Andasibe and the end of the tour
Meikyo
Phil and Sarah Tadd
Mon 31 Aug 2026 12:32
We arrived at Sahatandra River hotel, Andasibe, at dusk. The staff were waiting to take our bags and our food orders and we were shown to our rooms spread around the grounds. Hardly time for a shower before we were due to sit down for dinner, it had been a long travelling day mostly, for a change, on reasonable roads. The last section was very narrow and as we passed through the local village just before the hotel the corrugated roofs were almost touching the sides of our coach on both sides and the bridges were narrow. Good job it was a small coach. This was to be our last National Park visit and our tour had only two more days to go.  Narrow bridges and road through the village. We drove back through the village in the morning and on to Analamazaotra Special Reserve and Mantadia National Parks. We did these two park areas as one visit as they were so close together. We had three guide/spotters who would go off in search of interesting animals and call us into the forest taking care to position us where we could get the best views. This area is the best for seeing the Indri Indri, the largest lemur, and the Diademed Sifaka it is also home to the Aya Aye, the rarest nocturnal lemur. The Sifaka has splayed out hips which are good for climbing trees but make it difficult for it to walk on all fours. If it has to travel on the flat it stands upright on its two hind legs and jumps sideways with its arms spread to give it balance. This is how it earns its name as the dancing lemur.  The Diademed Sifaka  The Indri Indri, the largest lemur.  On a night walk we were to see the Goldman’s Mouse Lemur, the smallest lemur. We were also called into the forest to see the very rare Aye Aye but it moved off too fast. (Thanks Jenny for this picture) We also saw a number of Chameleons both day and night.  I believe this is the Horn Nosed Chameleon, maximum 4” long.  A Brown Leaf or Snub Nosed Chameleon, also very small. (central)  And plenty of Green Chameleons, day and night.  It’s amazing how they blend themselves into the background. The final day of our tour involved a drive back to Antananarivo where we had lunch at a chocolate works and a hands on chocolate making workshop. We got to take away our own hand made chocolate bars, flavoured how ever we wanted, and some chocolate dipped fruit. All a bit of fun.  Tempering the chocolate  Admiring our fillings before adding the chocolate. We had a final restaurant meal in ‘Tana’ and the group split up the next day some to go home and others to move on to join another tour or two, making good use of their long distance flights. All in all a great tour with a wonderful group and the best possible leader. Uncomfortable at times on the long road trips but Mamy made even this interesting by his steady flow of information. We wish him and his family well and all our fellow travellers many more interesting tours. |