LEMURS' PARK - 3rd October, 2018

Before you read any further, may I suggest you take a moment or two for some mouth and lip exercise. You are going to need it. Now, I won't be seeing or hearing you, but believe me your enjoyment level will be heightened and you will be catapulted to instant comedy fame if you promise to pronounce aloud, some of the words appearing in this particular blog!!

Over the last couple of years our home here in Antananarivo has become a place for overnight and weekend guests some of which are becoming more than guests and actually becoming our friends. I'm not too sure about the others!

For the weekend and oft returning friends we inevitably take a drive to the Lemurs' Park, a botanical park situated next to the Katsaoka River and neatly place between the villages of Fenoarivo and Imerintsiatosika, approximately 22 km southwest of our bustling city, traveling in the same direction as Ampefy.....(there is a very interesting earlier blog re our trip to Ampefy, if you're interested!)

This beautiful river although it looks muddy is certainly not polluted and forms a perfect barrier for the lemurs being rehabilitated, bred and re-introduced into nature. Lemurs do not like water, so much so that they don't even drink it! Gaining moisture from dew collected in leaves, plants and flowers and from their fruit diet. So there's no way they will be adventurous and leave the park. There is however a wall that surrounds the park on the road side and they do sometimes take a hike and explore.

As you've gathered the park functions as a lemur reserve that gradually reintroduces captive-born lemurs back into nature.

Most of the nine lemur species within the park are free-ranging, which means you get up close to observe them. No handling of the lemurs is permitted.

The Crowned Sifaka lemur enjoying munchies, per kind favour of the people who so lovingly look after them.

The Black and White Ruffed lemur relaxing after lunch.

The Lemurs' Park was founded in 2000 by Laurent Amouric and Maxime Allorge, the grandson of Pierre Boiteau, who is the Founding Director of the Tsimbazaza Zoo, Antananarivo.

The park also collaborates with Colas Madagascar and TOTAL Madagascar to provide environmental education to local primary school children and to plant endemic trees as part of a reforestation program. Most of the park's staff come from the neighbouring communities.

The guides we have encountered on our numerous trips to the park are extremely well-informed and many of them speak English.

Our visit to the park in 2014 when our son Alistair came to visit.

Strolling along behind I took this photo of the photographers!

Featured daily feeding times occur every two hours between 10h00 and 16h00. There are seven lemur species active during the day (diurnal) and two are active at night (nocturnal).

We were fortunate to be able to see and photograph these nocturnal lemurs in 2014.
These lemurs, chierogaleidae, are the family of strepsirrhine primates containing the various dwarf and mouse lemurs, cheirogaleids live exclusively on our mad magical island of Madagascar. The park houses at least two of these species.

There is a little restaurant at the park as well as a gift shop. My honest opinion, the gift shop needs a revamp and so does the restaurant!

Consequently, we usually just buy bottled water while taking the tour or have a Sprite and some beers after the tour!

Within the park one encounters not just lemurs, but chameleons, iguanas and various other lizards plus the radiated tortoise.....

The radiated tortoise is a species in the family Testudinidae. Although the species is endemic to and most abundant in Southern Madagascar, it can also be found in the rest of this mad magical island and has been introduced to the islands of Re'union and Mauritius. These tortoises live for many years. The oldest recorded age is 188 years! The radiated tortoises are classified as critically endangered by
the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), mainly because of the destruction of their habitat and because of poaching.

They live and breed in a special enclosure in the park.

The park, which consists primarily of pine forest and bamboo vegetation, contains nearly 6,000 trees and more than 70 plant species endemic to Madagascar, all of which are segregated into separate climatic zones throughout the park.

Here we are standing in front of the Vietnam bamboo, which everyone refers to as the barcode bamboo, due to the markings on the bamboo that resemble a barcode.

The green Japanese bamboo.....

Hilton and Tamara taking a photo of a Coquerel's Sifaka in the green bamboo...

"Like I hang around posing for tourists all day!" And such a pose it is!

Brown bamboo lemurs having a scuttle in the Vietnam bamboo, trying to escape the barcode stamp?

Bamboo lemur playing with the string from which his feeding bowl is hanging.....

Black and white ruffed lemur taking a break after lunch!

Coquerel sifakas giving us the beady eye......

The lemurs are such fascinating creatures, their paws/hands are extremely soft to the touch (I know this from places where people are allowed to interact with the lemurs) and when I see them jumping around in the trees with such ease I know how lithe, agile and strong their bodies are.

What an awesome sight to see the dancing sifaka on the ground. High up in the trees they swing from branch to branch, tree to tree vertically and are unable to walk on the ground hence their dancing movement that is extremely quick, but magnificent.

This dancing lemur is done for the day....just chilling!

As entertaining as the lemurs are the flora is also most unusual.

Tamara is standing almost under the umbrella tree.....

One of my favourite trees in summer or winter, when the branches are bare.

High up in the trees you will be surprised, or not, to spy the Hamerkop nests. A South African bird that also takes up residence here on the island. I suspect it's the mad magic it's after!

I must admit I've seen the nests but never the bird!

Last month we saw this dwarf baobab in bloom. What a pretty sight to behold. The flowers are taller than the tree!

The Saturday we visited the park with Alan and Christine was awash with summer sunlight which highlighted some winter worn bedraggled lemurs. It's extremely dry this time of year, late winter early spring. The ground is thirsty for rain.

This crowned sifaka, just hanging in the shade.

So I took a little break for the traditional shadow photos!

And paused beside the lily pond.....

Then wandered over to the spiny plant bearing the most gorgeous red flowers known to the locals as
"Crown of Christ".

The guides always leave the ring tail lemurs till last. The lemurs made famous from the movie Madagascar (which has nothing to do with Madagascar but for King Julian!)

There are 14 white and 14 black rings on the tail.....yes, I can see you counting them! I kid you not.

Happy little family scene. Have you spotted the baby clinging to Mama?

And so we discovered this statue overlooking a valley of tranquillity....Never noticed it before, but this time our guide was insistent that our friends find more lemurs to photograph, hence Alan in the background.....I don't know if the statue was one of Mary, and I didn't think to ask Alan!

Yeah, I bet you can't see him!

There he is wearing the green shirt and there I am, sitting pretty as a fairy because......

Hilton is leaning against an upside down tree......

Now who said this wasn't a mad magical island!