
	From the outset I knew this would be quite an adventure. To spend 3 weeks exploring the one country which is the richest in endemic species, and yet the world’s 6th poorest economically, promised a land of vast contrasts. Indeed, it delivered!
		Madagascar, sometimes referred to as “the eighth continent”, is the world’s 4th largest island (approx. 1000 x 850 miles, about the size of Texas), which split from the African and Indian continents 88 to 165 million years ago. It is located approximately 300 miles off the SE coast of Africa. Because of its long term isolation, its flora and fauna have been left to develop in their own ecological stew pot, and the result is that 80% of the birds, animals, insects, reptiles, and plants one might see there can be found nowhere else on earth! A rich biological storehouse for sure. However, at the same time, pressures of population and poverty threaten every living thing, for Madagascar is home to 17 million people whose average annual income is about $250, and whose life expectancy is 53. Those two primary pieces of information shape ones experience of the country. Rice is the primary agricultural product, though Madagascar supplies 50% of the world’s vanilla, one of its few exports. Sapphires have relatively recently been discovered, though the “industry” is little regulated and seems a bit shady, all in all.
	Getting to Madagascar is not really a problem, as an easy, if long, flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg, SA, positioned me for a direct flight the following day on Air Madagascar (affectionately known as Air Mad) to the capital, Antananarivo. Yikes, how to pronounce that one?! Fortunately, it turns out “Tana” does the trick nicely for this bustling, sprawling city of 1.25 million which is choked with traffic (it can take 45 min. to drive the heavily polluted 2 miles from the airport into the city), its narrow streets teeming with people, clothing & food stalls, huge sacks of charcoal, “push-push” vehicles (rather like rickshaws), old “deux chevaux” cars, trucks, animals and goods being moved to market. It was all happening there, just outside the windows of our 20 passenger bus. I found the piles of rices, grains, beans and fruits the most interesting, the varieties endless. Our hotel in Tana, the Tana Plaza, was comfortable and served very good meals with a French accent. However, as the electricity seems to die every evening between 6 and 7 or so, with many flickerings & brown-outs en route to final darkness, the atmosphere is necessarily defined either by candlelight or generator-hum. This was to be just my initial introduction to the vagaries of life in Madagascar!
		My trip, with Rockjumper Birding Tours out of S. Africa, was of course geared towards seeing the largest number of Madagascar’s endemic birds possible. There are a variety of habitats which are spread across the island, consisting primarily of arid/flat and wet/steep parks and preserves, with vast areas of sterile, degraded lands in between. This necessitates a sort of hop-scotch route from patch to patch of protected land, and many miles of travel along sometimes miserable roads connecting them. We also took 4 internal Air Mad flights, which proved to be almost totally unpredictable as to “schedules”, and which resulted in several last minute tweaks to our itinerary.
	Our first stop was Ampijoroa Forest Station, in Ankarafantsika Park on the west coast, one of the hot/flat & arid (at this time of year) locales. Our first Air Mad internal flight taught us the importance of letting go of logic, as we waited for 2 and a half hours on the sweltering plane for 2 passengers who arrived late on the Air Mad flight from Paris. Obviously, this would throw off the “schedule” for the remaining flights that day, but no one was concerned. “Mora-mora” means slowly-slowly, and we soon learned the more practical applications of that phrase! From the Mahajunga airport near the coast, it was a 2 hour drive inland on one of the country’s finest roads (mostly 2 lane and paved, we were told, for Jacques Chirac’s visit here a few years ago). We had been expecting to stay in tents at Ampijoroa, but were delighted to find newly opened, comfortable bungalows set into the vegetation by the lake. Grey-headed Lovebirds twittered & fussed in the trees outside my porch. Of course there was no A/C as the generator only operated about 5 hours per day (fairly typical it turned out), but there was plenty of hot water in my huge, walk-in shower, and a fan overhead for a brief evening cool-down, so that by the time I hit my bed, it was only about 88 F in my room (having been perhaps 99 F outside during our afternoon walks). Mornings were always delightfully cool, perhaps 72 F or so. Our food was prepared over charcoal fires by a chef from the nearby city of Mahajunga, and was delicious, including spring rolls, grilled duck, fresh veggies and fruits. We were not going to be going hungry here!
