This is one of the rarest lemurs and is world renowned for its haunting call from high up in the forest canopy. We heard these calls constantly from miles away, even as far as our hotel. We were fortunate to see several different families of indri. On our first day hiking, our guides managed to coax one of these creatures down by offering some tender leaves to snack on. This one was within centimeters of us and had no fear of humans. Up close, they are almost cartoonish looking. Somebody needs to make a series of indri memes (if they don’t already exist).
While walking the edge of the forest we came across a group of brown lemurs (6-8) foraging for food. They seemed completely unconcerned with our presence and basically just ignored us while they continued to munch on the leaves. They made almost pig-like grunting sounds.
Another look at the brown lemur
This troop of sifakas had about 6-8 individuals. I was able to snap a few shots with three in one frame.
We saw two different troops of the diademed sifaka. These are extraordinary creatures with powerful jumping abilities. It was fun watching them leap from trunk to trunk with ease.
Another look at the weevil.
One of the most bizarre creatures in Madagascar. This insect feeds on only a few select species of plants. Our guide spotted this one in a rainstorm and I managed to snap a few goods photos. I’m very proud of this pic; it’s definitely one of the best wildlife photos I’ve ever taken. It almost looks like the weevil is looking over the edge to contemplate its next move.
Our guide spotted this dwarf lemur on one of our night hikes. We chased after it as it ran along a telephone wire by the side of the road. It finally stopped and we were able to get pretty close. We saw two species of nocturnal lemurs: the woolly lemur and this dwarf lemur. We searched the elusive mouse lemur, but were not able to get a good look at one.
One of the more bizarre insects we saw was this pill millipede. It’s built like a tank and has a plastic-like shell. When touched, it scrunches up and waits until the danger has passed.
We found this on one of our night hikes. A lot of creatures are nocturnal so we did two night hikes.
This gecko (genus Uroplatus) has incredible camouflage abilities as you can see in the photo. We asked our guides to find one for us; it took them an hour or so, but they eventually tracked one down.
