Madagascar; Day 4 - Zombitse NP & Isalo NP

  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.

-Madagascar Sandgrouse

-Appert's Tetraka

-Coquerel's Coua

-Giant Coua

-Malagasy Turtle Dove

-White-browed Owl

-Cuckoo-roller

-Verreaux's Sifaka

-Banded Day Gecko

-Oustalet's Giant Chameleon

-Royal Blue Pansy

-Forest Rock Thrush (Benson's)

-Oustalet's Giant Chameleon

Species List:
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, 

Madagascar; Day 3 - La Table, Anakoa & Nosy Ve

  To try and condense our itinerary and gain a few days at later sites, today we would try to ambitiously cover a few sites, hopefully not missing any of our targets. To accomplish this we left our lodging at Reserva Reniala at 04:00 and drove an hour south to the upland scrub site of La Table. Fortunately, our success the previous day meant we only had three targets to see here. However, seeing them all could be difficult, as we only had at most three hours to do it, so we recruited a local guide to help out.

  Fortunately, we made swift progress with our birding. We arrived just before sunrise and quickly picked up the calls of Lafresnayes Vanga. Although distant, we eventually spotted the bird perched distantly atop one of the tallest trees on site. Verrauxs Coua was a bit more challenging, as we heard the birds first but then lost them, although only for a short while. Soon we had fantastic views of a bird perched right in front of us.

  Our final target was perhaps the most important, the Red-shouldered Vanga. It can only be seen here on our itinerary. We heard a bird but it took a while to track down and even longer for it to show at all well. In the end, we did see the bird very well, but at that crucial moment the camera wouldn’t focus and the resulting photos were a little blurred. A frustrating encounter, but ultimately we did see the bird well and with all three targets wrapped up by 08:00, we had good time to make tracks for our next destination. The only additional new bird besides our three targets was a couple of Madagascar Larks that showed quite nicely.

  Our destination late in the morning was the harbour in Toliara, where we would get the boat to Anakoa where we would spend the afternoon and the night. As we were driving into Toliara we passed a small wetland area and opted to spend 20 minutes having a look. It was worth it as we found Malagasy Swamp Warbler, Madagascar Cisticola and Malagasy Kingfisher all here, all of which were new birds for us. There was also a nice selection of waders including many Kitlitzs Plover and a single Three-banded Plover.

  Because of our success in the morning, we arrived at the ‘Anakoa Transfer’ around 09:00, perfect timing to catch the boat which would take us across the delta to the small beachfront town where we would bird the afternoon. Once we arrived there we checked in to Chez Emilie hotel on the seafront and had a bite to eat, before commissioning a boat across to the small island of Nosy Ve. Here we would spend most of the afternoon looking at the island's colony of Red-tailed Tropicbirds and hoping for some nice waders.

  The tropicbirds were fantastic. Having never seen one before I was surprised by how big they were, and it was spectacular to see them flying around directly overhead. We even found a bird sitting on a nest right next to the boardwalk path. The colony was not as large as I was expecting but at a rough estimate I would say we saw around 30 Tropicbirds.

  The wader front was excellent. Although numbers were limited, there was a decent diversity on offer including Turnstone, Grey Plover, Bar-tailed Godwit and Whimbrel. But the undoubted highlight on this front, was a distant flock of Crab Plovers roosting on a small sandbank. Having dipped this species in Oman, the one bird apparently it was impossible to dip on that trip, it was good to set the record straight. It would have been nice to see them closer on the deck, but they only remained distant in the haze. Fortunately, we did have a nice flyby after about half an hour, when four birds flew past reasonably close, in the company of a Bar-tailed Godwit.

  We returned to the mainland at around 15:30, and spent the next hour relaxing/searching for Litoral Rock Thrush, the only Madagascar endemic found in this region that we needed to find. We managed to get a female coming close right to our room, and although it showed well we failed to get a photo. Fortunately, we also found a young male in a neighboring hotel garden who perched very nicely. And with that wrapped up, we spent the evening in the Chez Emile bar, having a few drinks and watching the sunset over the Strait of Mozambique, ready for another day of birding tomorrow. 

