Madagascar Trip Report 

September 28 - October 15, 2008

Madagascar- It seems as if we have all heard about the unique wildlife our whole lives, and all of us were very excited about exploring this fascinating island. Even the people, towns and scenery were fascinating and I think we did not appreciate that fact before we arrived. Being so close to mainland Africa, I think I           imagined that the people would be similar, but are more of a blend of African and Asian heritage. Our guest house in Tana was a delight and our host really took care of us. Tana is an interesting city, built on a range of small hills, seemingly surrounded by rice paddies. And like many Asian cities, Tana is teeming with people with very little space left for wildlife. Our first morning, some of us managed a trip out to Lake Allarobia and the feeling was enforced. All the birds were restricted to the lake and adjacent patch of woodland and gave us the feeling of a true “bird city” with all of the comings and goings of herons, egrets and waterfowl. Still, we did find the endemic Malagasy Kingfisher- beautiful. Everywhere in Madagascar is about 1 hour of flying time from Tana and our first stop was Morondava- a somewhat dilapidated seaside town (worse now after the recent storms, I assume) surrounded by some of the worst dirt roads I have been on and they were building them as we traveled. The lowlands all around Madagascar were very hot, dry and dusty and our camp at Kirindy was no different. What surprised me was that there was barely a leaf on any bush or tree, so seeing the birds was easier; not that finding them in the heat of the day was. To avoid the worst of the heat we tended to bird very early and late and what was amusing were the number of species, such as Blue Vanga and Giant Coua that walked/flew into our camp during the heat of the day. As well as the amazing birds seen over the first few days, such as Mad Jacana, Cuckoo-Roller and White-breasted Mesite, the lemurs were truly spectacular. Ian Davidson, our guide from Johannesburg really knew his stuff and we enjoyed a fine selection of chameleons, lizards and insects. Highlights- just way too many, but I can certainly recall the Madame Berte’s Mouse-Lemur in the “bathroom”, the incredible views of Fossa, including the probable first ever sighting (from a Fossa’s point of view) of someone doing yoga! and diving into insect-ridden vegetation after dark in search of owls, only to see them roosting during the day soon afterwards. The White-breasted Mesites were just simply strange and the Cuckoo-Roller flying overhead calling seemed to echo life from another planet.

Our stay in Morondava was rescued by the excellent restaurant and some pretty good shorebirding on the beach- before the heat really cranked in. It was a relief to head away from the coastal heat and a night in Tana before our drive to Ranomafana and the potential of some really fascinating rain forest wildlife. Ranomafana and the surrounding areas are well on the tourist trail but despite the coach loads of other visitors we managed a list of superb birds and mammals. Again too many to list but highlights had to be the Short-tailed Ground-Roller high in a tree (!), the beautiful Blue Coua, the very bizarre giraffe-necked Weevil and even more bizarre Leaf-tailed Gecko, leaches dropping from the nearby vegetation (highlight or lowlight?), Ian bringing a Madagascar Flufftail across the trail into full view and the simply striking Pitta-like Ground-Roller that almost seemed to glow in the forest shade. A night excursion was excellent for a Mad Scops-Owl, as well as mammals such as Striped Civet and Brown Mouse-Lemur. I had always wanted to see Ring-tailed Lemur and our visit to Anja Lemur Sanctuary gave us plenty of wonderful views of these friendly looking animals. We also got to see (at last!) the “very valuable and wanted” Madagascar Cuckoo!! It was then a longish drive towards the Isalo Massif through very dry and often seriously degraded countryside. Birds, aside from a few bee-eaters, were very hard to find but the scenery almost made up for this fact. The Jardin de Roy hotel was quite plush and even the grounds of the hotel had a few birds. Best was the pair of Benson’s Rock-Thrush that lived on the roof. A walk through the wet thickets behind the hotel produced a hard-to-see-well White-throated Rail. Isalo National Park was dry and our walk through the dry forests was hot and dusty. After seeing multiple buttonquail dust bathing spots it was good to actually see one of these tough birds. Our walk to the waterfall was very much in contrast to the dry surroundings in the National Park where another pair of Rock-thrushes had a territory. Zombitse National Park is small and has been set up for several very rare and localized birds and our quest was Appert’s Greenbul which we found without too much trouble. It was then to Tulear and the very hot and arid southwest corner of Madagascar- complete with dreadful roads, deep sand and stranded vehicles. Just conveniently there were plenty of folks just ready and waiting to pull us out – for a fee!!  The critically endangered spiny forest has very little true protection and a pile of wonderful endemic birds and mammals. We wanted to see them all especially the Long-tailed Ground-Roller and the Sickle-billed Vanga. Mousa’s Park was our first destination and amazing place filled with unusual trees, plants and birds- we did see both our target birds, along with Subdesert Mesite (which looks like a thrasher), Thamnornis, Archbold’s Newtonia, and Lefrasnaye’s Vanga. Even the scrub and beachfront around our hotel was somewhat productive and it was here we had our best views of the Subdesert (Madagascar) Brush Warbler. Did I mention that it was hot around Ifaty and Tulear? Wow! It was even hot in the airport in Tulear before we returned to the relative cool of our hotel in Tana.