		The terrain at “Ampidgeroo” was sandy and fairly flat, with dry deciduous forests, yielding the first of my 130+ life birds for this trip. There are several families of birds found only in Madagascar, and by the trip’s end, we had managed to see not only one representative of each, but almost all the species in each family. For birders it doesn’t get much better! But in addition, there were the wonderfully amusing lemurs, more than 20 species seen by our group. The first we saw was Coquerel’s Sifaka, of which there were many feeding on mangoes in the trees about the camp. These lovely, monkey-sized creatures have brilliant yellow eyes, thick creamy colored fur with rich chestnut markings, and a constant expression of expectation as they chomp peacefully on fruits and leaves. Above all, they are cute, there is just no way around that word, and even the men in our group couldn’t help exclaiming about them! In addition, they are spring-loaded, and sail from tree to tree with seemingly no thought of preparation for take-off or landing, totally at ease and never missing, even the females with babies riding piggy-back. We also saw our first “Sportive Lemur”, a nocturnal group which pitches up in snug tree cavities during the day, quietly and solemnly surveying the likes of us passing below. I never could figure out what the “Sportive” referred to! Our local guide showed us birds and animals, even at night, chameleons and lemurs, a brightly colored Pitta-like Ground-roller (small crow-sized birds with blues and greens, black & white, gorgeous markings) and on its night perch, even a Madagascar Pygmy Kingfisher (lovely rufous and white markings) sitting quietly as it attempted to rest. A cooling boat ride one afternoon on Lac Ravelobe took us to the perch of a pair of rare Madagascar Fish-eagles, with their hungry, impatiently calling “teenaged” offspring perched nearby. This shallow, fresh-water lake is notorious for its Nile Crocodiles, which, we were told, took 68 people last year, yet the local people were casting nets, standing in water up to their thighs, while youngsters splashed happily around the shoreline...
	While on the west coast we took a long boat trip across the mouth of the Betsiboka River to its tidal mud-flat delta area, where we were fortunate to find 4 Bernier’s Teal feeding amongst the mangrove roots. This exceedingly rare duck is drifting towards extinction due to habitat loss, and though our looks were necessarily brief (time & tide not waiting, etc.), it was a thrill to have seen them.
		This afternoon jaunt also gave us an up close look at the heavily silted outflow of Madagascar’s rivers. From the air it seems that the entire red country is bleeding away into the Indian Ocean and Mozambique Channel, with smoke from fires streaming upward in all directions. The native forests and foliage have been stripped, primarily to make charcoal for cooking and heating fires, and to clear for the grazing of Zebu cattle and the cultivation of rice. There is little to hold the land when the cyclones strike in January-March. Though there are many introduced eucalypt plantations which have been coppiced time and again for fuel, even these offer little by way of soil retention. It is clear that the riches of Madagascar’s biome continue to exist only because of its handful of parks and special reserves. In between there is little but barren, sterile grassland & rocky ridges, with rice paddies choking every depression and lower hillside which once was a watercourse or marsh, and which seem to suck up almost all of the surface water. The small villages and gatherings of crude, tiny huts could barely be said to house the population of 18 tribes which make up the Malagasy peoples.
	Our next venue, after another delayed flight back to Tana, was a tented camp at a spot called Anjozorobe, not to be found on any map I could see, but a dandy spot in the cool highlands north of Tana, which, though not yet protected by park status, is being championed for preservation due to its small forest and rare marshy patches. The last section of “road” approaching the camp was barely navigable by our 4WD vehicles, perhaps a protective mechanism? Accommodations here were in comfortable tents with camp cots & sleeping bags, each with its own bucket shower and loo. It was cold at night, perhaps 55 F, but it was a welcome change from the heat of the west coast. The food here was mostly soups, salads and stews, deliciously flavored with ginger, and served with rice, of course, here the red variety, however, vs. the basmati type we’d had previously. Birding here was intense, as it had been at our first stop, as we rose at 5 and hiked for most of the day in pursuit of the local birds, though here we were beginning to hit some steep terrain requiring off-trail forays. The birds were plentiful, though, and it turned out to be one of my favorite spots.
