June 22, 2016

I spent the day at Andasibe National Park. This is the prime place to get your lemur on. The park consists principally of primary growth forest and is home to a vast biodiversity of many endemic and endangered species. There are 11 lemur species including Madagascar’s largest lemur, the Indri.

It was only a 25km ride from Moramanga so I arrived by 10am. I quickly found a place to drop my bags then embarked on a private 3 hr guided tour of the park (a guide is required). At first, the path was cobbled and my guide walked slow. He was a slender 5’ 2” man in his early 50’s and spoke reasonably good English. I was beginning to feel like a typical tourist walking on a cobbled path and was hoping for more adventure. Just as complacency was beginning to set in, “Come with me, quickly.” My guide who walked so slowly and deliberately heard a call and darted into the dense foliage of the rain forest. There wasn’t even a trail! I won’t lie, I could not keep up. I fumbled through steep hillside blanketed in slimy, mossy roots. I felt like a kid walking across a frozen pond without skates. I don’t think my guide even looked back to see if I was with him. When I finally caught up, he pointed straight up, about 30 feet. There was a family of 6 lemurs, doing what lemurs do… wrestling and playing in the trees. Then, in a flash, they moved…and when I say “moved”, I mean the leapt from tree to tree in an absolute effortless fashion, the way a deer bounds through a field and over a fence. We scampered our way up the hill side, meandering and pushing through “trails” in search of the Indri lemur. The entire time, my guide was making a series of grunts, clicks, and howls. Then he did it to me again. “Come this way, quickly”. I could hear their distinct howl. Down the hillside I skidded and slipped until we came upon a family of Indri lemur. We sat there for several minutes and listened to them call back and forth. Their voices I’ll never forget.  Here is the video I took:

Clowning around with my guide