Ankarafantsika – Boat Circuit

After doing a 3 hour hike on the Coquereli Circuit in the morning, we decided to do a more relaxing tour of Lac Ravelobe in Ankarafantsika in the afternoon.

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As you can see, the Circuit Bateau on Lac Ravelobe is 20,000 Ariary per person with a 2 person minimum.  As it happened, my husband and I were the only ones on the boat besides the boat driver and the guide.

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It’s a beautiful, relaxing trip during which we saw lots of water birds – herons, egrets and even a fish eagle!  The trip lasts only an hour which was a bit disappointing, I would have preferred to stay out a couple hours.  I was hoping for Kingfishers but struck out.

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Humblot’s Heron

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A crocodile gives us they eye!

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Madagascar Purple Heron

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Allen’s Gallinule

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We had to get out and walk a bit to see the Fish Eagle.  He remained far away so I couldn’t get a good shot.

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Malagasy Pond Heron

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Local fishing, apparently he isn’t afraid of the crocodile!

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Local kids checking us out!

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Another fisherman

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Giant Coua (Coua gigas)

The Giant Coua (Coua gigas) is a bird species from the Coua genus in the cuckoo family that is endemic to the dry forests of western and southern Madagascar. It is suggested that Couas probably originated from a particular Asian ground-cuckoo (Dinets 2007). Genus Coua contains 10 species, more than any other genus in Madagascar (Moreau 1966).

I took these photos in Ankarafantsika National Park.

IMG_5505 IMG_5503 IMG_5419Giant Couas have a very large range and are one of 10 members of the Madagascar endemic Coua family.  You can find various Couas all over Madagascar.  I saw them several times in Ankarafantsika NP.

MFC rangeLEARN MORE ABOUT GIANT COUAS

Wikipedia

Birdlife

Xeno Canto

VIDEO

Unlike the ones I saw, this Giant Coua has no aspirations to lead a birding group and was content to stay still and be filmed.

Ankarafantsika – Coquereli Circuit

Since this is such an amazing place to go birding, I will be looking at each circuit offered in detail.  Let’s start with the Coquereli Circuit which is the best intro to Ankarafantsika NP.

COQUERELI CIRCUIT

Duration : 2 – 3hours
Distance : 2 – 3 km

Guide Fees:
Ar 15,000 for 1 to 5 persons/day
Ar 21,000 for more than 7 persons / day

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Beginning of the trail

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A Giant Coua led the way, maybe he was worried we would get lost?

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Blue Vangas in a nest

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And our friendly Giant Coua still leads the way!

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Some bird is hiding in there!

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Greater Vasa Parrot

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Not sure, he’s hidden, anyone know what this is?

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Malagasy Paradise Flycatcher

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Blue Vanga

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Rufous Malagasy Paradise Flycatcher

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Broad-billed Rollers

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Madagascar Magpie-Robin male and female

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A different Giant Coua to help us find the way out

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Another Lesser Vasa Parrot

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Flying Blue Bargain Redemptions To Madagascar

Are you reading this blog wishing you could go to Madagascar?

Are you based in Europe?

If not, can you easily get to Europe?

Then you are in luck!  Flying Blue has announced their promo redemptions for the next few months and Antananarivo is on the list!  You must book your trip before 31 March and travel between 1 May – 30 June 2015.  Most people transfer either SPG points or Amex MR to get Flying Blue miles if they need them.

FB TNRMake sure you are happy with the weather, it will be winter in Madagascar during May & June.  They will be coming out of the rainy season and some roads will be in bad condition, however the 2 places I am blogging about – Andasibe & Ankarafantsika are reachable by good paved roads.

What It’s Really Like To Travel In Madagascar

While searching for video clips for my bird profiles, I stumbled across this amazing video which is uncannily like our tour.  It was filmed by an American on a Rockjumper Birding Tour which is a highly reputable South African company.

They start out the video with a typical Star Alliance route from San Francisco to Johannesburg by way of Munich and Istanbul.  Not sure if they used miles or bought tickets but the SFO-JNB is a route that would be chosen by people wanting to use miles on business class and probably paying with United or US Airways miles (filmed in 2009).  I am not sure how they did the JNB-TNR segment but nowadays you can’t use Star Alliance miles so you have to pay for it.

Like us, they are picked up from the airport by their guide and do some local birding around Tana.  They seem to have a more relaxed itinerary, whereas we were more rushed and went straight to Andasibe.  The next day they went to Andasibe for birding and I recognized the lemurs and the Blue Pigeon, although we didn’t get any rails and these guys got several.  I had asked my guide to ignore snakes as I suffer from ophidiophobia and to make sure I didn’t see any.

I also recognized Hotel Vakona (These guys stayed there) where Ina & I had lunch overlooking the pond.  They went to the same Lemur Island.

They even hit the same traffic jams going through Tana as we did, nothing has changed in 5 years!

Next they visit some parks that we didn’t go to so I got to see a bit of Tsarasaotra Bird’s Island Park.  Then they fly to Fort Dauphin and drive to Berenty Private Reserve.  Next they fly to Tulear and visit several more parks and that’s the end of their tour.  What was fascinating to me is that they got a lot of the same birds I got in Ankarafantsika but they went to different places further south………..and they got several rare birds I didn’t get.

So I hope you enjoy this video posted by Rigdon Currie on YouTube and are inspired to visit Madgascar for yourself!

 

Visiting Ankarafantsika National Park, Madagascar

Ankarafantsika (also known as Ampijoroa) was hands down my favourite birding site in Madagascar.  The birding started even before entering the park as Grey-headed Lovebirds and various lemurs could be seen in the car park!  If you are keeping a life list, this is a great place to come to see many Madagascan species!

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This is the main building with a few exhibits and an observation deck upstairs.

