Trip
to Madagascar -
National Parks (Lemur Reserves) - April 2004 |
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At
this point of the trip we are near the small mining (graphite) town of Andasibe. |
We
stayed at a place called the Vakona Forest Lodge which is near two National Parks.. |
The area had been deforested (slashed), burned, and farmed until the soil was no good. |
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We had a nice little hillside chalet to ourselves. |
This cute? doll was either blessing us ... or warning us! |
They had a nice pool which offered a relief after our walks. This Gecko was by the pool & is supposedly a good luck sign. |
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We hiked in an area which had dams from the farming days. | The
temperate climate allows for simple living shelters. |
We saw
many wild tropical plants that we have at home. |
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We found this particular path blocked by a dozen crocodiles; luckily a gate separated us. | A poorly marked visitor's center had nice crocodile skins and fossilized Elephant Bird eggs. | They also had some Lemur pictures, which is why we came to the parks in this area. |
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Our guide met us for an evening walk; he & the driver were at our disposal during the 2-day stay. | We
were first taken to the Analamazaotra Park (we didn't even try to pronounce the name). |
A big chameleon almost got past the watchful eye of the guide; he said they are brown when cold. |
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This leaf chameleon is actually full grown and not afraid. | These
cute kids came over from the fish farm with a pet. |
Their Parson's Chameleon was the prettiest we had ever seen. |
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The guide drew us to a halt and pointed to a Boa Constrictor. | Jay was only slightly afraid of handling the non-biting snake. | Nicole had never touched a snake, so this was a memory! |
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As night approached the sounds of frogs became very loud. | This chameleon was sleeping in the open, although rolled up. | The guide then pointed to two little eyes, just above center. |
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A cute
little Mouse Lemur came out to greet us. |
He had a pointy nose (sorry about the blurry photo) ... | ... and a mouse-like tail; the species never evolved further. |
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On
this evening's walk we also saw three groups of the Brown Lemurs, two
sleeping Wooly Lemurs, the Mouse Lemur above and a lone Dwarf Lemur; each quite unique! |
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We
had dinner at the lodge, since there weren't any other restaurants
nearby. We spent our free time reading about Lemurs; there are many
more than we ever imagined ... about 40 kinds! These animals were "stranded" on Madagascar and didn't evolve very much over time . They are only found here, as in other parts of the world they either evolved into something else or were destroyed by other animals. To get a text file about Lemurs, click here. |
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The next day we were driven to the
nearby Mantadia Park. The morning was nice but it got cloudy and started to rain; our hopes of finding any Lemurs were diminished. We did find some leeches on us though ... yuk! They looked and acted like inchworms, probably dropping from the trees and then latching on to us. Our guide, who was supposedly the
best available, took us off the normal trail to see |
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Diamed Sifaka!
This type of Lemur has a long tale & a face like a raccoon. |
They
have a yellowish (blonde) fur on the undersides of their arms and legs. |
There
were 6 in this group; they quickly moved out of the area by jumping from tree to tree. |
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Later on we visited a place with semi-wild Lemurs; this is the Black & White Ruffed Lemur. |
Not shy, but an intense stare. |
With soft hands he gently ate a banana from Nicole's hand. |
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He hangs on with hands & feet. |
Their long tail is used for balance and allows them to jump head-first, using their front feet to grab the next tree. |
He was awkward on the ground. |
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At a different section we found the smaller Brown Lemurs. | All Lemurs have large, un-blinking eyes; kind of scary! | The Lemur faces come in all shapes, these had snouts. |
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Nicole offered a treat to one that had a nice bushy tail, but it was too far away to reach. |
Before Nicole knew what happened she had a soft, furry, and very light new friend. |
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As we were leaving the area we saw another Sifaka, like we had seen in the morning. |
He sat like a cute Buddha, warming his belly with the sun. |
He was also hoping a snack might be thrown his way. |
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That
night we saw a Sportive Lemur that wasn't very sporty at letting me take his
picture. We also got to see a sleeping Weasel Lemur and another cute little Mouse Lemur. We also saw a number of very nice birds who didn't want their picture taken. Other sights included Walking Sticks, Frogs, Chameleons, and lots of Spiders. |
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The next morning we returned to
Analamazaotra Park in search of the Indri. This type of Lemur is |
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It wasn't long before we heard the Indri howls; we followed the noise until we found a group. | These
Indri are wild, but were not really afraid of us; no wonder they need to be protected! |
They have no tails and jump standing up, grabbing on to the next tree with all four feet. |
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This one was calm at first and then looked around nervously. |
He then let out a howl that was loud enough to hurt our ears; the noise can travel 4 miles! |
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After
our morning trek we relaxed by the pool before starting the drive back to
Tana.
The drive took 2 hours longer than
normal because of traffic; |
We stayed the night at Monika's and then headed to the North of Madagascar the next morning...
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Return up to the Madagascar page |
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