Today we met Njavi for breakfast at 7am with departure for the rainforest - 2 minutes up the road at 7.30. Our driver had already collected the local guide, Stephan, from the village several kilometres away. At the park entrance we also met a young guy who was to be our spotter - he went ahead and looked for the lemurs while Stephan told us about the plant life. The weather was
misty and drizzley as we were in a midst of a cloud - so we started with rain jackets but took them off after going up and down the well maintained slopes as it didn't matter what you did it was damp from drizzle or damp from exertion and at least without the jackets you weren't hot!
Not far from the entrance we saw a group of red fronted lemurs snuggled together at the top of a tree resting. Then the picture of today one of the 4 species of the giraffe necked weevil - the most impressive one is the large red one - this is a small black one but you can see his long neck - they are very difficult to get in focus and my previous attempts at the red one failed but with this photo the weevil and the water droplets are in focus and depicted the cool damp morning well.
We crossed a fast flowing mountain river and headed into the forest proper. Our next sighting was the golden bamboo lemur - only found in the late 1980s and the reason this park was formed in 1991 - to protect them. They were at the top of a tree resting but not really easy to see - as they moved a little you could see their golden coats.
As we headed up the trails we saw several birds - the pitta like ground roller, the red tailed vanga, the blue vanga, the common sunbird asity, The grey crowned greenbul, the yellow browed oxyblades, the wedge tailed jerry and a fantastic leaf tailed gecko which looked like a dead dark brown leaf. I also spotted running down the path towards us a ring tailed mongoose - a lovely rufous colour - he ran too fast to get a photo. When we were watching some birds a lowland red forest rat ran out and back into the undergrowth looking round fluffy and well fed. ( not rats as we know them!)
We then had a call from the spotter to say they had found the Milne- Edwars sifaka - the largest sifaka - black and white in colour. When we started watching there were only about 4 of us by the end there were about 30 with tourists and guides descending from all parts of the forest. Watching them resting then jumping from tree to tree was quite a sight - I did spot one mother with a baby clinging to her back. We watched them for a good 20-30 minutes until they headed off into another part of the forest. These sifaka never come to the ground to drink as they get all the water they need from the rain on the leaves and the leaves themselves.
We then climbed through the undergrowth and up a slope to see red bellied lemurs snoozing and huddled together which the spotter had found.....has we then slowly wended our way back behind other tourists on the main path to the exit our guide signalled us to go down a narrow path to the side which he said was a shortcut --- what a shortcut -- first we heard then saw the greater bamboo lemur - there are only two in this forest, a father and a daughter, there are others lower down in the cultivated areas but the road and predators have reduced the number in the protected forest to an unsustainable level. They would like to introduce more but a plan needs to be worked out so they are not similarly doomed by the road! While we were looking at these the spotter found some more red bellied lemurs close by feeding at mid height levels so we went to look at them - lovely reddish brown fur and very fluffy. Back at the greater bamboo lemurs we watched as the male moved through the trees and came to the ground to eat bamboo -he allowed us to get really close and take some good pictures - he then changed places with his daughter and she came to the ground allowing us to do likewise.....they just seemed to be grumpy and wary of each other and unconcerned about us!
After 20 minutes of a magical experience we made our way out of the park - amazed at what we had seen.
We then took the guides back to the village and stopped off at a restaurant for lunch before returning to the lodge and siesta before heading out for our night walk at 1730.
The first half of the walk was in daylight - so we were able to see the golden orb web spider - and there is a golden thread around the outside of the web. The female is an impressive size - approx an inch and with a golden back - the male was the size of a large full stop - and there was some suggestion he is eaten after the eggs are fertilised.
As it grew dark we were able to find several species of chameleon on the edges of branches - including the flat necked and blue legged chameleons. We passed lots of other walkers going in the opposite direction - a ploy by our guide which meant when we got to the spot to see the brown mouse lemur there were not lots of others around. These lemurs are solitary, the male after mating doesn't stick around - he leaves the female to bring up 3 youngsters on her own. These were bigger and chunkier mouse lemurs than we have seen before - approx 45 grams but in the guava season they double to 90 grams - this is pre hibernation which happens during June and July. Lots of lemurs were attracted to the spot we were standing in because banana had been rubbed on the bark of a tree and they smelt hit - illustrating their hyper sensitive sense of smell.
A couple of frogs later and getting out of the now pouring rain we headed back to the lodge for supper....which we had ordered before we left. One surprise left we saw an animal cross the road it looked civet or dog like but as we got closer we realised it was a young fossa which pleased not only us but the guides as well - they are not often seen here.
When we returned there was a power cut in progress - so starter of soup was fine but we had to wait for the power to come back on before my vegetable au gratin could be finished - luckily it was not too long a wait. Due to water shortages and low levels of water in the reservoir insufficient hydroelectric power can be generated so cuts are currently a frequent phenomena.