We were collected at 0730 for our morning looking for lemurs in the secondary forest and main national park. The forest was a mix of endemic Madagascan trees and imports i.e. eucalyptus and pines from Australia. This area is much more accessible so there were far more tourists visiting which meant sightings could have upwards of 20 people watching. That said it didn't cause any problems except for the rather large german guy,with a matching large camera, who was huffing and puffing in the undergrowth in his endeavours to get good pictures - and then he leapt onto the log I was standing on and balanced precariously whilst trying to snap away - clearly thinking I must be in a good picture position - which I was - but keeping his balance caused him to do more huffing and puffing than usual - in my view less bulk on all fronts would have been beneficial for all!
Infront of the main building we got very good sightings of the blue coua - a native bird with a fantastically vibrant blue eye.
As we passed an old fish farm - currently being renovated- we saw the resident boa sunning itself and then onward looking for lemurs. We gathered from another guide that there were indiris to the left and diademed or golden sifakas to the right - spoilt for choice - we went right to see the sifakas as we had not seen them before! They were a lovely golden colour and we watched them sunning themselves and followed them as they leapt from tree to tree. The highlight was two babies both clinging to their mothers backs and exploring the world. We then moved off to see the Indiri family - mum,dad and two kids! They leap up to 10 metres and are amazing to watch. These Indiri were more white than black whereas the ones yesterday were more black than white.
After 20 minutes or so we went back again to watch the sifaka and saw them leap across a path way - in the air sadly not dancing across the ground - we may see that elsewhere but here they can easily make the distance by jumping ( their max is about 6 meters). We then wended our way along the paths towards the exit as we passed a lake we saw the malachite kingfisher and crested drongo whilst watching a family of common brown lemurs - as we got closer I took some great pictures of them eating and snoozing - the males had jet black faces while the females were brown - hence it was easy to tell the difference!
A long necked giraffe weevil - red and black-was spotted but it was too small to get a focussed picture which I would have liked to do as these are another Madagascar only species.
Back at the park entrance we said our goodbyes to Edwin and I then looked at the very good displays explaining about the life of the Indiri and the evolution of the forest.
Off to lunch after which we walked through the local village with our guide. It is one of those occasions when I feel uncomfortable and like a voyeur .....but it is important if it reminds you how lucky you are.
Most of the houses are wooden - some have sanitation but if not there is a small toilet and shower block for the village. There are two schools state - blue shirts and a private catholic school- green shirts - the fees for the latter are 8000 ariary a month - approx £2.25. Everybody seemed happy and smiling but the poverty is stark......very few people look overweight....people buy small amounts everyday - this based both on storage and affordability. The over reliance on charcoal to heat and cook by needs to be tackled otherwise the remaining forests will be decimated - a problem they are also tackling in Africa - not easy though.
As we left it was getting really hot - so when we returned to the lodge and our seemingly other world I went for a swim to cool down. We then packed; after which we then went to the main lodge where I caught up with my emails, using the wifi in reception, over a cup of hot chocolate prior to dinner and preparation for the next leg of our adventure.