Madagascar, October 2-19 2011 Trip ReportEscorted by: Cindi LaRaia ... continue from Page One ...
Arriving in Morondava on the coast we stayed at a lovely beach resort, walked the beach of the Mozambique Channel, a lovely respite after the long drive back from the Tsingy, great seafood and lovely accommodations, ahhhhh. We say goodbye to the south and west and flew to Tulear, where our wonderful driver-guide Fano greeted us; we grew very attached to Fano as he was our driver for the next 7nts. After a drive through Tulear, we got some bananas and local fruit called the heart of the Zebu, luscious. We are now headed to Zombitse National Park for the entire day, another dry deciduous forest. This is a good place for more Lemurs and birders. This was a good park we saw birds and lemurs then headed to our destination Isalo (Ronohira). To our divine surprise we stayed at an amazing gorgeous lodge in the middle of yet another unique visually beautiful landscape, which reminded me of our western states, like Wyoming, or Damaraland in Namibia. The resort was stunning with extremely spacious comfortable tents. The lodge was absolutely gorgeous, beautiful pool, restaurant with great food, and wine! We spent 2 nts here, the next day was another very 'sportive trek as we chose to do the longest one again. There are many different treks that can be done depending on the fitness level of the guests. You can easily do 2 full days in this park or more.
Sadly we had to leave this amazing Isalo National park and lovely resort for another long drive day. This is the only way to see this country, you can only fly to certain areas of the country, then you are picked up and long road transfers to get to all the different parks. It is the way it is, there is no other way and nothing has changed in 13 yrs other than the vehicles are nicer!
Stopped for a short visit to the paper factory, very interesting how the locals make paper cards and products, nearby is a small forest Anja private reserve, where you can see the Lemur Cattas as they are well represented here and run by the locals. We are heading to the rainforest now, a completely different landscape yet again, incredible change in weather and temperature. After roasting hot, we are now cold and wet as the wet season arrived a bit early in this area. Again we stayed at the nicest place in the Ranomafana National Park, the accommodation was adequate, a bit basic however the food was good at the restaurant. I quickly learned the rain jacket I brought was really only a wind breaker, we went out for a nocturnal walk in the pouring rain and cold, I was completely soaked to the bone and convulsing from being so cold from the inside out for the rest of the night. We did see all the nocturnal lemurs and some very cool chameleons and 1 very cute small one that are nocturnal also. The next day was a full day trekking in the rainforest to find the elusive 'golden bamboo lemur' this very rare endemic lemur lives only in this forest, and eats only the young leaves of bamboo. The Golden Bamboo Lemur was only discovered in 1986 from a researcher who spent a lot of time researching lemurs in the area. There are 12 species of lemur that live in this very dense premier mid-altitude rainforest reserve. When we woke in the morning our view was stunning with the mist and cloud rolling over the mountain rainforest, reminded us both of the Virunga Mountains in Rwanda and Uganda where the mountain gorilla live!
This was a very magical place and I would hate for anyone wanting to visit Madagascar miss this amazing rainforest. There simply is no other way to see these places other than the 8nt road trip from Tulear to Tana or vice versa.
We loved this place even though we were wet and dirty, our driver Fano says he is used to dirty FaZA in his car, hahahah. Morning departure for 2 long days on the road to get to Andisibe (Perinet) with a night on the way, in a very cute accommodation that had nice rooms with a fire place so we could wash and dry our filthy wet clothes, that was lovely! We visited a woodcarving workshop which specializes in Marquetry. We finally arrive to Perinet/Andisibe and check into our hotel. We went on a night walk for nocturnal lemurs we found a leaf tail gecko, a mouse lemur and those small nocturnal chameleons.
Mantadia National Park is the primary forest here and home to the Golden Sifaka. The Analamazoatra Reserve is opposite and home to the beloved Indri Indri Lemur, the most striking lemur has black and white coloring and exhibits the bewitching call of the rainforest. The loud call is a siren beckoning you deeper and deeper into the depths of the forest. Our morning spent in the primary forest in the rain, slipping and sliding off the path as our guide Edwin found us the stunning beautiful Golden Sifaka, golden arms and black face with white body, very thick and wooly fur. We found a family of 5 with mom and baby in the trees, they jumping up to 7ft to the next tree baby in tow. It is such a beautiful sight to see a new species of the gorgeous large fluffy Sifaka species of lemur. We also found the black faced brown lemur hanging upside down. The secondary forest the Analamazoatra is where we went after lunch to find the elusive, and most appealing furtive lemur of all, the Indri Indiri. Hearing the mystical eerie, surreal call of the Indri deep into the forest, our guide calling to them and they replied in earnest. Deeper and deeper we went, he had us stay while he ran to see if he could find them. In the mean time we found our own golden sifaka, big big bonus with a baby stopping and posing for us!! Still, no Indri Indri. Off we go, we hear them louder and louder and many of them now, he has us tearing thru the forest up higher we go over roots and vines and twisted branches looking and behaving like nooses, me with my big camera & 400mm lens, shoulder bag and 2nd camera in the other hand, slipping and sliding and barley staying upright, grabbing the wrong thorny vine for stability. What a wild ride we are having yet again, and no other VaZa (tourists), only Edwin and Shari and I ahhhhhhhhhhhhh and then we stop. There they are, all around us, mama and baby, females are blacker, males are whiter, females start the calls then the males join. They are declaring their territory to the other nearby group. Getting louder and louder as they surround us, this is beyond amazing and the calls are oh so loud vibrating thru the forest and in our heads. We had a family of mom and baby, a juvenile and many others. They were fighting with different voice and calls and very close to each other,,,,, one group won and the other moved off. We were in the middle of this with them overheads, I only hope my video picked up all this surreal sound or I will be crushed. It is the sound of the Indri that is off the planet, the most unique sound that beckons like a siren. Not to mention they are the largest and most stunning lemur, black and white with only a stub of a tail, where all the other lemurs and sifakas have very long tails. Indri Lemurs Calling This was truly a 5 star day!!! 
