Anjajavy to Antsiranana, Madagascar

13 - 15 April 08

Joffreville, Montagne d'Ambre and Diego-Suarez

14 April. We went on a full day excursion in the Amber Mountain National Park with driver Gaby and our guide Simon. We spotted a blue-nosed chameleon, a female Amber Mountain chameleon, crowned lemurs and Sanford's lemurs and several leaf-tailed geckos neatly camouflaged against tree trunks. As for the birds, we saw crested ibis, a brushed warbler and a male magpie robbin. Before lunch, cooked by Gaby at the camp site, some ring-tailed mongooses appeared, attracted by the cooking smells. Gaby and Simon found several tiny broocesia minima chameleons for us. They tend to hide under leaves at the foot of trees.

After lunch we set off for a crater lake. It started to rain and the leeches came out in great numbers to attack us. Flemming got attacked on a very delicate part of his body!

Our nocturnal walk in the Domaine de Fontenay nature park with Simon was a little disappointing. We had been hoping to see some of the nocturnal species of lemur that live only in the north of Madagascar but they didn’t cooperate beyond showing us their bright eyes in the distance. However, we saw a sleeping female sunbird, a tiny frog on a leaf, an orange millipede and a large spider called Hartman’s, which is quite unusual in that it doesn’t make webs.