Protected Areas around the village of Andasibe

From Antsirabe it would take me 4-6 hours to arrive to Antananarivo (Tana), the capital of Madagascar. From Tana I could access other parts of the country by car, bus, or plane, but I taught English year-round and didn’t have much time to explore beyond Antsirabe. I did manage to visit the little village of Andasibe, which is about 4 hours north-east of Tana, during the New Year holiday. Andasibe is surrounded by rain forests, national parks and community-managed reserves, a reachable relief from city life.

The national parks in Madagascar are open from 6 AM to 6 PM, and as a tourist I am required to hire a local guide to accompany me throughout the park. My travel agent, Wild Madagascar, arranged that Luc would be my guide and he met me upon my arrival to Andasibe to make plans for my 4-day visit. I asked to arrive to Analamazaotra N.P. promptly at 6 AM the next morning, so eager to see what the forest had to offer.

Analamazaotra National Park is one of the most accessible protected areas in Andasibe. Wide paved paths meander through the secondary forest that easily accommodate large groups of tourists from Tana. Luc helped me spot various lemurs and birds that first morning, testing my photographic capabilities of shooting in forest conditions. There was a small group of Diademed Sifakas that frolicked and swung in the trees above us for hours that morning. The lemurs and sifakas are habituated to tourists in Analamazaotra and by the end of the morning a pair of youngsters played on the forest floor mostly oblivious to me. All of the other tourists had moved on so I was able to watch with delight peering through the thick vegetation.

Lemurs and Sifakas

I have since learned that the diademed sifakas had been hunted to extinction in this park and were only just reintroduced to Analamazaotra in the 2000s.  Their reintroduction is now seen as a success made possible with the support of the local community. An article from Lemur News (Lemur News Vol. 14, 2009) briefly describes the re-introduction process of the diademed sifaka.

Having Wild Madagascar make arrangements for my visit was such a relief since I had been so busy with work. Luc is from Andasibe and extremely knowledgeable. He can be reached at Chez Luc, the hotel - restaurant that he owns in Andasibe, if you happen to visit this village yourself.