Madagascar

We flew Air France thru Paris, which saves a connection in JNB on the way down (and is more enjoyable than the Lufthansa German stopovers), happy with this choice.  Had a great game season meal at Le Gabriel on our stopover day in Paris, and great service again at Madame Reve.  Was sad to see how chain store oriented Le Marais has become, may try a quieter part of Paris next time.

We arrived in Antananarivo and were shuttled over to Novotel.  After a bit of rest and an early breakfast we were picked up and started our journey east.  We stopped at Peyrieras animal viewing,  which some may have some ethical objection to, but the chameleons were adorable and it’s a nice way to break up the drive.

We then arrived at Andasibe, we headed to the ‘Lemur island’.   This is a protected reserve for Lemurs and a great chance to photograph them in close range. Its definitely not quite as authentic as the primary forest but still fun.  You can get quite close to these adapted lemurs, the human like hands were quite striking.  We then stopped in our hotel,  Mantadia Lodge.  It was surprisingly nice establishment with good food and service.

That evening we had a night walk through the local secondary forest.  We stopped a couple of small lemurs and a chameleon.  Our local guide, Natasha, continuously amazed us over the next couple days with her spotting abilities. 

The next morning we had a two hour drive into Mantadia national park.  We spent the next 4 hours walking through the primary forest in search of lemurs.  We spotted several species.  The speed at which they jump through the forest really highlighted my very amateur photography abilities.  Its also hard on the neck looking up at them for hours.  The first time you hear the rhythmic loud calls of the the indri you will feel enthralled. They are the only other primate aside from humans who sing.   The flora is also quite unique, with huge fig trees and ferns, a really remarkable experience. It is too bad that so much of this unique forest has been destroyed.  To imagine that there was once 200kg lemurs roaming around is mind boggling.

On our last morning we spent another few hours in Adisabe secondary forest closer to the highway.   We got some close encounters here. I think this is where you go if you have one less day, I think getting into Mantadia is worthwhile though.    Sturdy shoes are worthwhile (although our trekking boots were probably overkill) as there is some bushwacking involved.

The drive back to Tana is quite slow/painful, to keep things honest.  Although the glimpses of rural life in Madagascar are quite eye opening.  This is the poorest country we have ever visited.  Most people have no electricity, mud houses are common, running water is rare. Despite avoiding major foreign or domestic wars since independence it has been shockingly misgoverned economically.  It is quite sad as the people were friendly and kind. 

We finished the next day with a city tour, including visiting the queens palace with great city views , a rebuilt palace, and some interesting artifacts (and an eye sore of a COVID built Roman coliseum replica) as well as a mandatory stop in a shop to buy vanilla (don’t wait till the airport!). We then flew onwards to JNB on airlink which was quite smooth.  Don’t make the mistake of not exchanging your money before going through security, they don’t accept it airside, or anywhere else in the world it seems.

This was a great addition to our South Africa trip.  I don’t think we would have had the stomach for the long road or unreliable air travel involved in seeing more of Madagascar at this time, but would like to return someday.  Apparently the climbing in the south is excellent, as are the landscapes and the rock formations as well as the famous baobab trees and beautiful beaches of the north. Its certainly someplace where sustainable tourism can make a huge difference. A modest tip to your guide will keep their kids in school for months.  

Note: In terms of photography gear, Sony 100-400 worked out well for us. A great zoom range for lemurs/birds, and very good semi-macro option. It stayed on our camera most of the Madagascar trip. We travelled light(and had to hike the Drakensberg with our gear later) so two bodies was ruled out. 70-200 f2.8 would be better for lemur island probably, but with noise reduction AI developments I was quite happy with our choice. Some folks were using flash for night shots, didn’t realize this was allowed, not sure how ethical it is but something one could inquire about if interested. Also, the shots are mostly with your neck extended, a heavy prime lens would probably be a bad idea for most.