Day 3: Analamazaotra Reserve

15 August 2025

Today we explore the Analamazaotra Special Reserve, once part of the larger Andasibe-Mantadia National Park. This protected forest is home to 108 different species of bird, 14 species of lemur and 84 types of amphibians.

We are up early for breakfast and then depart to head back to the National Park to meet guide John again for a 3-4 hour hike to seek lemurs. Along the way he shows us a range of different birds and we see a mouse lemur curled up having a snooze (a better view than just the eyes we could see last night).

The stars of the show of course were the Indiri lemurs and the Golden Sifakas. We were lucky as we saw many more than they usually expect.

The Indiri are large black and white lemurs with short tails. We originally saw them high up in the trees, we could see them but it was almost impossible to take good photos. Thankfully a bit later on we saw another troupe and they started with their piercing, haunting characteristic call. We were able to record the incredible sound and John managed to video one that was doing the calling.

The Golden Sifaka were much easier for us to photograph. We came across a small family of a male and female with twin babies only a couple of months old. We watched them for ages and were rewarded with seeing the little faces peering down at us and even saw one crawling up it’s mother’s back.

Later on we saw them again with a bigger troupe and several came right down to only a few metres from us.

Lunch at a Chinese Restaurant – I had a very nice wonton soup and Anne very bravely tried the pork in cassava leaf; which turned out to be very fatty pork pieces in puréed leaf (and not particularly appealing despite being a typical Malagasy dish).

Then we head back towards the Lodge with a stop at Lemur Island, where unsurprisingly the lemur are contained on an island (they don’t like to swim). We are ferried across in canoes and then in a very short distance and time we are treated to several more different lemurs. A cute Collared Brown Lemur greets us but its larger more showy cousin the Black and White Ruffed Lemur steals the show by showing off. Further along we see the Eastern Grey Bamboo Lemur (the smallest diurnal lemur), and more of the Collared Brown Lemur and the Black and White Ruffed Lemur that are all feeding on the bamboo that has been put out for them. (At some times of year there is plenty of natural food on the island but at other times they are fed).

Across another stretch of water we see the Red Ruffed Lemur and the Diadem Sifaka. It is such a treat as we see them ’leaping’, interacting and feeding. Back on our island though, the show-off Black and White Ruffed Lemur steals the show again by performing a range of its different calls, including a full-on alarm call (which was certainly alarming at only a couple of metres away from us)!

After an amazing and satisfying  ‘David Attenborough’ day we head back to the Lodge to clean up and sort out our photos.

Despite having 2 nights at the Lodge, the washing we had done as we arrived yesterday afternoon didn’t seem to have dried at all. Hopefully putting the washing lines under the heater will help – although it does mean that we have to crawl under the washing to use the bathroom.

Dinner is again in the restaurant at the Lodge and I’m happy to be able to think about having some real food.