We left Anakoa on the first boat that we could, which was at 07:00 in the morning. Before this we had expected to get back to Toliara around 10:00, but made it for 08:30, which gave us a huge head start on all that we wanted to achieve today. Our driver Ayna was waiting for us, and after a quick grocery stop we set off on our way across the mountains and into the interior of Madagascar. There were no birds of note on the boat journey, but there were a few Whimbrels and Greenshank on the mudflats when we arrived back in Toliara.
Our first stop on our way back was actually a well-documented roadside stop to look for Madagascar Sandgrouse. It was unclear how to approach this, as most trip reports seem to reference using villagers as guides to approach the birds. Helpfully, once we were near, a small roadside shop with a few fruits approached our car, shouting the name of the bird in Malagasy. Once again Ayna translated for us and with that, we had recruited some locals to show us the Sandgrouse. And show us they did. It was already midday at this point, so the haze was bad, and the birds were distant, but we managed to see eight birds feeding on the ground. Sadly they were not approachable, but when they flushed, all fourteen of them in the end, they flew right past us calling loudly and giving excellent views.
With the sandgrouse wrapped up we continued to the Zombitse National Park, the only area of upland interior forest left in Madagascar. Here we had only one bird we must see, and a few other bonus targets, but we calculated that we only had three hours in which to do this, once we arrived at 13:30. We arranged entry, and with the obligatory guides we made our way round the trail on the south side of the road to try to track down the Apperts Tetraka, a small green bird literally only found in this forest.
Our first stop with the guides was for a day roosting White-browed Owl, which is a stunning species of Owl, one of the most beautiful I can recall seeing. We obviously had fantastic views of the bird, as it kept a watchful eye on us from its sleeping perch. A stunning Cuckoo-Roller gave brilliant display views soaring above the forest, we were shown a nest of Madagascar Buzzard and we had great views of the two range-restricted Coua species we could find in the park; Coquerels and Great, both of which crossed the path in front of us. We could see them both at later sites, but to have them already seen here is a huge bonus.
The forest was deadly quiet due to the fact that it was the middle of the afternoon, but we persevered with the birding and eventually our guides managed to get us on to a pair of Apperts Tektraka, moving skulkily through the undergrowth. They never made a noise and they constantly kept in the shadows, always on the move, but at times we were treated to some excellent views.
With all our avian targets wrapped up, we moved on to the mammal targets in the park, specifically our first real lemur species, the Verreaux's Sifaka. These were on the north side of the road, but helpfully not far along the trail, when we were shown a group of four adults and two babies feeding high in the trees. Over the next half an hour we watched them completely undisturbed by our presence, chomping away on leaves and occasionally moving between the trees. Truly stunning white fur, with piercing yellow eyes. Fantastic stuff.
And with that, we had completed everything we wanted in Zombitse, at exactly the time we needed to have to reach our final destination before dark. That was the national park of Isalo, where, again, we only really needed to find one bird. This bird was supposed to be really common, the ‘Bensons’ race of Forest Rock Thrush. We reached the park we less than 20 minutes of light to spare, the sun already on its way down. But we pulled over at a rocky outcrop, played a tape and within minutes, we had a male perched at close quarters, showing brilliantly well.
Our day could not have gone better, so we headed to a hotel in the town near the national park, perfectly set to continue on our way tomorrow. In total we managed to gain two full days on our itinerary, which we will spend in the eastern rainforest national parks, trying to track down some of the most difficult birds in Madagascar.
Sandgrouse Location: Namaqua Dove, Madagascar Sandgrouse, Pied Crow, Madagascar Lark, Madagascar Cisticola,
Zombitse National Park: Malagasy Turtle Dove, Crested Coua, Coquerel's Coua, Giant Coua, Madagascar Buzzard, White-browed Owl, Cuckoo-roller, Common Newtonia, Common Jery, Stripe-throated Jery, Appert's Tetraka, Souimanga Sunbird,
Isalo National Park: Madagascar Hoopoe, Malagasy Kestrel, Pied Crow, Forest Rock Thrush,
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