Andisabe NP and Lemur Island

Nirina, our local guide and lemur expert.

A grey bamboo lemur.

The Indri.

Common brown lemurs.

A Diademed sifaka.

The black and white ruffed sifaka.

The rufus brown lemur.

The common brown with a baby.

The eastern bamboo lemur.

The very acrobatic sifaka.

The elusive fosa.

Wednesday, November 15^th.

After breakfast this morning we had a short drive to the restaurant we are to have lunch after our visit to Andasibe NP. Patrick likes to pre-order our meal so that we spend less time hanging around the restaurant waiting for our food, That way we will also get a jump on any other tourists going to the Lemur Island Park which he says can get crowded. So we placed our order and then headed on to the national park. This park is home to the largest of the remaining lemur species, the Indri, which is a black and white lemur about a metre tall. There used to be larger lemurs, including one about the size of a human, but they are extinct.

We had a great local guide, named Nirina, who has worked at this park for along time and has worked with a British lemur expert who is trying to protect the remaining pockets of this and other species. We spent about four hours trekking through the rainforest looking for lemurs and other animals. We found two grey gentle bamboo lemurs, but they were high up and concealed by the leaves. Then we had a good view of a common brown lemur family and a couple of woolly lemurs. And then the prize, the first of two sightings of families of Indri.We heard them before we saw them. They make very loud noises to announce their presence to our families and to mark territory. It is apparently one of the loudest sounds of any animal. I got some of it recorded on the camera as I walked through the forest. They are hard to photograph as they are in the canopy and the lighting isn't the best, but it was great to see them. Then we found a family of the beautiful white and orange coloured Diademed Sifaka. Our guide also showed us a lot of the native trees and medicinal plants that can cure anything from tummy problems to prostate cancer. Right at the exit we saw a large Madagascar boa curled up and warming in the sun.

Then we went back to the restaurant for an excellent lunch. After lunch we got the jump on the rest and arrived at the Lemur Island before them. This was an amazing place. We had to take a canoe from the 'mainland' to the island, all of about twenty metres, but since lemurs can't swim it's enough to keep them on the island and in that way they are caged in only by water. Some of these lemurs were pets or injured and relocated here. Therefore they are very used to people and will happily jump on your shoulder or your head. It was amazing to see them this close (after craning your neck in the bush) and they were incredibly cute and soft. There were four types: an eastern bamboo lemur, the black and white ruffed sifaka, the common brown lemur and rufus brown lemur. We stayed there with them for about an hour.

Then we got in the van and continued to the Vakona Reserve. This is a croc farm and small 'zoo'. The place was created by a Frenchman thirty years ago and includes a remote jungle hotel and the Lemur Island. At the croc farm we saw about thirty large crocodiles, a variety of chameleons (and watched them eat grasshoppers again), some water fowl, geckos, lizards and the elusive fosa. The fosa is the largest carnivore on the island and the main predator of the lemurs. It is a large member of the mongoose family and can climb trees very well. It was great to see it, even if it was caged.

Then we came back to the hotel for a couple of hours of R'n'R. At six most of us met at the van again and set off for the night walk. We drove back to the park and met our guide Nirina, again and spent an hour walking down the road in the dark. We saw a few chameleons, a couple of common brown lemurs and a mouse lemur. I didn't bother taking any photos as I had seen enough today. I just enjoyed walking down the road ahead of the group and listening to the sounds of the frogs, insects and night birds as I walked along in the light rain. Very enjoyable.

Then back for dinner and the usual social before bed.