DAY7 Madagascar
Road trip🇲🇬
16/05/2025 - Ambalavao - Anja reserve
Trip plan: half day to visit the private reserve of Anja, you will find in this reserve the famous ringtailed lemurs + Chameleon + traditionnal tombs - you will hike and climb the mountain rock to reach the beautiful overview - Drive to Ambositra after the visit : 210 km - about 5h drive - Arrival in the evening and installation at your hotel - Dinner and overnight.
This morning we departed from Tsienimparihy Lodge, a lovely resort where we had a good night's sleep by the first early evening since we arrived to Madagascar . We woke up refreshed to visit Anja's private reserve to meet the famous ring-tailed lemur + chameleons for half a day.
Madagascar mannikin
The Madagascar mannikin (Lepidopygia nana) is a common species of estrildid finch native to Madagascar. It has an estimated global extent of occurrence of 100,000 to 1,000,000 km Other names for this species include Madagascar munia, bibfinch, African bibfinch, African parsonfinch, and dwarf mannikin.
INCREDIBLE LANDSCAPE
Anja Community Reserve nicknamed “Anja Park” is a great place to see ring-tailed lemurs in troops. It is the most visited community-run protected area for the lemurs and the landscape is incredible with the backdrop of granite rocks.
You can take a 2 hour walk around the 30-hectare reserve to see the ring-tailed lemur families and varieties of flora. You can also see some Bestsileo tombs here.
Accompanied by a guide, you will see some of the 500 lemurs that evolve in this little paradise. You will often meet groups of maki catta - the stars of the place, who will come to rub you with you during your walk. These little mammals will be happy to offer you a dance show. You will also discover other animal species.
This site also shelters on the flanks of its rocky hills caves, having served as dwellings to the populations of the region. The vegetation encrusted between the rocks forms a beautiful landscape to be immortalized. From the top of the hill you will have a breathtaking view of the valley of Ambalavao and the small village of Anja.
The ring-tailed lemur is highly social, living in groups—known as "troops"—of up to 30 individuals. It is also a female-dominant species, a commonality among lemurs. To keep warm and reaffirm social bonds, groups will huddle together. Mutual grooming is another vital aspect of lemur socialization (as with all primates), reaffirming social and familial connections, while also helping rid each other of any potential insects. Ring-tailed lemurs are strictly diurnal, being active exclusively during daylight hours. Due to this lifestyle, they also sunbathe; the lemurs can be observed sitting upright on their tails, exposing their soft, white belly fur towards the sun.
Like other lemurs, this species relies strongly on their sense of smell, and territorial marking, with scent glands, provides communication signals throughout a group's home range. The glands are located near the eyes, as well as near the anus. The males perform a unique scent-marking behavior called spur-marking and will participate in stink fights by dousing their tails with their pheromones and "wafting" them at opponents. Additionally, lemurs of both sexes will scent-mark trees, logs, rocks or other objects by simply rubbing their faces and bodies onto it, not unlike a domestic cat.
The ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta) is a medium- to larger-sized strepsirrhine (wet-nosed) primate and the most internationally recognized lemur species, owing to its long, black-and-white, ringed tail. It belongs to Lemuridae, one of five lemur families, and is the only member of the Lemur genus. Like all lemurs, it is endemic to the island of Madagascar, where it is endangered. Known locally in Malagasy as maky ([makʲ]ⓘ, spelled maki in French) or hira, it ranges from gallery forests to spiny scrub in the southern regions of the island. It is omnivorous, as well as the most adapted to living terrestrially of the extant lemurs.
As one of the most vocal primates, the ring-tailed lemur uses numerous vocalizations, including calling for group cohesion and predator alarm calls. Experiments have shown that the ring-tailed lemur, despite the lack of a large brain (relative to simiiform primates), can organize sequences, understand basic arithmetic operations, and preferentially select tools based on functional qualities.
The Malagasy giant chameleon or Oustalet's chameleon (Furcifer oustaleti) is a large species of chameleon which is native to entire Madagascar,[2] but also has been introduced near Nairobi in Kenya (though its current status there is unclear) and in Miami-Dade County in the United States.[3][4] It occurs in a wide range of habitats, even among degraded vegetation within villages, but is relatively rare in the interior of primary forest.
F. oustaleti is endemic to Madagascar and is found throughout the island. It inhabits a very wide range of habitat types including dry deciduous forest, humid evergreen forest, montane savanna, degraded forests, agricultural areas and even urban settings. It is seldom found deep in the forest interior, but more on the edges.
Moment during Ring tailed lemurs were drinking water
Sometimes they encroach on villagers' bean fields.
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| Male |
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| Female |
A sparkling male Silver Widow, Palpopleura vestita Rambur, 1842 (above) on the grounds of the Hotel Thermal, Ranomafana (26 October 2017) and a female (below) perched on a roadside brush pile outside the Hotel Domaine Nature, Ranomafana (27 October 2017).
Chameleons are insectivores. Their diet in the wild consists primarily of a wide variety of insects and other invertebrates. In addition to hunting live prey, some chameleon species are also occasionally observed eating plant vegetation. It’s important to know that in captivity we're unable to provide the variety and quality of food that chameleons receive in nature, and to compensate for that gutloaded feeders and supplements are required. This is crucial to proper chameleon care, and long term failure to provide a balanced and nutritious diet is one of the leading causes of premature death in captive chameleons.
In Madagascar, bricks are a common building material, especially in the central highlands, where they are used to construct houses with wooden doors and unglazed windows. The brick-making process in Madagascar is traditional, dating back to the 19th century when the techniques were introduced by Europeans. The clay needs to be dug from a clay pit and each brick is made by hand in a wooden mold. Lined up and dried in the sun the bricks are then piled up in larger structures and slowly burned (either with wood or peat moss). The process of burning can take up to a week or two, depending on the amount of bricks and the weather. Burned clay bricks are more durable and resistant to rain than rammed earth bricks, are easier to maintain and are better suited for the school.
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