The West - Madagascar - page 649

Madagascar is a separate world; an isolated island, home to countless unique species.
Against this background, Kirindy is a superlative within a superlative. A number of
species live nowhere else on earth but in this remnant of dry deciduous forest.
Monogamous pairs of giant jumping rats - Madagascar's largest rodents, which
look like a peculiar kangaroo-rabbit crossbreed with a rat's tail - dig their burrows
only in the soft, red soils of Kirindy. A second local endemic is the tiny Madame
Berthe's mouse lemur, described less than a decade ago. Weighing just 30g, it is the
world's smallest primate. Yet another special treat of Kirindy is the fossa, the is-
land's largest carnivore. Incredibly elusive elsewhere in Madagascar, you cannot fail
to see them around the campsite, always on the lookout for scraps. And if you visit
in November, you may also witness their unique mating behaviour: a female spends
many days in a tree copulating in turn with the several males queuing at the bottom.
Besides the fossa, jumping rats and eight lemur species (from the solitary, gnomish
mouse lemurs to the troops of large sifakas), Kirindy is home to about 20 other mam-
mals, including rodents, tenrecs, bats and the endangered narrow-striped mongoose.
The majority of the lemurs are nocturnal, but they occur at exceptionally high densit-
ies, so you are guaranteed to see some. A night walk is a must! Kirindy is also a hot-
spot for ornithologists, with about 70 bird species, including the rare white-breasted
mesite and crested ibis, vasa parrots, harrier hawks, kingfishers, sunbirds and vangas.
Some 50 reptiles and 15 amphibians, as well as an innumerable variety of colourful
insects, complete the zoological spectrum.
Kirindy's plants are equally notable, including three species of baobab and the en-
demic hazomalany tree. Several marked nature trails allow visitors to explore the
forest vegetation.
Right next to the tourist camp, Prof Peter Kappeler and his team from the German
Primate Center have been operating a research station since 1993, where an interna-
tional group of field biologists studies the ecology and behaviour of Kirindy's fauna.
Thus the tourist guides are constantly kept updated by the researchers, and eagerly
pass on news of the very latest scientific discoveries to visitors.
Lennart Pyritz is a PhD student at the German Primate Center studying group co-
ordination in red-fronted lemurs .
WHENTOGO If you are seriously interested in the wildlife of Kirindy you should try to
visit at the beginning of the rainy season (November to January). In addition to the fossa
mating spectacle, these are the best months to see the giant jumping rat which is more act-
ive after the rain has softened the ground (but they tend to keep out of sight during a full
moon).