The North - Madagascar - page 560

showers; tastefully designed bar & restaurant with excellent food. See ad on Click Here .
€€€€€
Litchi Tree m 033 12 784 54; e [e-mail] ; www.thelitchitree.com .
Opened in 2008, this charming guesthouse is a meticulously restored villa originally built
in 1902. Spacious rooms with solar-heated water. €€€€€
Hôtellerie du Monastère (8 rooms & dorms) m 032 04 795 24/032 04 795 34; e con-
[e-mail] ; www.gitesaintbenoit.com . Benedictine convent with good-
value en-suite rooms & dorms with 5-7 beds. Communal meals; b/fast inc. €€€
Auberge Sakay-Tanay m 032 04 281 22; e [e-mail] ; www.sakay-
tany.com . Good-value simple guesthouse. €€-€€€
Accommodation in the national park There are tent shelters and a hut with bunks in the
parkforvisitorsequippedwithsleepingbags.Fromthewildlifepointofview,stayinginor
near the park is far preferable to making a day trip from Antsiranana.
A campsite at the picnic area, known as Station des Rousettes, has running water,
shower, toilet and barbeque facilities. Firewood is available from the warden, but bring
your own food.
WEATHER The rainy season is from December to April. It is usually dry from May to
August, but there is a strong wind, varatraza , almost every day and it can feel quite cold.
The temperature in the park is, on average, 5°C cooler than in Antsiranana. It is often wet
and muddy and there may be leeches - so be wary of wearing shorts and sandals however
hot and dry you are at sea level. Bring waterproofs, insect repellent and even a light sweat-
er.
The most rewarding time to visit is during the warm season: September to November.
There will be some rain, but most animals are active and visible, and the lemurs will have
babies.
FLORA AND FAUNA Montagne d'Ambre is as exciting for its plants as for its animals.
All visitors are impressed by the tree ferns and the huge, epiphytic bird's nest ferns which
grow on trees. The distinctive Pandanus is also common and you can see Madagascar's
endemic cycad. Huge strangler figs add to the spectacle.
Most visitors want to see lemurs and two diurnal species have become habituated: San-
ford's brown lemur and crowned lemur. Male Sanford's lemurs have white/beige ear-tufts
and side-whiskers surrounding black faces, whilst the females are more uniform in col-
our with no whiskers and a grey face. Crowned lemurs get their names from the triangular
headmarkings,mostdistinctiveinthemale.YoungarebornfromSeptembertoNovember.
There are also five species of nocturnal lemur.