DAY 2 Madagascar Road trip🇲🇬

11/05/2025 - Antsirabe - Morondava

Trip Plan: 450 km - about 9 to 10h drive : Today, we will drive through the west part to reach Morondava, the kingdown of the Baobab trees - A long drive but the landscape is amazing - everything you see is green - lunch at leisure - You will see the first baobab before arriving in Morondava - Checking at your hotel on your arrival - Dinner and overnight.

This morning we are heading to Morondawa in the western part of the country, expecting to spend more than 10 hours on the same road conditions.

After breakfast at the hotel, we had the chance to see two endemic African birds near the swimming pool, which was a great way to start the day.

Hamerkop

The hamerkop (Scopus umbretta) is a medium-sized bird. It is the only living species in the genus Scopus and the family Scopidae. The species and family was long thought to sit with the Ciconiiformes but is now placed with the Pelecaniformes, and its closest relatives are thought to be the pelicans and the shoebill. The shape of its head with a long bill and crest at the back is reminiscent of a hammer, which has given this species its name after the Afrikaans word for hammerhead. It is a medium-sized waterbird with brown plumage. It is found in mainland Africa, Madagascar and Arabia, living in a wide variety of wetlands, including estuaries, lakesides, fish ponds, riverbanks, and rocky coasts. The hamerkop is a sedentary bird that often shows local movements.

Red fody

The red fody (Foudia madagascariensis), also known as the Madagascar fody in Madagascar, red cardinal fody in Mauritius, or common fody, is a small bird native to Madagascar and introduced to various other islands in the Indian Ocean. It is a common bird within its restricted range, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed its conservation status as being of "least concern".

Along the way, we saw Hemmerkop again feeding in the rice fields.

The hamerkop takes a wide range of prey, mostly fish and amphibians, but shrimps, insects and rodents are taken too. Prey is usually hunted in shallow water, either by sight or touch, but the species is adaptable and will take any prey it can. The species is renowned for its enormous nests, several of which are built during the breeding season. Unusually for a wading bird the nest has an internal nesting chamber where the eggs are laid. Both parents incubate the eggs, and raise the chicks.

Once on the Highlands we stopped for a break and took some beautiful landscape photos. We also saw a frog of Love birds and some birds and a few common dragonflies.

Grey-headed lovebird

The gray-headed lovebird or Madagascar lovebird (Agapornis canus) is a small species of parrot of the lovebird genus. It is a mainly green parrot. The species is sexually dimorphic and only the adult male has grey on its upper body. They are native on the island of Madagascar and are the only lovebird species which are not native on the African continent. They are the smallest of the lovebird species. It is rarely seen in aviculture and it is difficult to breed in captivity.

Malagasy kestrel

The Malagasy kestrel (Falco newtoni), also known as the Madagascar kestrel, Malagasy spotted kestrel, Newton's kestrel, Madagascar spotted kestrel, katiti(Creole)or hitsikitsika (Malagasy), is a small bird of prey of the genus Falco. It is named after British ornithologist Edward Newton. It occurs in two subspecies on Madagascar and at Aldabra. The race from Aldabra is also called Aldabra kestrel(Falco newtoni aldabranus). Its closest living relative is the Seychelles kestrel; they were at one time considered conspecific. Their common ancestors appear to have diverged very recently, probably less than 1 million years ago during the Early or Middle Pleistocene. The Mauritius kestrel is more distantly related.

Madagascar cisticola

The Madagascar cisticola (Cisticola cherina) is a species of bird in the cisticola family (Cisticolidae). It inhabits areas to the west of the ˞Indian Ocean. It forms a superspecies with the closely related zitting cisticola and the Socotra cisticola.

Red Fody

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Madagascar boasts a diverse dragonfly fauna, with approximately 190 species found on the island and an additional 36 species in the surrounding islands. Many of these, around 180 species, are endemic to the Malagasy region, meaning they are found nowhere else on Earth. Examples of dragonflies found in Madagascar include the Madagascar Emperor, various skimmers, dropwings, and damselflies

Take lunch at restaurant of the resort

Red fody again

A life along the Morondava River

The Morondava is a river in the Menabe region, located in western Madagascar. It originates on the Makay Massif and flows northwestwards into the Indian Ocean near a town named after the river.

Their church

In western Madagascar, riverine areas support a variety of livelihoods, primarily focusing on agriculture and fisheries. These include subsistence farming, traditional fishing, and the collection of resources from the river and surrounding areas.