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The word Madagascar is pronounced locally with accent on the last syllable, the sound of the syllable like the cry of an exotic bird. This was the first visit to the island for the fifteen participants and everyone was excited. 11,000 of the island’s 13,000 plus plant species are found nowhere else. Most of the birds, mammals, and reptiles are endemic. Half of the world’s chameleons live here. People are often poor, but the culture is rich. Photos by Adam Riley and Norma Parado are labeled as such and the unmarked ones were taken by me - Ian Gibson. Since the first version of this travelogue was put together, I have talked with Simon Woolley & Julia Casson who took a Rockjumper tour just before ours. I've added some of their photos of the wildlife we saw. Have a look at their excellent website too by clicking on their names. NOVEMBER 3 Antananarivo Bonny Randall was on my long flight from Paris to Madagascar, conveniently seated beside me. Since retiring from teaching she has traveled extensively, especially to Kenya. Her main problem with these ventures is that her cats get upset, so that she has to conceal her packing till the last minute. |
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| We were met at the airport by Fano. |
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Fano is a guide who lives in Madagascar. The other leaders depend on him for many different kinds of arrangements. His name is pronounced Fanu and short for Fanomezantsoa Andrianirina. He explained that in the Malagasy language, which has a number of mutually intelligible dialects, the ‘o’ is pronounced as a long ‘u’, so that the bright red bird called the fody is pronounced “foody” and the carnivore called the fosa is pronounced “foosa”. The “j” is pronounced “dz”. Fano also explained that religion in Madagascar is a complex mixture of Christian elements and respect for ancestors. One practice not usual in other parts of the world is exhuming bones to turn them over out of respect.
Victoria Emanuel Nature Tours relies on Rockjumper Birding Tours, based in South Africa. Rockjumper relies on Fano, so he has to know everything. He knows the ins and outs of customs and immigration, hotels, restaurants, tipping, manners, habitats, and flora and fauna. Looking younger than his 38 years, he was cheerful, diplomatic, and helpful always. |
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| Adam Riley owns Rockjumper Tours and has come to Madagascar about 15 times. In his early thirties, he has recently married and will soon be lost to the world of full time guiding as he concentrates on management of his various enterprises. He was tirelessly enthusiastic even when he must have been tired, and paid individual attention to each of the 15 people on the tour. He has seen all the birds of Madagascar but three, so they know him pretty well. |
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| We were very lucky that Victor Emanuel himself came on this tour. He has been fascinated by the natural world since keeping creatures at home at the age of ten. He started Victor Emanuel Nature Tours thirty-one years ago and typically goes on 8 trips a year. This has given him many stories to tell, and he relates them with a story-teller’s gift. One of his stories was about finding the Eskimo curlew. He also told a story about birds who never settled on the ground and incubated their eggs by passing them back and forth to each other through the air. This is told in exactly the same style as the presumably true ones: there is something fantastic about all his stories. He is now sixty-seven and his ever fresh delight in seeing birds and sharing them with others is obvious. His “Wow” is unforgettable. |
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| Near our luxurious hotel in Tana, Hotel Colbert, is a civic lake surrounded by lilac-flowered jacaranda trees. From the bus which tried to dawdle in heavy traffic, we watched two black herons feeding by “mantling”. They spread their wings above their heads, forming a dome to shade the water surface. |
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The Hotel Colbert boasted the height of luxury. There was a regular restaurant, but we ate first in upscale La Taverne. The menu was in French (not unnaturally in a French-speaking country) and the food was often unrecognizable as to source. The worried question “Il est cuit?” was met by a haughty “Of course” or “Of course not”. The first outing was to the Tsimbizaza Zoo in Antananarivo, usually shortened to Tana for obvious reasons. While the birds and mammals here do not “count” as wild sightings, it would be the only time we would see some of the fauna from the more inaccessible areas. Several international zoos and organizations have combined to promote up-to-date zoo practices. Two of the birds that we did not see later were the Bernier’s teal and Madagascar fish eagle. The animals included crowned lemur (Eulemur coronatus), black lemur including the blue-eyed variant (Eulemur macaco), white-fronted brown lemur (Eulemur albifrons) and black and white ruffed lemur (Varecia variegata). The last raised a loud racket while we were there: our first taste of lemur sound (if that is possible). The highlight of the zoo was a night building (perhaps the lowlight of the zoo) where aye-ayes live (Daubentonia madagascariensis). Its large ears and unusual movements gave it an unearthly aspect in the nearly dark room and it likes to walk clinging to the ceiling. The large ears are used to locate insect larvae in decaying wood, and a finger-tapping technique accomplishes the same purpose. It has a specialized thin middle finger that is used to extract the larvae. The continuously growing incisors led to its being considered a rodent at one point in history. The aye-aye occurs in several places in Madagascar but is rarely seen in the wild except at two small islands. We passed a golden orb spider on the way |
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| A heron roost in the zoo surroundings give us our first good views of a squacco heron, dimorphic egret, black-crowned night heron, striated heron, and white-faced whistling duck. A Madagascar hoopoe and Malagasy kingfisher were colorful additions. |
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Here is a list of some of the other fauna and flora at the zoo that we did not identify later in wild surroundings:
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