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The parking lot has several logs like this to sit on and watch birds even before you enter the park.  There are also BBQ/picnic areas.

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This is the office where you will buy your tickets and be assigned a guide if you are not in a pre-arranged tour group.  There are a few informational boards outside to help you plan your trip.

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The park also has very nice bungalows for rent.  They do tend to be booked up with birding tour groups so you should try to organize one in advance.  This is the only accommodation in/near the park.  The place we stayed, Blue Vanga Lodge was about 5km down the road in the village.

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The fees to enter the park are very straightforward.  We are “etranger” category so the fees range from 25,000 – 50,000 depending on how many days you need.

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In addition to the entry fees, you must also hire a guide and do one of the circuits as pictured below.  Most people start with the Circuit Coquereli as an excellent introduction to the park.  We saw lots of birds and lemurs on this trek.  In this and all circuits, the price of the guide is determined by how many people you have.  1-4 people pay 25,000 Ariary for the guide, if there are 5-6 people the cost is 35,000 Ariary.

I really like this system.  Guides are mandatory which is a good idea as it is very important to supply local people with jobs and an incentive to protect their wildlife.  You can design your own program, just choose your circuits and pay in the office for both the park fees and the guide so everything is above board.  Make sure you ask for a guide who knows birds well, although in this location which attracts mostly birders I think all the guides know birds well.

For the two full days we were here, we did the Circuit Coquereli in the first morning and the Circuit Bateau – Lac Ravelobe in the afternoon.  The 2nd day, we did Circuit Retendrika in the morning and since I ran out of cash had to be content with birding the car park and roadside in the afternoon.  I will be blogging more in detail about each circuit.

Only cash is accepted here, no credit cards in either the ticket office or restaurant so be prepared!

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Here we have the prices of the bungalows and gites.  The gites are very primitive, have shared bathrooms and only recommended for experienced backpackers but the bungalows are very nice, the high-priced birding tours stay here.

IMG_5370Typical gite

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The restaurant is very nice and serves generous portions of food at very reasonable prices as you can see by the menu photos.  You can choose a set-price meal or order ala carte.  Cash only, no credit cards!

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The tables have nice views over the forest and are a pleasant place to while away an afternoon while waiting for the next birding walk.

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Just down the road is a small market with locals selling honey and a small shop with a few snacks.

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There is more information on their website.

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Malagasy Paradise Flycatcher (Terpsiphone mutata)

The Malagasy paradise flycatcher (Terpsiphone mutata) is a species of bird in the Monarchidae family. It is found in Comoros, Madagascar, and Mayotte. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests and subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.

There are two colour morphs of this beautiful bird – white and rufous.  The reason for this is still not certain but you can read more about it here.  They often co-exist in the same habitat.  I took these photos in Ankarafantsika NP, Madagascar.

White Morph

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Rufous Morph

IMG_5491 IMG_5481 IMG_5494The good news is this intriguing and beautiful bird has a very large range and can be seen in most forested parks in Madagascar.  We found them easily in Ankarafantsika with both morphs in close proximity to each other.

MFC rangeLEARN MORE ABOUT MALAGASY FLYCATCHERS

Wikipedia

Birdlife

Mulder Lab

JSTOR

VIDEO

I couldn’t find anything embeddable, but if you go to IBC, you can see videos of a white morph male building a nest and a rufous female building a nest, both filmed near Ranomafana NP.

Grey-headed Lovebird (Agapornis canus)

The Grey-headed Lovebird or Madagascar lovebird (Agapornis canus) is a small species of parrot of the lovebird genus. It is a mainly green parrot. The species is sexually dimorphic and only the adult male has grey on its upper body. They are native on the island of Madagascar and are the only lovebird species which are not native on the African continent. They are the smallest of the lovebird species.

In the first of these photos I took at Ankarafantsika NP, you can see a pair of lovebirds and the distinctive grey head on the male.

IMG_5735 IMG_5732 IMG_5730 IMG_5562 IMG_5543 IMG_5339Grey-headed Lovebirds’ range is all around Madagascar except for the interior.  The easiest place to see them is Ankarafantsika NP where they are all over the trees surrounding the car park.  You don’t even have to enter the park!  This turned out well as we couldn’t enter anyways until the office opened and we bought tickets and hired a guide.  The lovebirds are there all day, you can see them even during lunch time although they are much quieter then.

GHLB Range

LEARN MORE ABOUT GREY-HEADED LOVEBIRDS

Wikipedia

World Parrot Trust

Birdlife

VIDEO

The Road To Ankarafantsika, Madagascar

After finally breaking free of the horrendous traffic in Tana, we were once again on a good road with pretty scenery.  Highway 4 is the main road between Tana and Mahajunga and is a well-kept, paved road.

Ankarafantsika RoadIgnore what Google says.  It will take a good 7-8 hours to make the trip.  The road traverses a mountainous area where you can’t drive at speed and you will also have to deal with slow moving vehicles as this is a major road but only one lane.

As I mentioned before, make sure you have plenty of cash.  No one anywhere near the Ankarafantsika National Park takes credit cards and there are no BNI branches where you can use foreign ATMs.  Visit the ATM before you leave Antananarivo and stock up with cash.  You will also need to top up your petrol as most vehicles won’t make it there and back and will need to refuel along the way and you must pay in cash.

Leaving the outskirts of Tana, there are lots of farms and small villages.

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After about 100 km, you enter the mountainous area.

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Maevatanana which means “beautiful village” according to our driver is a good place for a meal break.

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Hotel Restaurant Chouchou has good, cheap food, clean toilets (a rarity along this road) and also cheap rooms if you want to stay here enroute.  We only had a late lunch here.

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We are getting closer to the park from here on. Here are some scenes of typical village life.

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