-Verreaux's Coua

-Lafresnaye's Vanga

-Red-shouldered Vanga

-Chabert Vanga

-Madagascar Lark

-Malagasy Kingfisher

-Plain Tiger Butterfly

-Red-tailed Tropicbird

-White-fronted Plover

-Crab-plover

-Bar-tailed Godwit

-Madagascar Hoopoe

-Littoral Rock Thrush

-Thick Tail Gecko

-Asian House Gecko

Species List:
La Table: Namaqua Dove, Verreaux's Coua, Running Coua, Malagasy Coucal, Olive Bee-eater, Malagasy Kestrel, Common Newtonia, Red-shouldered Vanga, Chabert Vanga, Lafresnaye's Vanga, Crested Drongo, Pied Crow, Madagascar Lark, Common Jery, Subdesert Brush Warbler, Madagascar Magpie-Robin, Souimanga Sunbird, Sakalava Weaver,
Toliara: Namaqua Dove, Malagasy Coucal, Black-winged Stilt, Common Ringed Plover, Three-banded Plover, Greater Sand Plover, Kittlitz's Plover, Common Sandpiper, Common Greenshank, Dimorphic Egret, Malagasy Kingfisher, Olive Bee-eater, Crested Drongo, Madagascar Cisticola, Madagascar Swamp Warbler, Common Myna, Sakalava Weaver,
Nosy Ve: Grey Plover, Common Ringed Plover, White-fronted Plover, Eurasian Whimbrel, Bar-tailed Godwit, Common Sandpiper, Ruddy Turnstone, Sanderling, Crab-plover, Red-tailed Tropicbird, Dimorphic Egret, Pied Crow, Madagascar Cisticola, Common Myna,
Anakao: Namaqua Dove, Malagasy Coucal, Madagascar Hoopoe, Olive Bee-eater, Malagasy Kestrel, Subdesert Brush Warbler, Common Myna, Littoral Rock Thrush, 

Madagascar; Day 2 - Reserva Reniala

  Our first full day in Madagascar was extremely full-on, with little time for a break. We set off from our hotel at 05:15 and walked to the Reserva Reniala, arriving at 06:00 where we met up with our guides for the day. We only had one day at this site, so we had to make the most of our time to try and find as many of the regional endemics as we could.

  It started off well, with the Green-capped subspecies of the Red-capped Coua feeding openly in the car park. We quickly moved through commoner species such as Malagasy Paradise Flycatcher, Malagasy Bulbul, Common Jery and Common Newtonia, with the forest being quite lively with movement in the first few hours. We also had other goodies, such as distant views of a preening Sickle-billed Vanga, Thamnornis and Stripe-throated Jery.

  There were two birds that we really wanted to see here; the Subdesert Mesite and Long-tailed Ground Roller. The Mesite fell first, with an individual perched nice and conspicuously about two meters off the floor in an open tree. They have a distinctive response to threats, where they sit completely motionless for an extended period. And so it transpired, with the bird doing exactly that. In the rest of the morning with found two other individuals, and they also performed the same comical behaviour.

  The Long-tailed Ground Roller did not take long either, with the guides directing us to a territory where an individual showed phenomenally well. Many of the photos online show the bird obscured, but our individual perched right out in the open for us, offering brilliant views. We later were also shown a nest, or rather the entrance to a nest since they breed in burrows. The pair was also nearby, but the female was not happy with our presence, performing a strange distraction display, so we moved on.

  The rest of the morning we continued birding until midday. The guides were excellent, and they completed the first session with brilliant views of Madagascar Nightjar at day roost and Torotoroka Scops-Owl. We completed the site Coua collection, with both Running and Crested Coua showing nicely.