		A long drive, again with the last hour or so on terrible roads, took us to Perinet/Mantadia Special Reserve & Park. Here we really hit steep, difficult terrain, which often required bush-whacking up and down steep, vine-tangled slopes, with even a few small leeches, all in order to see the rain-forest skulkers for which these parks are known. The birds, in the end, were well worth the effort, but this turned out to be the most physically demanding birding I had ever done! It was cool here, back in the 50's at night, which helped, certainly, but a nasty bout of food poisoning which hit me the final morning really took its toll. Fortunately, I only missed one bird as a result, and was able to crash on the long bus ride back to Tana, where I skipped dinner and slept off the aftermath of my most unwelcome illness. In trying to think how this happened, I came to the conclusion that it was almost inevitable, as dishes, for instance, are washed and rinsed in the local water, which I was avoiding carefully by brushing teeth with bottled water only, etc., etc., but which couldn’t be avoided in the end. There were others who succumbed that day too, so I was not alone!
	The next day found me happily recovered for the flight (delayed, of course), south to Fort Dauphin, on the Indian Ocean, back to the hot and dry part of the island. Here we were able to gear down a bit, relaxing in the delightful sea breezes over a lunch at the Miramar, as we watched humpback whales breech out beyond the reef. In Fort Dauphin, as at Berenty Private Reserve, the whole show seems to be run by the De Heaulme family, French ex-pats whose vast sisal plantations dominate the landscape for miles and miles. Fortunately, the family chose to preserve a small patch of dry gallery forest along the river, along with a small bit of Spiny Forest, both of which provide a haven for Ring-tailed Lemurs and Verraux’ Sifakas, which attract wildlife enthusiasts from around the world. One stays in the De Heaulme’s hotel in town, rides their buses to and from the Reserve, and stays in their bungalows while there. But as it turned out, this was all quite comfortable and relatively well run logistically, once one got past the Air Mad and airport experience, that is. (Last year one group was stuck at the airport here for 3 days, awaiting an Air Mad flight which simply didn’t show up, and no-one could tell them why or when it would!) The birds, of course, benefit from the interest in the lemurs, and so we found several target birds here, such as the White-browed Owl and the Giant Coua. The lemurs, however, really stole the show! The Ring-tails are everywhere, and seem totally un-phased by humans. Their early AM sun-worshiping is a hoot. However, my absolute, hands-down favorite was the Verraux’ Sifaka. This delightful animal finds it best to run across the hot, open spaces in camp and elsewhere when it finds trees too far apart for its usual spring-launched movements. Ah, but it runs with its arms in the air, a sort of two-step “dance” across the hot sandy stretches, resulting in a performance which brings peals of laughter to all who observe it!
