Madagascar Plover also draw reactions that only birders can understand. Saturday 20th August Fly from Morondava to Tana. Sunday 21st August Fly from Tana to Taolanaro (Fort Dauphin) in the deep south on MadAir (terrifying!). Taolanaro is a depressingly dirty, very poor town with lots of beggars, mostly kids. We get the feeling that Monsieur de Haulme, the local land baron, owns everything (including Berenty where he insists that the paths are swept everyday!) but doesn’t put much back into the economy. Monday 22nd August Drive from Taolanaro to Berenty Forest Reserve (90 km). We are without Gerard here because the tourism infrastructure makes travel and communication easy. Another surprising thing about Madagascar is that no-one understands English, if you are foreign you speak French. If you don’t understand there is obviously something very wrong with you-like brain damage or something… Along the way we stop at a small reserve devoted to the Pitcher Plant. This is more exciting than you may think-outside of Australasia there is one species only of Nepenthes and this is it. This species is endemic to Mad and is a clue to the origin of Madagascar’s flora and fauna. From here we enter the Didiereaceae forest-yet another sublime experience. And I thought the baobab forest was weird…this is like a scene out Star Trek!
We arrive at Berenty Reserve and find it rather touristy compared to where we’ve been so far, but hey the Ring-tailed Lemurs are great and the terrified tourist being mobbed by them because he thought he was above the "Don’t Feed the Lemurs" sign makes our day… We are told that they’ve stuffed up our booking so we’ll have to spend the night in one of the worker’s huts which is fine with us until that night when we find it is a breeding ground for huge, vicious mozzies. We are eaten alive! Actually, I almost choked to death on mosquito coil fumes. In this case the cure was far worse than the pestilence. But not to worry, there’s too much to do - like look for Giant Coua, Sickle-billed Vanga, White-browed Owl, Frances’s Sparrowhawk and lots more. Tuesday 23rd to Thursday 25th August The next night we move to a much more comfortable cabin, you’ll be relieved to know. The next couple of days are spent exploring Berenty and surrounds. This area of gallery forest is the last such habitat left in southern Madagascar, by all accounts it is not being managed very well, though. The sweeping is causing the paths to turn into rivers as soon as it rains and Monsieur H. doesn’t like any of that low, bushy stuff that birds like so much so, of course, he has it removed. Further afield the Didieraceae forest is inhabited by Verreux’s Sifaka and Hook-billed Vangas amongst other things. The sifaka jump between the Didieraceae seemingly oblivious to the rows of long thorns that are totally unavoidable. The interesting thing is that their hands and feet, far from being tough and hard are extremely soft, it’s believed that this how they avoid hurting themselves. In the compound there is a display of some of the local plants, one in particular I take a fancy to - the evocatively named Pachypodium looking for all the world like, as you would expect, a small elephant’s foot! Friday 26th August Fly back to Tana where we meet Gerard again, then on to Perinet by car. Perinet is the most famous reserve in Madagascar mainly thanks to the Indri. There used to be a rail line from Tana but that was destroyed in the cyclone last year, which is disappointing. The drive makes up for it, though, the scenery is fabulous with the added bonus of a pit stop at a herp and insect breeding farm. This is to cater to the pet trade in Europe and allows the local people to gain some income from their local fauna. A great chance to eyeball some of the harder to find things such as the largest chameleon-Parson’s and the smallest-Tsingy (found in the tsingy or limestone caste country further north), giant hissing cockroaches and tomato frogs. Saturday 27th to Sunday 28th August
