Madagascar Nature Hikes: North to South

Six years since Covid derailed my planned visit to Madagascar, I finally made it to the world’s 4th largest island! Madagascar is one of the most ecologically diverse locations on Earth, with a vast majority of its plants and animals found only on the island. This unique ecology was the focus and attraction for our two-week group tour, which was not a hiking trip per se. Perhaps because of this focus, these photos are quite a departure from my usual blog posts. Join me on this journey and let me know what you think!

A physical map of Madagascar, located off the east coast of southern Africa

Our Explore Worldwide route. After some long, tough days driving we were all happy to fly back to Antananarivo at the end!

Andasibe and Analamazaotra NP

Any trip to Madagascar (other than a cruise) will of necessity start and end at the capital, Antananarivo (Tana). Our 1/2 day drive northeast to Andasibe the following morning kicked off the two week trip for 11 Brits, myself, and our wonderful leader, Naina. Our nature walks (most were in reality hikes, carrying a full day pack through rough terrain) started in the rain-forest, in a community nature reserve and in Analamazaotra National Park.

Our local guide, Daisy, at Analamazaotra National Park

My attempt at a photo of a Common brown lemur

Common brown lemur.^{(Photo courtesy of Andrew)}
In this post I include 5 photos of lemurs taken by Andrew, a client who had a proper camera with telephoto, frankly necessary in the dense jungle environment.

Can you make out the Mossy leaf-tailed gecko, spotted by our guide at the VOI MMA Community Reserve?

Another Mossy leaf-tailed gecko, blending right in! These geckos are strictly nocturnal, so spotting these kings of camouflage during the day is not at all easy.

Landscape with fish ponds, Analamazaotra NP. Farmed fish, including tilapia, seemed a staple of the diet in this region.

Critically endangered Diademed Sifaka lemurs, 2nd largest of all lemur species. They were warming up in the morning sun.

The gorgeous Daidemed Sifaka deserves another photo^{(photo courtesy of Andrew)}

An Indri, also critically endangered and the largest of all lemurs

Another Indri lemur ^{(Photo courtesy of Andrew)}

*Bulbophyllum analamazoatrae* (no English common name). As it was winter in July, not many flowers were in bloom, though I did spot this diminutive orchid.

A Green day gecko. My macro worked ok for this little fellow.

A pond view at Analamazaotra. We saw numerous species of birds, but none of us really tried to get photos; scoping them with binoculars was far more enjoyable.

Antsirabe and Lake Tritriva

This French colonial highland city (elevation 1400m) provided a lovely one night layover on our way south, and was a superb base for a short hike around Lake Tritriva.

A monument in Antsirabe, showing all 18 Madagascan tribes, which arrived from diverse countries over the centuries.

The highland landscape near Tritriva Lake

View down towards Tritriva Lake from our path. At about 1750m, this was our highest elevation for the entire trip.

Another Tritriva Lake view, a caldera from an extinct volcano

Ranomafana National Park

Three walks in Ranomafana National Park, our second rain-forest (elevation about 1100m), introduced us to some more species of lemur as well as some other amazing animals, and even some wildflowers in bloom in winter (we were at a latitude near the Tropic of Capricorn).

*Streptocarpus hilsenbergii*, another flower without an English common name

A rare *Clerodendrum arenarium*, endemic to eastern Madagascar and also lacking an English common name

A critically endangered Greater bamboo lemur, the only individual in the park, although some do live at lower elevations outside the park

Some tribal gravestones at Ranomafana. One challenge with these nature hikes was that we frequently needed to leave the trails when the spotter saw lemurs or other wildlife.

Can you spot the Satanic leaf-tailed gecko?

A macro of the Satanic leaf-tailed gecko. The head and tail are reasonably obvious once you study this master of disguise.

A boardwalk path on our short Sahamalaotra loop hike at Ranomafana. Only one other client joined me this afternoon.

Pandanus frog macro, Sahamalaotra loop hike. This guy was tiny!

Ambalalova Community Reserve

While this nature walk was just a short stop-over during a long day of driving South, it was our first opportunity to see Ring-tailed lemurs, and an introduction to the drier savanna ecosystem more characteristic of Southern Madagascar.

A wetland pano at Ambalalova Community reserve

Ring-tailed lemur at Ambalalova Community reserve

A male Oustalet’s chameleon (aka Malagasy giant chameleon)

A Ring-tailed lemur enjoying a meal ^{(photo courtesy of Andrew)}

Ranohira and Isola National Park

We stayed two nights at one of the very best hotels in the country, an excellent base to explore Isola National Park, which reminded me of southern Utah, but with more grass.

A Ring-tailed lemur on a rock face. In this ecosystem they stay on the cliffs overnight for safety from fossas (the largest mammalian carnivore on Madagascar, often compared to a small cougar), one of their main predators. . .

. . . and then come down to the forest to feed during the day when fossas sleep.

Landscape at Isola. This was not what I expected Madagascar to look like!

A natural pool at Isola where many of us enjoyed a dip

Ifaty and Reniala Community Reserve

Our final three nights before returning to Tana were spent at a resort outside of this southwest coastal town, in private bungalows, most of which had views of the Mozambique Channel. It was also our base for visiting our final community reserve, in the Spiny Forest, which featured some of the most interesting fauna on the entire trip.

Pool at our Ifaty resort with the Mozambique Channel

Our local guide explaining the Reniala Reserve

An Octopus tree, favorite nesting tree of the endangered Petter’s sportive lemur

A Madagascar ground boa. This reserve in the spiny forest had an amazing variety of fauna!

A Lesser hedgehog tenrec. Getting a good photo of this fast-moving guy was not easy! Although they superficially resemble a small hedgehog, they are in fact the only species in their genus.

An amazingly cute Petter’s sportive lemur in an Octopus tree^{(photo courtesy of Andrew)}

I’m now back in Hastings, England, enjoying the sea and some summer sun. In two weeks I head to Penzance in Cornwall to continue my Southwest Coast Path Odyssey. Before that I plan on publishing a short blog from my 3-week June stay in Abruzzo, one of many regions in southern Italy I had never visited.

Happy trails,

The Vagabond Hiker