  We had a walk outside the reserve to search for our few remaining birds, but failed to find them in the already hot conditions. As such we decided to head back to our hotel, grab lunch, meet our driver for the next ten days and then change our lodging, as we had decided to stay in the reserve itself, now that we had seen the accommodation on offer was brilliant. Over lunch, we were treated to a brilliant show by the local Banded Day Geckos, which were perched conspicuously on the bamboo walls of the dining area.

  In the afternoon we tried again searching for our missing species. We got very lucky with nice views of Madagascar Cuckoo-Hawk perched directly over the path, and then after some searching, we finally got an Archbold's Newtonia, which was not a particularly exciting species but is restricted to this one site on our itinerary. A White-headed Vanga nicely rounded out our first full day in Madagascar.

  At night we had an explore of the reserve as well. There are no real species to target but we hoped to find a few bits. It started well with a nice Grey-brown Mouse Lemur in the car park, although it was not particularly showy. For the next hour, our attention was mainly spent on bugs and geckos, with at least five species of geckos being found. Two species of Chameleon was a good start to our plan to try and find as many species of these awesome reptiles as we could over the next five weeks. And then, to round it off, we had a Lesser Hedgehog Tenrec close to the path, but not doing anything interesting.

-Subdesert Mesite

-Long-tailed Ground Cuckoo

-Red-capped Coua (Green-capped)

-Running Coua

-Madagascar Nightjar

-Torotoroka Scops Owl

-Madagascar Cuckoo-Hawk

-Stripe-throated Jery

-Archbold's Newtonia

-Malagasy Kestrel

-Souimanga Sunbird

-Banded Day Gecko

-Merrem's Madagascar Swift

-Grey-brown Mouse Lemur

-Lesser Hedgehog Tenrec

-Spiny Chameleon

-Antimena Chameleon

-Mahafaly Fish-scale Gecko

Species List:
Reserva Reniala: Malagasy Turtle Dove, Namaqua Dove, Subdesert Mesite, Crested Coua, Red-capped Coua, Running Coua, Malagasy Coucal, Madagascar Nightjar, Madagascar Spinetail, Madagascar Buttonquail, Madagascar Harrier-Hawk, Madagascar Cuckoo-Hawk, Yellow-billed Kite, Torotoroka Scops Owl, Madagascar Hoopoe, Olive Bee-eater, Long-tailed Ground Roller, Malagasy Kestrel, Greater Vasa Parrot, Archbold's Newtonia, Common Newtonia, Chabert Vanga, Sickle-billed Vanga, White-headed Vanga, Crested Drongo, Malagasy Paradise Flycatcher, Pied Crow, Common Jery, Stripe-throated Jery, Subdesert Brush Warbler, Thamnornis, Malagasy Bulbul, Common Myna, Madagascar Magpie-Robin, Souimanga Sunbird, Sakalava Weaver, 

Madagascar; Day 1 - Arrival

  So begins the next adventure of 2023, a return to Africa for five weeks. Although this time not on the mainland, but instead the legendary island of Madagascar. Once again my travel companion was Max, a friend from Germany who I have visited Africa with on both my previous occasions.

  The stopover on this occasion was in Nairobi, Kenya. My flight there from Amsterdam was notable for the lack of sleep I could get, so most of the six hours I spent in Nairobi was spent trying to catch up on that. Despite this, there were still a few bits to be had, including a very tame Red-winged Starling and a phenomenal colony of Little Swift under the eaves of the airport roof. Birds were circling around just outside the window, the best views I have ever had of this species by far.

  Once we arrived in Madagascar itself there was little time for exploring the birds around the airport, but we managed our first few species on the island; Western Cattle Egret and Common Myna. Not exactly the most incredible start, but it's certainly something to build on for the rest of the five weeks. Upon finally arriving late at our hotel, we saw our first Madagascar day gecko species, with a tiny Modest Day Gecko, and we drove past an invasive Indian Spotted Civet on the side of the road. 

-Modest Day Gecko

Species List:
Nairobi International Airport: Little Swift, Pied Crow, Red-winged Starling,
Antananarivo International Airport: Western Cattle Egret, Common Myna,