Exploring Madagascar: Wildlife photography diary

As I write this I am pretty exhausted from an eleven hour journey crossing the highlands that are the backbone of Madagascar, arriving in Morondava on the west coast. The journey was supposed to have taken an hour by plane but thanks to Air Madagascar cancelling the flight we had to drive. Having been in Madagascar for a while, rearranging travel plans last minute is almost completely normal and it was actually nice to see the change from the green of the east to the dryness of the west.

Madagascar’s eastern slopes were once covered in continuous rainforest. Warm winds blowing in from the Indian Ocean condense on these highlands which run the length of Madagascar, giving this part of the island very high rainfall. We have spent the past few days exploring the two most visited parks of the eastern rainforests, Ranomafana National Park and Andasibe-Mantadia National Park.

Although Ranomafana is the bigger of the two parks at 41,000 hectares, we quickly found golden bamboo lemurs not far from the park entrance. Originally discovered in 1986 this species is one of the two that Ranomafana was originally set up to protect. They were sleeping high in the giant bamboo that is their primary food source so we went looking for the second species, the critically endangered greater bamboo lemur. They are the rarest primate in the world and only two remain in Ranomafana National park. We found both of them not far from the golden bamboo lemurs and watched one feeding on a spike of bamboo ripped from the floor, chewing off the edible sections and dropping the rest to the ground.

Heading back out of the park way we saw two more species of lemur, the red-fronted brown lemur and the red-bellied lemur, as well as two satanic leaf-tailed geckos, one of the coolest and weirdest inhabitants of the park.

After lunch we went up the hill to the slightly higher elevation forest at Vohiparara to look for the Milne-Edwards’ sifaka. We came across a juvenile male separated from the rest of his group, making melancholic sounding lost calls. We followed him, off the trail through thick vegetation, whilst he tried to find his group.

On the way back to the road William, our spotter, found us a giraffe weevil, probably the strangest creature in a land known for its odd features but often overlooked because of its size.

Heading out from Morondava in the early morning we had left a little late so we were racing the light in order to catch the “golden hour” at the Avenue of Baobabs. Getting stuck behind numerous Zebu carts and “pousse-pousse” men on the bumpy road didn’t help matters. As any photographer does when chasing the light I was starting to get anxious that we might miss golden hour altogether.

Fortunately the Avenue of Baobabs is only a short drive from Morondava and the morning was hazy allowing the light to stay nice for a little longer. Arriving at the avenue I had only taken a couple of pictures when a group of children spotted us. A first I thought they might ask for sweets or money but actually they just wanted to play with our cameras. One girl took control of mine and was happily burning through my memory cards with her finger clamped down on the shutter button.

The excitement and playfulness of the children was contagious and really lifted the mood after my initial frustration. The light was still good and I managed to wrestle my camera back from the kids long enough to get some shots. They were dancing and skipping along behind us as we walked back to the car to continue our journey to the Tsingy.

On the way we stopped at Kirindy Private Reserve to try to get a glimpse of the elusive fossa. Unfortunately we didn’t see one but got great views of Verroux’s sifakas, a sportive lemur and a grumpy looking scops owl.

From Kirindy It takes roughly 6-8 hours to get to the Tsingy and depends largely on the timings of the two river crossings as sometimes there can be a long wait. Luckily we got across them both without problems and arrived at Bekopaka before dark.

The Tsingy De Bemahara National Park is the second largest National Park in Madagascar and covers a huge area. The two places with accessible trails are named Small Tsingy and Grand Tsingy due to the height of the limestone pinnacles. We went to the Small Tsingy in the afternoon but that was just a warm up for the incredible Grand Tsingy the next day. Yet again Madagascar amazes with its weirdness! 

The Tsingy is formed by the erosion of limestone and due to the unique geology this has created unbelievably jagged formations. The word Tsingy roughly translates to English as “where one cannot walk barefoot” and that certainly was the case. A fall here would could certainly do some damage!

The deep ravines carved in the rock hold fragments of dry forest where lemurs can be seen. We managed to see the all-white Decken’s sifaka moving like ghosts in the distance as well as red-fronted brown lemurs and a sportive lemur that popped out of a tree hole. We also went through several long caves carved out by water erosion, crossed the ravines on rope bridges and visited the main viewpoints to look out over the Tsingy.

Before having to make the long drive back to Morondava we took a canoe trip up the Manambolo River. The river has cut a gorge through the limestone and this is where all the caves and water channels in the Tsingy drain out to. We visited some caves used by the Vazimba people, the first tribe in Madagascar, to hide from attackers. In the rainy season the water levels rise drastically making access to the Tsingy nearly impossible.


We made it back to Morondava in time to catch our flight out, ready for the final stage of our trip, whale watching and relaxing at Ile Saint Marie!

Ile Sainte Marie or Nosy Boraha in Malagasy is 60 km long and less than 10 km wide, surrounded by coral reef with lush white sand beaches and palm trees. After all the travelling it was nice to arrive at our luxury lodge in the knowledge that we would be in the same place for a couple of days and would be able to relax for the final part of the trip.

After about five minutes of lying on the beach I was picking across the exposed reef checking out the sea urchins and hermit crabs in the rock pools. I was not alone, at low tide people from the surrounding villages come out and explore the reef too. Whereas I was looking out of pure fascination they were looking for their lunch.

Our first whale watching outing was scheduled for the next morning. At breakfast I refused the offer of a seasickness pill thinking that the sea looked calm. We made our way slowly though the reef pass and out into the channel that separates Ile Saint Marie from the mainland.

Named for the distinctive hump seen clearly just before taking a dive, humpback whales come to this channel to mate and to breed in the warm shallow waters. After about half an hour of keeping our eyes peeled for signs of whales I spotted one breaching in the distance. Feeling pretty pleased with myself for being the first to spot a whale I hung on tight as the boat sped up and we raced to get closer before it took its next dive.