Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
- and it carries for up to 3km as troops call to each other across the forest. They generally
call at dawn, mid-morning, and sometimes shortly before dusk. During the middle of the
day they take a long siesta in the canopy so you are unlikely to see them.
Indri are monogamous, live in small family groups of up to five animals, and give birth
aroundJuneinalternateyears.InMalagasytheindriiscalled
babakoto
whichmeans'fath-
er of Koto'. It is
fady
to kill them, the legend being that a boy called Koto climbed a tree
in the forest to collect wild honey, and was severely stung by the bees. Losing his hold, he
fell, but was caught by an indri which carried him on its back to safety.
Thereare11speciesoflemuraltogetherinAndasibe,althoughyouwillnotseethemall.
You may find grey bamboo lemurs, common brown lemurs and perhaps a sleeping avahi
(woollylemur)curledupintheforkofatree.Diademedsifakasandblack-and-whiteruffed
lemurshavebeentranslocatedherefromMantadiaandfromforestclearedtomakewayfor
the Ambatovy mining project.
In addition to lemurs there are tenrecs, beautiful and varied insects, spiders and reptiles
- especially chameleons and boas. Birdwatchers will want to look out for the velvet asity,
blue coua and nuthatch vanga.
Leeches can be an unpleasant aspect of the reserve if you've pushed through vegetation
andit'sbeenrainingrecently.Tuckyourtrousersintoyoursocksandapplyinsectrepellent.
The trails in Andasibe have been carefully constructed, but nevertheless, there is quite a
steepascent(upsteps)totheplateau wheretheindriarefound,andtofollowtheseanimals
you may have to scramble a bit.
Night walks are not allowed in the national park itself (but are in Mitsinjo's reserve),
though it's worth going on a guided nocturnal stroll along the road for the frogs and
chameleons which are easier to see at night. On one memorable occasion our group dis-
turbed a streaked tenrec that fell/jumped into the lake. When the little animal reached the
far shore in safety our cheers could have woken every sleeping indri for miles!
MANTADIA NATIONAL PARK
While Andasibe is for almost everyone, Mantadia,
20km to the north, is for the enthusiast. The trails are rugged but the rewards are excep-
tional. Mantadia varies more in altitude (800-1,260m) than the more popular section and
consequentlyharboursdifferentspecies.Whatmakesitsospecialisthat,incontrasttoAn-
dasibe, it comprises virtually untouched primary forest. There are 10,000ha with just a few
constructed trails - visitors must be prepared to work for their wildlife - but this is a natur-
alist's goldmine with many seldom-seen species of mammals, reptiles and birds.
The forest is bisected by the road, with the three trails on the eastern side. Here you may
see the beautiful golden-coloured diademed sifaka (
simpona
) and some indri (curiously
much darker in colour than in Andasibe). Both these lemur species are getting easier to see
as they become habituated to humans. This section of Mantadia has some good, but steep,
