Trip to Madagascar - National Parks (Lemur Reserves) - April 2004
(click any picture to get enlargement in a new window)

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.

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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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! 
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.
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.
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!
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. 
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
some Bamboo Lemurs.  He then lived up to his reputation by finding the elusive ...
 

... 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.

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.

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.
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.

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. 

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.
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.

 The next morning we returned to Analamazaotra Park in search of the Indri.  This type of Lemur is
 not found in any zoo, as it does not survive in captivity.  This animal lives in groups less than ten
 and they live in large distinct territories.  They actively roam their territory and let out unbelievably
loud howling noises to let the other groups know that they are protecting their area. 
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.

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!
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;  
a truck lost it's container on a 
big hill and it ended up backing up the traffic for a long way.

  

We stayed the night at Monika's and then headed to the North of Madagascar the next morning...

 


Continue to the Nosy Iranja (secluded island) Page  

Return up to the Madagascar page