Perinet and nearby Mantadia National Parks are amongst the most popular in Madagascar and for a very good reason. The forests are beautiful and the birding is pretty good- but the mammals are excellent. I can still remember standing under a group of Indri as their calls echoed throughout the forest. What an experience. Now if you could only get this downloaded as the ring to my cell-phone!!! With the aid of our local guide we found the Madagascar Grebe at one of the few known locations for this critically endangered species, as well as Madagascar Blue-Pigeon (beautiful), Scaly Ground-Roller (odd), Cryptic Warbler and White-throated Oxylabes. The forests were not dripping with birds and it seemed to be very much a stealthy methodical way to bird as we went from species to species during our time in the Perinet area. As well as the spectacular Indri, we also saw Black-and-white Ruffed Lemur and several smaller species of Bamboo and Dwarf lemurs. Overall this must have been one of our favorite patches of forest in Madagascar.

From here it was back to Tana and home- some of us continued onto South Africa while others slowly made their way back to the US. We finished with an excellent bird and mammal list; missed a few here and there as it’s not possible to get everything on Madagascar - we’ll be back.  

Simon Thompson

Green Day Gecko

Group birding in Kirindy

Kirindy Camp

Mad Magpie-Robin

Mad Sunbird

Morondava Roadside scene

Silhouetted Baobabs

Sportive Lemur

Squacco Heron and Madagascar Pond-Heron

View from Ranamafana Hotel

View over Tana

White-faced Whistling-Ducks

Banded Kestrel

Brown Lemur

Freshwater pool- Mad Jacana and African Pygmy Goose were here

Giraffe-necked Weevil

Itinerary

Sept 28            Most of group arrived in Tana early AM; Lake Alarobia ; Transfer to Pallisandre Hotel

Sept 29            Flew to Morondava AM; Drove to Kirindy via Avenue of Baobabs & roadside pools

Sept 30            Trails around Kirindy- also night walk

Oct 1               Trails and river around Kirindy; drove to Morondava PM; night at Chez Maggi

Oct 2               Morondava beach and mudflats birding; flew to Tana PM

Oct 3               Drove from Tana to Antsirabe & Ambositra to Ranomafana; snipe hunt en route

Oct 4               Vohiparara Forest and Marsh part of Ranomafana AM & PM

Oct 5               Ranomafana- Lower Forest AM & PM; Night walk

Oct 6               Ranomafana- Vohiparara AM; Drove to Fiana, Anja Lemur Sanctuary, Ihosy & Ranohira

Oct 7               Isalo National Park Hike and grounds of Jardin de Roy Hotel

Oct 8               Drove from Isalo to Zombitse NP, Stops at "La Table" & Tulear; sand road to Ifaty

Oct 9               Mousa’s Spiny Forest Park AM, Hotel Scrub PM

Oct 10             Drove from Ifaty to Tulear, stop at "La Table", Flew from Tulear to Tana

Oct 11             Drove from Tana to Perinet-Mantadia NP, stop at Mangoro River en route to Eulophiella

Oct 12             Perinet-Mantadia Trails in the rain

Oct 13             Mantadia NP AM; Perinet-Andasibe PM

Oct 14             Perinet-Andasibe NP AM, Andasibe PM- brief night walk

Oct 15             Drove to Tana and flight to Johannesburg

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