		The mid-day heat of Berenty required a daily, welcome siesta time, as did our next stop, at Ifaty and Tulear, on the SW coast. Here the special habitat was “Spiny Forest”, an other-worldly bit of sandy-soiled bush, dominated by unique Pachypodia species (elephant-foot trees of varying sizes), Baobabs, cacti and thorny shrubs. The number of species here is limited, but again, they are found nowhere else on earth, and were well worth the trip. Our accommodations in beach-side bungalows were dandy, with cooling breezes and views over the off-shore reef and Mozambique Channel. The small, Indian-owned resort was managed by a French ex-pat, so dinners were good, although our early breakfasts tended to be grudgingly presented bread, cheese and coffee (what reasonable Frenchman would want to have breakfast at 5AM - zoot alors, uncivilized!!) Our excellent ground agent/local birding guide, Fano, was assisted here by a young man named Freddy. His family owned (or somehow controlled) a plot of Spiny Forest, and made their meager living by guiding birding groups during Oct. & Nov., though obviously this was not sufficient for a year-round existence. Thus, they spent the rest of the year cutting down their Spiny Forest to make charcoal. Counter-productive, one might think, but, on the other hand, they had to live somehow... Freddy proved to be a good and enthusiastic guide, and having been assisting Fano for some years, was invited to join us for the ride to Tana and to spend a week there with Fano in hopes of learning some English (he spoke only Malagasy, and very little French). This turned out to be a most interesting experience for all of us, as young Freddy, at the age of 15, had never been more than a few miles from his home in the Spiny Forest, and while he had a rudimentary grasp of reading and writing, had never known of the world beyond his town. In fact, he thought we all lived in Tana, and had no concept of the world or where we came from! For the remainder of the trip, the mountains and waterfalls, rainforests, towns and cities of his country were all revelations to him, and the birds and animals too brought huge smiles and wide eyes. Needless to say, we all enjoyed his delight in these discoveries!
	One special day’s adventure involved taking ox-carts out to a speedboat, which then took us to an uninhabited island where Red-tailed Tropicbirds could be found nesting under the scrubby bushes. It was rather like an Easter egg hunt, as we fanned out across the small island, each of us making our own discoveries as we went.At the other end of the island, a small picnic pavilion had been built, welcome shade for our lunch (cheese, cold fried rice, chicken, bread & bananas). This, however, was interrupted by the exciting discovery of a single, adult Sooty Gull, sitting quietly amongst a large gathering of Greater and Lesser-Crested Terns. This gull is normally not seen below the horn of Africa, northern Somalia, and is most frequently seen in the Red Sea area. Our sighting was the first for the Indian Ocean islands and south of the Equator! It was duly recorded with numerous photographs, and though my little 3X digital couldn’t quite make it that far, I had ample opportunities to study the bird through the scope, a most satisfactory experience! Once again, the food and/or water got to me, so the first day of the long bus trip back towards Tana was another lost one for me, although I did manage to see the one target bird along the way. After a second long day on the bus we finally arrived at Ranomafana Park, back in the steep, wet rainforest habitat. Despite the 123 steep steps up to my bungalow (which had lovely views out over the river valley below), I managed to regroup for the trip’s final few days of intense birding. The terrain here was even steeper and more treacherous than before, but with some real prizes to be had amongst the birds and animals too. By the time we began our final travel day, 10 long hours on the road back to Tana, I was ready for some sitting and dozing! Especially as our flight back to Johannesburg the following day required a 2:15AM wake-up, that last bus trip was no real hardship.
		The long trip home thus took about 40 hours in all, but I was able to pick up about 6 hours of sleep on the flight to Atlanta, and arrived home weary but rewarded by my long, arduous trip. Would I go again? No, I think not. The birds which I failed to see there will forever remain unseen for me, but that seems OK, as I gave it my best shot. I did end up seeing 130+ life birds, of which over 120 could be seen nowhere else, and 26 species of lemurs, far exceeding my goals in both categories. Best of all, most of these encounters were not just glimpses, but great looks with scopes and bins, and sometimes even too close for binoculars! I don’t think I could deal with the uncertainties of life and travel in Madagascar again, certainly not at any older age, I’m sure, so I’m glad I went when I did. That being said, however, I would certainly encourage anyone with a passion for birds, animals, reptiles and plants to head to Madagascar sooner rather than later, as the battle to preserve the world’s greatest concentration of unique species may not be won in the long run, despite the best efforts of some very concerned people, both Malagasy and international. The pressures of population alone make preservation of its precious species a precarious tight-rope act for Madagascar’s government, industry and private groups. I wish them much success, but I am doubtful as to the outcome, unfortunately. It was truly an adventure, though, and packed with wonderful critters and plants!