Ranomafana, Madagascar
August 19, 2015
Lovely spot here on a hillside overlooking the forest and situated in a well kept garden. We all had individual huts which were spacious and comfortable. The beds were equipped with mosquito nets. The dining area had an outdoor deck from which we could look down on the road winding into the nearby village. Here at last we had a glimpse of the lush, green Madagascar we had expected.
The morning was spent walking in the forest, looking for Lemurs of which we found five species. However, on first entering the forest we were shown a Satanic Leaf-tail Gecko on the trunk of a tree next to our path. His camouflage was so good, that even when we looked straight at him, it took us a while to separate him from the leaf-litter around about and had to have his eyes, limbs and tail pointed out to us. In fact, some people, including Joy didn’t distinguish his features until careful study of her photographs later.
The first Lemur we found was the Golden Bamboo Lemur. Difficult to spot and Austin only glimpsed the end of a tail, though Joy did obtain a good photo. Photography was difficult due to low light created by the dense canopy. An additional problem was that our group was joined by others and some crashed through the bush trying to get a look and of course frightened the animals away. At the same site, a small group of Milne Edwards Sifaka were spotted and again there was a general rush to see and photograph the same. These largest of the local Lemurs are black and white and performed extremely agile leaps from tree top to tree top. At one point we came out to a viewing platform, providing magnificent vistas over the surrounding forest. Here we were amused for a while by a small, bright green Madagascar Day Gecko with brownish-red spots and bright blue tail, sliding around the posts and beams of the platform.
Wandering on for a while, Robyn tripped and landed on the muddy stoney path. As we stopped to pick her up, we realised that a few Red-fronted Brown Lemurs were just overhead. After oohing and aahing and photographs, we moved on to find a pair of Red-bellied Bamboo Lemurs eating wild oranges and then again moved on to find two sleepy Giant Bamboo Lemurs high in the bamboo forest. A great introduction to the Lemur family.
Before we came to Madagascar, we didn’t realise that Lemur habitat is extremely restricted due to a long history of logging and forest destruction for charcoal production – the main household fuel. Today, reserves for Lemurs and other wildlife consist of small remnant pockets scattered across the island. Ranomafana is one of the largest reserves at 41,600 ha (161 sq miles) of tropical rainforests and is part of the World Heritage site, ‘Rainforests of the Atsinanana’. Adjacent the Park is the Centre ValBio Research Station, managed by Stonybrook University, where much study is undertaken of these endangered animals.
The afternoon was a rest time before a short tour of the local village with its chickens, dogs, shops and kids. A number of us bought bone earrings from one of the small roadside shops. Crossing the river on a winding, rickety bridge (with the remains of previous flood-washed away bridges around us) we walked around to the hot springs area. Here there was a large fenced-off swimming pool for paying clientele. However, it was good to see that there was also another smaller hot springs fed pool free to be used by local children and their families. On the way back through the village, we visited a women’s weaving cooperative, where a number of ladies bought colourful and finely-textured silk scarves and wraps. We watched the shy but friendly women at their skilful work.
A night walk along the road before dinner was a highlight of our stay. We found (strictly our guides found) two Rufous Mouse Lemurs with their big bright eyes (when they weren’t having a quick snooze), in the scrub along the roadside. The guides paint some sugar mixture on trees which attract these delightful glider squirrel-like animals. We also saw a brown tree frog and five different species of Chameleons, from a tiny bright green one about 8 cm long to a O’Shaughnessy’s Chameleon with its green and rusty brown mottles at 40 cm length. There was much competition among our party to spot chameleons with their superior torches and photograph them with their superior cameras – and numerous cries of frustration as camera flashes upset the lighting conditions of others vying for the same shot.
