Madagascar (July 2024)
Calumma oshaughnessyi
Madagascar. The world's fourth largest island situated off the southeastern coast of Africa with over 90% of its wildlife being endemic. Madagascar has already lost most of its original forest, largely due to a traditional slash-and-burn agricultural practice. In addition, almost 70% of its human population is considered to be multidimensionally poor. Even though it’s tormented by a variety of issues, Madagascar is unquestionably one of the most unique places on our planet; it offers fantastic wildlife sightings, from charming lemurs, through prehistoric chameleons, to the most peculiar invertebrates one has seen.
Argema mittrei
ANDASIBE
Our exploration of Malagasy nature began in Andasibe-Mantadia National Park. It’s a 155km² protected area, located around 150 km east of Antananarivo. Since we arrived during the dry season, the temperatures at night dropped even to just 8C and with a relatively high air humidity in the rainforest, our nocturnal walks felt very chilly. Nevertheless, during this trip Andasibe was definitely the best spot for invertebrates (moths were scarce but the arrival of the queen, Argema mittrei, put us in good moods; spiders were out of this world!) and it produced quite a few herp species as well. We visited both the rainforest, where our breakfast was accompanied by loud calls of indris, and more rural areas around the park, where locals ran around like crazy trying to spot chameleons for us, over a few days in total.
Both of us really wanted to see Parson’s chameleons (Calumma parsonii), the largest chameleon species in the world. We encountered Calumma parsonii ssp. parsonii (orange eye and later also yellow lip in Ranomafana) and Calumma parsonii ssp. cristifer. Magnificent creatures!
It was also fantastic to observe Uroplatus spp. in their natural habitat. We used to keep and breed a few species of this special lizard back in Europe and it’s always a pleasure to encounter their wild counterparts. Although, we must admit, spotting these guys requires a well-trained eye; we saw most, if not all, only thanks to a guide who quite clearly walked the trails daily and knew exactly where to look. We’ve never kept Uroplatus phantasticus but it was also interesting to see how they cleverly hide inside or under dry leaves fallen on tree branches and twigs during the day.
Another exciting sighting was the lance-nosed chameleon (Calumma gallus), which literally looks like a Pinocchio that has dipped his nose in a rainbow powder. Both of us spent significant time photographing and admiring this species.
PALMARIUM RESERVE
Palmarium Reserve was our next stop after Andasibe. The 0.5km² Reserve (Ankanin'ny Nofy) on the Canal des Pangalanes is a popular place to see a large variety of lemurs at close range. About a dozen species of lemurs have been introduced there, including the most peculiar aye-aye, which resides on a nearby island accessible by boat.
We also saw some herps, including a tiny Brookesia sp.; really cool Geckolepis maculata that can literally tear away their skin and scales at the slightest sign of danger; Phelsuma spp.; Madagascarophis colubrinus (Madagascan cat-eyed snake); Langaha madagascariensis (Malagasy leaf-nosed snake) and Furcifer pardalis to name a few.
Although the diversity of invertebrates was not as high as in Andasibe, we managed to spot some creepy crawlies along the way as well, including plenty of Asianopis sp.
RANOMAFANA
Ranomafana National Park is a national park in southeastern Madagascar. It was established as Madagascar's fourth national park in 1991 following the rediscovery of the greater bamboo lemur (Hapalemur simus) and the discovery of the golden bamboo lemur (Hapalemur aureus) by the primatologist Dr. Patricia Wright.
The park protects more than 41,600 hectares of tropical rainforest at elevations ranging from 800 to 1,200m and is home to several rare species of plants and animals. It’s integrated into the UNESCO World Heritage Site Rainforests of the Atsinanana.
The park's name is derived from the Malagasy words rano mafana ("hot water") due to the hot springs in the nearby town of Ranomafana [from Wikipedia].
Our biggest mammal targets for this park were the Edward’s sifaka (Propithecus edwardsi) and golden bamboo lemur (Hapalemur aureus), and we saw both; the sighting of Edward’s sifakas was particularly precious, as we got to spend some time with a whole family caring for… twins! Observing them as they tenderly took care of one another and took turns tending to the little ones was a beautiful experience, especially that they let us rest very close to them. It was amazing to watch how affectionate they were towards the other members of their group.
A couple of ring-tailed vontsiras (Galidia elegans) also made their appearance, so we can consider ourselves lucky as apparently it’s not so common to see all these species over just one day. As opposed to the Palmarium Reserve, these animals are completely wild and less habituated to humans. We entered the park with local rangers, one of whom was scouting the park ahead of us in search of animals, letting us know if she found something through a walkie-talkie.
Apart from mammals, we got to see another Uroplatus phantasticus (after a few sightings of this species in Andasibe) and a tiny Brookesia therezieni during the day. At night, Calumma glawi and Calumma fallax chameleons were out in abundance, accompanied by a gorgeous and half ‘frozen’ (it was frigging cold at night as it’s a humid rainforest in dry season!) Uroplatus sameiti. We also saw Calumma parsonii ssp. parsonii (yellow lip) and some other Calumma spp. along the way. Frogs were rather scarce as it was not the best season for them, and suprisingly (the conditions were similar to Andasibe) there were very few inverts too.
ANJA COMMUNITY RESERVE
Anja Community Reserve was our final stop on this trip. It’s a woodland area and a freshwater lake, situated at the base of a large cliff. The reserve is home to the highest concentration of maki, or ring-tailed lemurs, in all of Madagascar, and it was the main reason why we wanted to visit this place.
Furcifer oustaleti
The views were beautiful and watching ring-tailed lemurs in their natural habitat was a great experience.
While travelling between different locations, which in Madagascar sometimes means staying in the car for a whole day, we stopped in a few spots to search for different species, like Furcifer lateralis, Furcifer minor or Calumma crypticum.
Madagascar surely is a very special place and there’s plenty to see there. We’re hoping to return during the rainy season and explore different areas of this magical island, especially that its natural habitats are disappearing as we speak.
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