We only had 2 weeks there out of a larger 3-month herping trip so our time and resources were pretty limited. We decided on spending 10 days in Andasibe, just west of the capital, and 5 days in Ranomafana, which is a bit further south. Both of these areas are rainforest on the same eastern belt so have a pretty similar array of species. We chose December because it’s the start of the rainy season, although unfortunately this year the wet season started a bit later so it was pretty dry most of the time we were there.
Anyway, here are a few of the photos from the trip. While we were in Andasibe we actually didn’t visit Andasibe National Park, instead we stuck to Mitsinjo and VOI MMA, which are smaller, community run reserves.
Brookesia were surprisingly common and quite easy to spot when they were sleeping on low vegetation during the night. In Andasibe we just got the one species, superciliaris, but in Ranomafana we managed to find thieli and nasus as well.
Brown leaf chameleon (Brookesia superciliaris) by Jasmine Vink, on FlickrFrogswise there were plenty of species from the genus Boophis around. These mostly beautifully coloured frogs were some of my favourites.
Boophis pyrrhus by Jasmine Vink, on Flickr
Rainforest tree frog (Boophis rappoides) by Jasmine Vink, on FlickrOur main target for Madagascar was leaf tailed geckos from the genus Uroplatus. We found mossy leaf tailed geckos (Uroplatus sikorae) to be extremely abundant through the Andasibe region. Their variable colour patterns and camouflage were amazing, definitely one of the highlight species.
Mossy leaf tailed gecko (Uroplatus sikorae) by Jasmine Vink, on Flickr
Mossy leaf tailed gecko (Uroplatus sikorae) by Jasmine Vink, on FlickrAlthough snakes weren’t our targets, we still managed to find a few species. Madagascar tree boas were my favourite, but these Stenophis were also really cool.
Madagascar tree boa (Sanzinia madagascariensis) by Jasmine Vink, on Flickr
Stenophis arctifasiatus by Jasmine Vink, on FlickrMantella were high on our target list but with the extremely dry weather we didn’t hold out much hope. We managed the critically endangered golden mantella (Mantella aurantiaca) surprisingly easily, even with some recent poaching from a nearby resort. Mantella pulchra was more of a mission, with a 10km uphill hike through cleared forest that was worth it in the end. We also managed one of these endangered Calumma gallus. The habitat surrounding where we found this individual, although protected, had been slashed and burnt recently. These tiny chameleons had no chance.
Golden mantella (Mantella aurantiaca) by Jasmine Vink, on Flickr
Lance nosed chameleon (Calumma gallus) by Jasmine Vink, on Flickr
Beautiful mantella (Mantella pulchra) by Jasmine Vink, on FlickrWe found satanic leaf tailed geckos (Uroplatus phantasticus) to be far less common through Andasibe, only managing to find 4 over the 10 nights. In Ranomafana though they are extremely common.
Satanic leaf tailed gecko (Uroplatus phantasticus) by Jasmine Vink, on FlickrAfter a great time in Andasibe, we braved the 15-hour over road journey down to Ranomafana. Unfortunately here, you can’t access the national park at night even with a guide. So we just spent our nights walking along the road, which was quite successful. The 24/7 pouring rain we had for 3 days straight wasn’t as helpful but we made do.
On our first night I found this strange looking mossy leaf tail. It looked completely different to the others we had been finding. After talking to a couple of people we discovered that it was a new species, Uroplatus sameiti, which wasn't in our field guide.
Uroplatus sameiti by Jasmine Vink, on FlickrWhile we were having breakfast, another couple pointed out this stunning parsons chameleon (Calumma parsoni). Probably the best looking one we saw the whole trip and he even ate a cricket from my hand.
Parsons chameleon (Calumma parsonii) by Jasmine Vink, on FlickrThe ridiculous amount of rain we had did bring some frogs out but photography was very difficult. I got my camera soaking wet to photograph our main frogging goal though.
Heterixalus alboguttatus by Jasmine Vink, on FlickrAs I said, the satanics here were very common. We were finding 5 or 6 every night even with the heavy rain.
This patchy, yellow colouration was my favourite.
Satanic leaf tailed gecko (Uroplatus phantasticus) by Jasmine Vink, on Flickr
Satanic leaf tailed gecko (Uroplatus phantasticus) by Jasmine Vink, on FlickrA shot we tried a couple of times to get but succeeded on on our last day there.
O'Shaughnessy's chameleon (Calumma oshaughnessyi) by Jasmine Vink, on FlickrWith the rain came a fair few snakes. We found around 15-20 each night and they all had a full belly.
Stenophis betsileanus by Jasmine Vink, on FlickrI guess I should post a couple of the lemurs we saw as well.
Indri (Indri indri) by Jasmine Vink, on Flickr
Brown lemur (Eulemur fulvus) by Jasmine Vink, on Flickr All up Madagascar was amazing. The only real disappointment was having my suitcase stolen from the taxi brousse on our last day there.
If you’d like to see more photos from this trip or from our 3 months of herping head to my flickr or instagram (jasmine_vink) ☺
