If you ever want to feel like the only tourist somewhere, go to Madagascar during the rainy season. At Kirindy reserve I was the only person staying the night in the lodge, and apart from the workers, my driver and the lemurs, the only person there.
I woke up at 4:30am in the morning, blindly packed my things as there was no electricity, and was promptly picked up my driver at 5am. Is Madagascar even Africa? Everyone seems to be on time here! I wanted to get to the Avenue of the Baobabs by sunrise as that’s when you get the best photographs, but we kind of just missed it, arriving at 5:40am. There was only one other couple there, and the rest were locals who use the roads daily. It really is an otherworldly sight. Some of the trees are as young as 200 years, and others older than 1000!
After being satisfied with my pics, we set off for Kirindy Reserve. The dirt road to Kirindy was riddled with holes and dips, and because of all the recent rains, now filled with water. It was good we were in a 4x4 as I don’t believe anything smaller would have made the journey. Muddy water splashed the sides of the vehicle as we dodged zebu (Madagascan cows – they’re a bit funny looking and have a hump), people, dogs and chicken (I think we might have actually ran over one but I’m not sure).
We reached Kirindy at around 8am. It was rather empty looking, no other cars and just a lot of men who appeared to be working. I went to reception and organised my tours, a two hour day one for this morning and a 2 hour night one later in the evening. There are 8 different species of lemurs on the reserve and 6 of them are active at night only, with only two of them active during the day. The day lemurs are also most active in the mornings as this is when they are feeding, later on they are lazy and don’t move around as much, making them harder to spot.
I was introduced to my guide for the next few days and we set of into the forest ….
… where I was immediately eaten alive by flies. I had put on insect repellent, but there were these biting flies which were very attracted to my leggings. While not poisonous their sting does hurt and they are particular bothersome there is a massive swarm around you. I quickly dashed back to the dorm I was staying in and changed into my thicker overalls. While the flies were still attracted to my legs, I couldn’t feel them through my pants.
Cicada
After that quick detour we were into the forest, searching for lemurs. For the first part we saw only birds, iguanas, skink, the largest snails I have ever seen in my life and lizards, my guide stopping every few minutes to listen out. Finally, after about 40 minutes we spotted one lonesome Sifaka high up in a tree feeding! Apparently this species is normally found in families, but this guy was on his own. He was very far up the tree so I wasn’t able to see him up close, but we continued watching him for a while as he jumped between the trees, until he finally disappeared. I didn’t realise that lemurs could jump quite so far.
After that we continued looking for the second species the red-fronted lemur, but they were no where to be found. It was after 10am by this point though, apparently bit late for lemur spotting. We went back to camp and my guide said he would call me if he spouted anything nearby the camps as lemurs and fossa (an animal that is a bit like a cat and a dog combined and hunts lemurs) have been known to appear. As It is the rainy season the forest is very active, but the leaves are full and green so it’s a bit difficult to spot anything.
After about 5 minutes of being back, my guide appeared at the door and said we should hurry, there were some red-fronted lemurs around! We went out behind a bungalow and sure enough there was a family of them. He told me to wait where I was as new visitors had arrived and he needed to greet them, so it was just me and a family of lemurs in a Madagascan forest!
I stood very still and they were not scared of me at all, coming quite close and staring! They were actually so cute, walking on the ground and jumping from tree to tree. It was so cool being able to stand there as they do what they normally do. Once my guide came back with three elderly people from the U.S the lemurs quickly dispersed, scared I guess by their loud voices.
Finally 6:30pm rolled by and we set off back in the forest, which was ringing loud with the noises of cicadas. It had rained in the afternoon so it was quite damp and water droplets would sprinkle on us as we walked by trees. Within 10 minutes we had spotted 4 different species of lemurs (out of a possible 6!). I wasn’t able to get many good pictures as both my iPhone and camera don’t take good shots under low light (and quite a few of the lemurs were to high up in the trees anyway). My guide was very good as differentiating the different types of lemur calls, and as soon as we would hear something we would head off in that direction. We also spotted a chameleon sleeping on a branch (obviously not very well in disguise). I was hoping to spot the smallest lemur the ___, but we weren’t that lucky, and I was also hoping to see a fossa. I was very satisfied with the lemurs we did so however, and my neck was sore from craning to look up so much.
Chameleon
There's a lemur up there somewhere
On the way
back to Morondava we passed by the sacre baobab, said to be over 1000 years
old, and the baobab amoureux, which looks like two trees in love, bus is
actually only one tree.
I got back
to Morondava, the electricity was out at my hotel, so as soon as I had a shower
I set off to find food and wifi. I need to plan what I’m doing next, and as
much as I would love to avoid another taxi-brousse journey, getting a private
car or taking a flight back to Antananarivo cost about the same price. After
that, I need to see where I should head to for my 21st birthday,
somewhere by the beach where I can go snorkelling and finish reading my books
hopefully!
jealous
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