Madagascar by private tour: Novemver-December 2015
We tried to get away from a tour group, one reason being that we were not sure whether we might be the "slow ones". So rather than risking upsetting other members of a group, we found that Madagascar Tour Guide (MTG) was able to provide a tour that was essentially tailored to our individual wishes. I had previously discovered their web site, but was not sure whether I could trust them. So, by sheer chance, we met a Swiss fellow from the Vogelwarte (Bird Station) who had travelled with Andry (the head of the group) and his team. And this fellow was full of praise, so that was an obvious bonus in trust. MTG is particularly catering to the English speaking birders: http://www.madagascar-tour-guide.com/
One additional reason for me, shying away from Swiss or German tour operators was the fact that participants in those groups invariably call for German (or French) bird names, when all the field guide books are in English. Why complicate matters?
MTG has a series of tours they offer, not just for birding. And the important point is that one can compile a tour oneself or ask for suggestions. It also turned out that we wanted a rather "late in the year" trip in order to shorten our long Swiss winter. As it turned out, that suited Andry perfectly, and we thus got superb guides all the time. After mid December, however, one should not do such a birding tour as many Couas will no longer respond. So in the end, discussing things with Andry, our tour started on 17 November in Tana (= Antananarivo), and we flew back from there on 10 December. So including international flights, our tour lasted 26 days. For reasons of personal comfort, we did not want to go to Masoala. Both my wife and myself, we can't cope well with the humid heat one has to expect there. Though we heared from others that it was cool and windy when then tried to visit.
Anyway, we concentrated more on the dryer South, though it turned out to be pretty hot anyway (but not unbearably humid). From Tana, we flew to Tuléar in the SE, visited Ifaty's spiny (Didiera dominated) forest a bit north of there, and had a speed boat bringing us to Anakao further south. From there, it was an easy trip to Nosy Vé, a small sandy island with a colony of Red-tailed Tropicbirds. More importantly for me, this is also a rather reliable site for Crab Plovers. Crab Plovers can be seen in the Middle East, but the present political situation forbids a visit there as far as I'm concerned. On the first visit, our guide counted a total of 62 Crab Plovers, an unusually high number according to him. What more could one wish for? Well, it turned out that my battery ran out at a critical moment. So it was great to be able to do another visit the next day after returning from a Flamingo lake (Tsimanampetsotsa) further south. It cost an extra 60000 Ariary (A), but that is just about 20 Euros.
The tour to the lake was announced as having both Greater and Lesser Flamingos. In the end, we just barely managed to find at least a single Lesser one. The important point for me, however, was to have another chance for Madagascar Sand Grouse. It was definitely the best place for them, but we only had them in flight.
After returning to Tuléar by speed boat, we started a very long drive north on the main north-south highway, Route Nationale #7. It turned out that this road is very far from a fast one. Way too much road damage much of the time! We made it to Isalo on that day, but the most important birding was on the way at the fine Zombitse-Vohibasia forest. Aside from a guide and driver that accompanied us for most of the time, there are always local guides added, guides who know their place extremely well! So it often turned out that the two of us had four people to take care of us. No wonder the feeling of "prince and princess" crept up every so often. All the guides and drivers we had on the entire tour were without exception wonderful, very kind and very knowledgable persons. By the end of this day 8, we had seen 107 bird species, including 61 endemic ones.
The next day (Madagascar day 9), our drive continued with another about 6-hours in the car. The goal for the day was the most interesting Ranomafana (= warm water) National Park.
More is to follow.
We tried to get away from a tour group, one reason being that we were not sure whether we might be the "slow ones". So rather than risking upsetting other members of a group, we found that Madagascar Tour Guide (MTG) was able to provide a tour that was essentially tailored to our individual wishes. I had previously discovered their web site, but was not sure whether I could trust them. So, by sheer chance, we met a Swiss fellow from the Vogelwarte (Bird Station) who had travelled with Andry (the head of the group) and his team. And this fellow was full of praise, so that was an obvious bonus in trust. MTG is particularly catering to the English speaking birders: http://www.madagascar-tour-guide.com/
One additional reason for me, shying away from Swiss or German tour operators was the fact that participants in those groups invariably call for German (or French) bird names, when all the field guide books are in English. Why complicate matters?
MTG has a series of tours they offer, not just for birding. And the important point is that one can compile a tour oneself or ask for suggestions. It also turned out that we wanted a rather "late in the year" trip in order to shorten our long Swiss winter. As it turned out, that suited Andry perfectly, and we thus got superb guides all the time. After mid December, however, one should not do such a birding tour as many Couas will no longer respond. So in the end, discussing things with Andry, our tour started on 17 November in Tana (= Antananarivo), and we flew back from there on 10 December. So including international flights, our tour lasted 26 days. For reasons of personal comfort, we did not want to go to Masoala. Both my wife and myself, we can't cope well with the humid heat one has to expect there. Though we heared from others that it was cool and windy when then tried to visit.
Anyway, we concentrated more on the dryer South, though it turned out to be pretty hot anyway (but not unbearably humid). From Tana, we flew to Tuléar in the SE, visited Ifaty's spiny (Didiera dominated) forest a bit north of there, and had a speed boat bringing us to Anakao further south. From there, it was an easy trip to Nosy Vé, a small sandy island with a colony of Red-tailed Tropicbirds. More importantly for me, this is also a rather reliable site for Crab Plovers. Crab Plovers can be seen in the Middle East, but the present political situation forbids a visit there as far as I'm concerned. On the first visit, our guide counted a total of 62 Crab Plovers, an unusually high number according to him. What more could one wish for? Well, it turned out that my battery ran out at a critical moment. So it was great to be able to do another visit the next day after returning from a Flamingo lake (Tsimanampetsotsa) further south. It cost an extra 60000 Ariary (A), but that is just about 20 Euros.
The tour to the lake was announced as having both Greater and Lesser Flamingos. In the end, we just barely managed to find at least a single Lesser one. The important point for me, however, was to have another chance for Madagascar Sand Grouse. It was definitely the best place for them, but we only had them in flight.
After returning to Tuléar by speed boat, we started a very long drive north on the main north-south highway, Route Nationale #7. It turned out that this road is very far from a fast one. Way too much road damage much of the time! We made it to Isalo on that day, but the most important birding was on the way at the fine Zombitse-Vohibasia forest. Aside from a guide and driver that accompanied us for most of the time, there are always local guides added, guides who know their place extremely well! So it often turned out that the two of us had four people to take care of us. No wonder the feeling of "prince and princess" crept up every so often. All the guides and drivers we had on the entire tour were without exception wonderful, very kind and very knowledgable persons. By the end of this day 8, we had seen 107 bird species, including 61 endemic ones.
The next day (Madagascar day 9), our drive continued with another about 6-hours in the car. The goal for the day was the most interesting Ranomafana (= warm water) National Park.
More is to follow.
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