After a journey of about 4 hours from the capital, we reach the Mantadia National Park, which is practically the last refuge of the largest lemurs: the Indri Indri. The Indri Indri used to be found along almost the entire east coast, but now there are only a few left - the largest number here in the Mantadia National Park. The Indri Indri is known for its deafeningly loud singing, which can be heard from a distance of 2.5 km. You should definitely google it to experience this sound - it's really incredible. Anyway, in the afternoon, we reach the smaller Analamazoatra Park and go in search of the Indri Indri. We are lucky and find a family with 3 animals, some of which come quite close. And at some point, while we are observing them, they start singing: it is incredibly loud! I would estimate it to be around 90-100 db if you are standing right next to the animals. WOW! Eventually, we have to leave because the park closes at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. We hope to see the animals again in the morning at the big Mantadia Park and return to the hotel. While enjoying a drink on the hotel terrace, which is right on the edge of the park, we hear the animals again. There are different families communicating with each other. The next morning, we have to leave early, as the large park is 20 km away from the hotel, and it's a 20 km dirt road. After a drive of a little over an hour, we reach the park and go hiking. We hope to see the Indri Indri, as well as the equally rare Diademed Sifaka, and all the other animals and lemurs that are native to this area.
However, we are not quite happy with the guide we have. He rushes through the forest, doesn't explain anything, and we have to rush after him. He often leaves us behind and says 'wait a minute, I'm coming back' and goes somewhere to look for the lemurs. We find this quite annoying and tiresome in the long run, especially since this minute is usually more like 10 or 15, and there is nothing to discover where we are 'left behind'. Eventually, the guide comes back and says 'come here', and we rush after him again, only to go back the same way a few minutes later. I was about to tell him that we want to go back on the path and just walk along it when we are lucky enough to see two Diademed Sifakas. Unfortunately, they are high up in the tree and show no signs of moving anywhere. We wait for about 15 minutes, but the animals are happily eating in the tree. So we continue, or rather wander in a zigzag course through the forest, until the time is up and we have to go back to the car. Fortunately, just before the exit, we see a small hedgehog tenrec, who keeps escaping from us and doesn't want to pose properly. This is the smallest species of the 3 species of tenrecs here in Madagascar... All in all, this visit to the park was unfortunately very disappointing for us. Of course, there is no guarantee of seeing anything, but the way the guide behaved here really confused us.
We drive back along the bumpy road to the hotel, have a late lunch, and then go for a walk. We walk for about half an hour to the village of Andasibe. It's super exciting to walk through this village and watch life here! There are people everywhere trying to sell something, there are people just sitting around, and there are children playing something everywhere. There is a boy dragging an empty sardine can on a string behind him, two children playing with a tire propelled by a PET bottle, a boy pulling a car made from a kitchen grater attached to a board, and elsewhere there are children who have made sleds out of jerry cans and slide down the slope with them... It's incredible to see the creativity that arises from hardship here.