Another night spent in Tana, early am flight to Maroantsetra and Masoala National Park in the Masoala peninsula in the northeast part of Madagascar. This is a very unique place and quite 'out there' as we discovered. Due to the flight schedule we had to stay 3nts, our longest place so far. The place we stayed was pretty rough, Chez Arol. We were waitlisted for the nicer camp The Tree Forest Lodge, but everyone wants to stay there and it books up 1 year in advance!!! So we had cold showers and basic accommodations. The food was very good however for the rustic nature of the place! Here the draw is for birders, here you will see the Helmet Vanga as well as the Red Ruffed Lemur a Gorgeous species and also on one of the islands nearby, we saw the black and white ruffed lemur! This is why you come here, they are very beautiful! Our lodge also had a wonderful tree climbing net; you walk up to the platform, get into a zip line harness, and slowly make your way through the canopy of the rainforest to the big net. You lay there and listen to the relaxing sound of the river below and also the call of the Red Ruffed Lemur there is a family that lives near the area there! Lovely! This rainforest is at sea level so it is warm when it rains not cold! However it is wet! We flew back to Tana and stayed at the nicest hotel of the 3 nts we spent there, this is where I will book my guests, and it was divine after 3 rough nights at Chez Arol! Next trip will be to dive again in Nosy be, I dove there with my small group in 1998, it was great! I will be designing a program to offer the main tour that is fantastic, an option to go to the Tsingy and diving or snorkeling in Gorgeous Nosy be! I love Madagascar, it is wild and wooly and wonderful! Madagascar is definitely not for the faint of heart traveler, patience as Fano would say, patience……. -- Cindi LaRaia |
After our long drive back on this trip we made a stop at the Kirindy Forest, a small but very productive reserve where we found our first gorgeous white fluffy sifaka's including one with a baby, they are so amazing how they are able to hold on to mom as she literally flies through the trees. When they are first born they are very small and stay in the front of mom holding fast, as they grow a bit older they are able to hold on to her back. That is one way of telling if they are newborn or a couple of months old. We also saw many brown lemur which live in the west, the females are called red fronted brown lemurs for obvious reasons. We went on our first nocturnal night walk, they have 6 species of nocturnal lemur and we saw all of them, the mouse lemur being the smallest, and several sportive lemurs. 
This was a 5 star day! We saw all 3 lemur types that live in the area and trekked for 8.5 hrs. This is the most visited national park in Madagascar, the most VaZa (tourists). We trekked through the most amazing landscapes for 8.5 hrs, lots of ups and downs, there are 3 pools from natural springs and we chose to trek to them all. Very interesting and the local guides are well versed and knowledgeable. Fano was tremendous in finding us the best local guides for each park we visited who spoke English, as most speak French. More Malagasy are learning English now which is different from our experience 13 yrs ago. Where we had lunch is in a forest area and home to the Lenurs; we saw the Red fronted Brown Lemur, the very charismatic ring tailed lemur, and the most incredible loping bipedal Verreaux's Sifaka, we saw them loping on the ground to the next tree, it was the most amazing visual to see them loping right in front of our eyes, of course I was not fast enough to get a video of this. Seeing that loping was the cherry on top of the hot fudge Sunday for this 5 star day! 
Heading along north east through the ever changing country side, there is more agriculture in the highlands, nicer towns as the local people are able to grow a lot more vegetables and have the Zebu (Madagascar cow) as their trade. The Zebu is the money of the local people, we saw several cattle drives from far south along the same road we drive, where the walk with herds of 50 or more heads of Zebu to sell in Tana markets. It may take up to 2 months to walk the Zebu then another 2 months outside of Tana to feed and fatten up the cattle again for market.
This was a very wet hike with our local guide slipping and sliding off the path having more real Tarzan moments, as now we are in the thick wet forest with vines hanging everywhere slipping down and trying to see through the wet leaves and branches the different Lemur. Our Golden Bamboo Lemur very elusive as of course it is way high up in the canopy since it must eat only the new shoots of bamboo leaves. We have since discovered that Lemurs do not like rain,,,,, well then, now if they do not like rain where are these top dwelling elusive creatures going to go? Our guide took us away from the other VaZa and up up up and away we went, climbing higher and higher through the canopy until we were at the top of an area where low and behold there they were!!! They are ohhhhhhh soooooooo beautiful and glowing golden in the light now as we could see them easily. This was a pure magic moment, to be able to get pictures of them, all alone with our guide, FABULOUS! Makes all the frustrating hours of climbing and slipping and sliding and falling, getting wet and muddy worth it!!! We also saw the lesser golden gray lemur the red bellied lemur. All very endemic to this forest only! We also saw many species of chameleon and mantilla (frogs) Madagascar has gorgeous frogs! 
There is a natural hot bath, nearby to the forest, they have made a swimming pool where the natural hot bath empties into the pool where you can go for a lovely swim while viewing the Ranomafana rainforest mountains thru the Traveler Palm trees. A bit rugged but well worth the visit, they even have a rudimentary massage shack nearby up the hill for a mere 10,000 ariary! (5 USD for about 30 min) I happily went for a massage, in the rain! 
Andisibe National Park- (Perinet)1-800-886-7321 • phone: (415) 444-5100 • fax: (415) 444-5560
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