Photo Gallery
Photos by Brian Finch unless otherwise noted
The capital Antananarivo has a wonderful rookery where eight species of herons breed. Madagascar Squacco, here courting, is the rarest.
Apart from the herons, the rookery is home to many other of Madagascar’s local endemics, such as the secretive White-throated Rail…
…and among the butterflies in the weedy edges around the lake is the brightly hued Acraea zitja.
Our base for Ankarafantsika is Mahajanga, and our modern hotel has an enormous, ornately decorated salt-water swimming pool.
Around the edge of Lake Ravelobe at Ankarafantsika lives the Madagascar Jacana, whose range is the most restricted of the eight jacana species.
Currently considered one of the world’s rarest birds of prey, the Madagascar Fish Eagle (here a young bird) breeds annually on Lake Ravelobe in winter.
Of the four currently recognized species of hoopoe, the Madagascar Hoopoe is by far the largest and has a loud, rolling, dove-like call totally unlike the other three.
The Madagascar Crested Ibis is just another of Madagascar’s wonderfully different birds.
Often on the walks through Ankarafantsika forest, our guides know where to find a Torotoroke Scops Owl roosting in a low cavity.
One of the striking species widespread in all forms of lowland forest is the Crested Coua. While it is normal to see a few of these birds on a forest walk, it is only in the late afternoon, when for a few seconds all the birds call at the same time, that their true abundance can be appreciated.
One of the world’s distributional puzzles is why the only iguanids outside the New World are eight species found on Madagascar and two found on Fiji. Cuvier’s Iguanid is a bold species often found around the picnic tables at Ankarafantsika.
Walking quietly around in the foliage at Ankarafantsika are several chameleon species, among them a local specialty with unusual purplish coloration and a toothed nasal protuberance resembling a chain-saw. This is Angel’s Chameleon.
One of the rarest birds in the world is the Bernier’s Ibis. Most are on the island of Aldabra, but there are a few in Madagascar. Up to fifteen may be seen in the Betsiboky Estuary, which we enter with a motorboat.
To access the forest at Ranomafana we must cross the very sturdy bridge over the rapids. The view from the bridge is most attractive with its forest-lined banks.
The poison-arrow frogs of the New World are replicated in Madagascar with the genus Mantella. While these frogs have warning colors, they do not share the same extreme potency of their American counterparts. Baron’s Mantella Frog is just one of these colorful amphibians.
Madagascar is home to most of the world’s chameleon species, with just over fifty forms described. Many of the reptiles still lack common names, but that does not make the local specialty Furcifer balteatus any the less interesting.
Mouse Lemurs are literally “mouse-sized,” the smallest primates in the world. At Ranomafana after dark, the oh-so-cute Rufous Mouse Lemur is attracted to bananas smeared onto branches.
While Madagascar has only two kingfisher species, the red of the diminutive Madagascar Pygmy Kingfisher is an unusual color for the group. The species inhabits dense forest, with no close association to water.
There are many endemic dragonflies on the Great Red Island, and Palpopleura vestita is among the most striking of those readily seen. Related species have black patterning on the wings, but in this species it is a delicate powder-blue.
Isalo National Park is very remote, although the main National Route traverses the region. Now with the construction of the luxurious Relais de la Reine, this has become a very comfortable stop-over.
The Relais de la Reine provides a 360-degree vista overlooking some of the most unusual natural rock formations, which are home to the attractive endemic…
…Benson’s Rock Thrush, which actually nests on the hotel building and has become quite used to human presence.
The southern dry region is home to the Banded Kestrel.
Speeding across the warm sands of the south, the Three-eyed Iguanid is an interesting species not just because it is an iguana representative, but because of the presence of a pineal “third eye” on the top of the head, which is thought to be at least light-sensative.
The dry conditions of the south have inspired an endemic butterfly fauna, and the most colorful of these has to be Zoe’s Colotis, a white with an iridescent magenta/claret tip outlined in black venation.
While there is only one species of baobab tree in Australia and one on the African continent, Madagascar is home to seven baobab species. All are in the genus Adansonia, and all are impressive. Adansonia za can be seen growing in the spiny desert of the southwest.
It is always encouraging when the local community benefits from the birds it shelters, leading the community to do its best for conservation. Mosa and his family will be with us for one early morning, finding the skulking endemics of the spiny forest.
Of the ten coua species, six are found in the southeast. The Green-capped Coua is a terrestrial species that at times poses on top of the endemic didiereas in the spiny forest.
Living in a similar habitat to the southwestern U.S., the Long-tailed Ground-Roller has evolved to behave much like a roadrunner. With Mosa’s help we should locate this species in its spiny home.
Like the ground-rollers, the mesites are another endemic family. The Sub-desert Mesite is an extraordinary bird like a cross between a rail and a pigeon, and walks around on the floor of the spiny forest in family groups, occasionally giving bursts of chittering song.
The largest butterflies in the world are the birdwings of New Guinea but on Madagascar we find a distant birdwing relative, Pharmacophagus antenor, whose enormous wingspan is a common sight in the west and south of the country.
Leaving the spiny desert, we’ll head south by motorboat for the small offshore island of Nosy Ve and a date with the nesting Red-tailed Tropicbirds. These bulky birds are very tame, and continue sitting on the nest, quite indifferent to human admirers.
While Madagascar is a paradise for the birder, the island is just as world-famous for its unique mammals.
Undoubtedly the world’s most familiar lemur species, if not very high on a list of cuddly animals of the world, the Ring-tailed Lemur is numerous at Berenty, where individuals can be very inquisitive.
Leaving the dry of the south, we finish the main tour with a trip to Perinet, which boasts not only most of the rainforest endemic birds but also the largest of all of the lemurs, the tailless Indri, whose deafening calls sound like the submarine calls of Humpback Whales.
Few birds can match the cryptic coloration of the Collared Nightjar. Pairs roost together, each bird making use of the other’s pattern and shape to take camouflage to the extreme. This is thought to be the world’s only silent nightjar species.
Almost as well camouflaged, all of Madagascar’s rail species are secretive, and we will have to work at luring a Madagascar Rail out of the densest of reeds.
As the sun sets, the nocturnal lemurs, including the oxymoronically named Greater Dwarf-Lemur climb around in the vegetation looking for tasty morsels. There is remarkable convergence between nocturnal lemurs, the African/Asian prosimians, and the totally unrelated opossums.
The first night of our extension will be spent in the very comfortable Relais de Masoala outside of Maroansetra. There will be opportunities to go out in the evening…
…to look for the aptly named Tomato Frog, which has a restricted range centered around Maroansetra.
On the island of Nosy Mangabe we’ll have a good chance of finding the extraordinary Greater Leaf-tailed Gecko, with its amazing camouflage. The entire genus has this trait, and unfortunately it has become desired by unscrupulous collectors.
The idyllic tropical island of Nosy Mangabe is home to several lemur species as well as birds. The protected bays have rainforest growing right down to the sea, and at night the vegetation lights up with the glow of fireflies.
The Cap Masoala National Park is home to many of Madagascar’s endemics, among them all four rainforest ground-rollers. The Short-legged Ground-Roller, which looks like a huge neotropical puffbird, is, in spite of its name, an arboreal species that sits quietly for long periods on a high horizontal branch.