Phase 1: From Amsterdam to Antananarivo to Andisibe

Our journey began at Schiphol airport in the Netherlands. The first leg was just a couple of hours to Rome, followed by a 2 hour layover in Rome. Our next leg to Addis Ababa was delayed (once we'd boarded) by more than an hour. We tried to sleep on this 'overnight' stretch but the crew insisted on feeding and watering us which didn't give much peace and quiet for sleeping! 

The arrival in soggy Addis Ababa gave us a 2 hour break before we flew the last leg to Antananarivo. After 21 hours of travelling we collected our luggage (relieved it had made it with us!) and walked out into a humid winter afternoon to be greeted by our first guide - Herri, who was our enthusiastic and very chatty guide for the whole of phase 1 of the trip.

Herri cheerfully informed us we would be jumping straight into our Hyundai minivan (the first of many) to drive the 140km to Andasibe National Park. On a busy Monday evening, on National Road 2, we were informed this would probably take in the region of 6 hours!!!

As we travelled along the vast stretch of mostly unmade road we caught our first glimpses of the landscape, until the winter darkness set in at around 6pm.

Our first taste of Madagascan hospitality came at the Sahatandra River hotel on the edge of Madagascar´s Eastern National Park - Andisibe-Mantadia. The Madagascan version of an ox or cow is the Zebu. On the first night Zebu steak and grilled fish were on the menu and we fell into bed, under our mosquito nets, after an exhausting couple of day's travelling.

The first morning we headed into the National Park under the guidance of Herri and local park expert, Tina. Before we'd even made it into the park entrance Herri had spotted this highly camouflaged leaf-tailed gecko doing a fantastic impression of being a lichen!

And before we even left the carpark we had spotted a couple of chameleons, one in the branch of a tree and a small chameleon hanging out on a plant...

Within a very short space of time after entering the park we had met our first lemur - a bamboo lemur - sitting low to the ground, munching noisily on some bamboo. (Clearly demonstrating where it got it's name).

We then headed towards an area of tall trees where there was suddenly a lot of rustling in the tree tops and a troupe of golden diadem sifakas were jumping from branch to branch above our heads.

This was followed by the appearance of the somewhat heavier and less graceful indri. The Indri are the largest species of lemur. Unlike most other species, they don't have a long tail. But they do have a ridiculously piercing cry which, as we walked away from their overhead antics they ably demonstrated to us - imagine a cross between an air-raid siren and a wailing cat!

On our way through the forest we spotted an extraordinary ants nest:

And the golden sifakas followed us, entertaining as we explored...

As we walked back to the park entrance we saw a purple heron in a fish conservation area - no doubt doing some fish conservation of it's own! And a common Madagascan bird - the Drongo:

After our morning in the park we headed to a lovely café for lunch where the food was fantastic and they even had wifi!! Then off to "Lemur Island" (a lemur sanctuary just outside Andisibe Park) for the afternoon. To keep the lemurs safe they have been homed on a succession of forest islands (lemurs don't swim). So we needed to canoe across to the first island.

Once across we were greeted almost immediately by a troupe of brown lemurs. 

More bamboo lemurs followed...

Then the black ruffed lemurs came to see us. And promptly had a wrestling match just in front of us!

 

Then we went to edge of the island to watch the golden diadem sifakas on the neighbouring island as they showed us their dance moves:

The sifakas were followed by a red-ruffed lemur...

So this was day one - and we'd already seen 6 different species of lemur!! And there was still the night walk to come...

So after a lovely meal back at the Sahatandra River hotel we headed out armed with torches ready to try and spot some nocturnal creatures along the edge of the Andisibe park. Lots of reptiles and amphibians to be found amongst the greenery - spot the chameleon that looks like a leaf...!

We even found a weird slug!

And then - gold! Someone spotted a mouse lemur - the smallest lemur species. We all tried to point our torches in the right direction to get a photo of this tiny superstar species!

With our night-time quarry captured in a flurry of camera activity we  retired to bed. A rather damp and humid bed, under a mosquito net, but a welcome chance to sleep nonetheless!