Stay at a new hotel in Perinet called Feo’ny Ala - no electricity or hot water. Great food, great place! We can sit on the veranda overlooking the river and watch the birds and lemurs come in to drink. In the early morning we go looking for Indri which are not hard to find. They are quite habituated to humans, totally ignoring us. They are like a cross between a Panda and a Koala with a voice like a whale! With the help of a local guide we find a group of four sleeping Avahi. All this excitement is hard to take! The birds are also excellent, of course - Red-tailed Vanga, Blue Vanga, Spectacled Greenbul, Nuthatch Vanga (very happy about this one). Sunday 28th August Drive from Perinet to Tana then on a plane to Tamatave in the north-west Tamatave is a rather unremarkable port town, the second largest in Madagascar. Our hotel is rather pleasant, though, with a very French atmosphere and old worldy formal dining area. Monday 29th August We fly from Tamatave to Mananara in a twin otter. Mananara is obviously not accustomed to foreign visitors. Stuart and I decide to take a walk, no sooner do we turn the corner than the gendarmes stop us. Scary! We don’t speak French (well Stuart knows how to ask the time…) and they think English is the language of Martians. We manage to not get arrested though and it dawns on us that they want us to take our passports to the station later. So with Gerard in tow we pay them a visit. I think this has made their day! Lots of smiling and hand shaking. All in all a memorable and pleasant experience in the end. Tuesday 30th August to Thursday 1st September A taxi-brousse (this is a fancy name for a dilapidated, overcrowded, dangerous pick-up truck) takes us to an even smaller village called Sandrakatsy. They have the best names in Madagascar! From here we trek into the village of Varary. Three hours of walking through knee deep, very sticky mud. We are put up in a hut three nights and the kids all come out to gawk and laugh at us. No doubt we deserved it…
The village is still a very long way from the Biosphere Reserve so we set out early Wednesday AM. We wade through creeks and walk through banana and ginger plantations before arriving in very impressive primary rainforest. We search high and low for Ruffed Lemurs and Helmet Vanga without success, we do see a fabulous male Velvet Asity and Cuckoo Rollers though. We calculate a hike of 35 km….I’m stuffed. Next day it’s back to Sandrakatsy where we try to catch another taxi-brousse, one isn’t due for about three hours so we decide to walk down the road a bit in order to catch it on the way up. That way we’ll be sure of getting on it before it fills up. When it does eventually arrive we are awarded the front seat because as foreigners we are obviously far too delicate to sit in the back. We share the single seat with a young woman and her baby and lots of luggage. This taxi-brousse is rather delicate so every half a kilometre or so it stops, we all get out (all 50 or so of us) and the mechanic extracts himself and his mallet from the back and he fixes it with a swift bash of the hammer. Life is sweet! That night we go in search of the almost mythical Aye-aye. A local lady will take you over to her island in the middle of the Mananara River and spotlight for them. There is a population of about a dozen apparently. We soon find a pair and watch them for an hour or so. They live quite happily in coconut plantations and we watch them gnaw on some , stick their long fingers in and extract a lovely feed of coconut meat. On the return trip across the river in a parogue the full moon is out and a group of young people are singing in four bit harmonies. Altogether one of the most memorable experiences of my life. Friday 2nd September This morning we leave our delightful hotel - Chez Roger and the dancing roof rats and fly back to Tamatave. It turns out our pilot is an eccentric French man with a fetish for filming whales from the plane. I wish somebody had told me this before he made a bee line for the sea below us….I forgave him when the Humpback Whale breached spectacularly below us three times. In Tamatave we pay a visit to a small zoo run by the Jersey Trust that breeds a number of species of lemur. Saturday 3rd September Fly from Tamatave to Tana then back to Perinet by road because we liked it so much. Stayed in the same place on the river. Sunday 4th September Wake up early to find it raining. Bloody cheek, on our last day too. It lifts at about 11 and we set off on a long walk, immediately encountering another group of Indri yawning and singing and leaping about. I feel sorry for non-naturalists. In the evening after another memorable meal we go spotlighting. I’ve been harping on about Tenrecs since we arrived in Madagascar, Gerard keeps telling me they’re hibernating but he’s trying hard for me and Lala, a local naturalist, finds one for us, a black and yellow striped Hemicentetes spinosis. These critters produce an ultrasonic sound from their spines that can be heard by other tenrecs from 4 to 5 metres away. It’s thought that it is mainly used to allow the mother to stay in contact with her young. Brilliant! Monday 5th September Drive from Perinet to Tana, PM fly to Mauritius. When can I go back? Not soon enough……
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MADAGASCAR September 1994
