28/11/2024
Madagascar is one of those mythical places that we have all heard about and the extraordinary unique and diverse range of animals, plants and landscapes that can only be experienced there. Plus it is the home of King Julian from the cartoon movie Madagascar - he is actually a Ring-tailed Lemur.
Anyway I finally got to go and I can really sum it up quite quickly, it is amazing but if you want to see what is left go quickly because these habitats and landscapes are under massive pressure from all fronts.
There are pockets of resistance but it is a tidal wave that has hit this place with the continuing onslaught of deforestation for various reasons, which include hardwood furniture sold around the World and the local consumption of charcoal and building materials. There is also the onslaught of massive fishing fleets from around the World just helping themselves to what volume and species they want and who knows what is going on with the pet trade - orchid trade and so it goes on. It really does make you feel very disappointed in how useless we are as a species knowing what we are doing to the place, but the efficiency and speed with which we are doing it some may think is impressive - I do not share that thought!
For this particular trip we had limited time and this is not an easy place to get around as the road network is terrible, so everything takes a lot of time and you have a few heart in your mouth moments navigating the roads and all those who use it, wheeled, two legged and four legged. For this reason I kept the safari focused on the Northern and Eastern parts of this massive Island and we did a combination of road and air transfers.
The highlight for my guests was definitely up in the North East at Masaolo National Park, this is one of the last remaining primary rain forests with beautiful marine reserves as well. We had a fantastic time here walking the forests in the morning - siesta time, then the afternoons snorkeling in the reefs right in front of camp, it was spectacular the variety we saw in all places.
We also took in the Anjozorobe Reserve and the Andasibe - Manthadia National Park. It was nice to see here the small community reserves around this area trying their best to hang on to some of their forest, it has all been logged out awhile back but it is recovering and as the indigenous trees develop they are able to cut out the exotic species like the Gum Trees and Pine Trees which are growing all over the place. It is a long process but at least it's a positive direction and we enjoyed supporting their efforts by visiting these small reserves and doing the night walks here looking for the nocturnal lemurs, chameleons etc.
All of the camps we stayed in were great with nice food and rooms, the transfers and charter flights worked well and the guides I worked with were all clearly very dedicated and keen on what they were doing, so it was a real pleasure to be with them in the forests seeking out all these exotic creatures and birds.
So as mentioned before if you want to see this incredible place don't delay and move it to the top of your must do list before it is too late.
