Andasibe and Antananarivo, Madagascar

Off a flight, and right back to the taxi-brousse: something clicked in Île Sainte-Marie… or perhaps it’s the looming return home? With just a few days left in the trip, I made a beeline for one more national park visit with renewed energy. Negotiating with taxi drivers, dealing with the chaos of the gare routière, finding a balance between being firm but friendly in securing myself a good seat, dealing with more delays and traffic jams… Maybe I just finally found my rhythm in Madagascar. I left Île aux Nattes by boat to the Sainte-Marie airport at the crack of dawn at 5:30 am, exited Tana airport at 8:30 am and made it to Andasibe, 143 km away, at 2 pm. Slow travel, no sweat.

Staying at a hotel a stone’s throw from the national park entrance, I was approached by several guides, but found the quoted prices too steep unless I found people to group up with. On an afternoon walk, a local struck up a conversation asking about my plans before revealing that he was also a guide — and with not a trace of coercion, his suggestion was Parc Mitsinjo directly across the road instead, a far cheaper and less crowded option maintained by a local conservation society instead of the national park authorities.

All I wanted was to see more lemurs. It may not be the big name park, but it’s the same piece of rainforest with all the same species — and I’m so glad that option presented itself. On a very rainy morning, Panderies was an excellent guide, following the beautiful morning song of the indris to find three of them hanging out low in the trees after a heavy shower ended. Even without their vocalisations, you can’t miss them — they’re the largest of lemur species, with those ears and that pom-pom tail making it look almost like a panda with wrong proportions.

And in one of the most magical moments of my trip…one indri happily took leaves from my hand, and stared at me face to face while eating. It’d be weird if it were a human, but come onnnnn. This was adorable.
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