Segolis in Israel

Segolis in Israel

2014 - Sep-Oct ; Nov-Dec

2015 - Jan-Feb ;Mar-Apr ;May-June ;Iceland ;Jul-Aug ;Sep-Oct

2016 - Jan-Feb ; Mar-Apr ; Jul-Galapagos ; Aug ; 2017 - Aug Dolomites ;

2018 - Aug Madagascar - part 1 ; part 2 ; Italy Apr ; Aug Mongolia

Madagascar August 2018 – part one

This year we fulfilled another dream – visiting Madagascar

We landed in the capital Antananarivo (names in Madagascar are impossible to pronounce and each place has two names – French and Malagasy) and flew to Antisiranana, where we slept in an amazing cabin on the beach

The girls in the sea and Maayan in the entrance to our room

Our first lemur

The following day we sailed to nearby Island on a boat with a sail that looked like a patchwork quilt. A whole crew joined us and only later did we find out what was the role of each one – the sailors, the cook (who fished for our fish) and even a Masseuse/hair braider

On the Island we did one of the most beautiful tide-zone trips we have ever done and did some snorkeling

The next day we met the Berger family – friends from Sde Boker – and drove with them in three Renault 4 taxis to Mt. Amber national park. Like in other places in Madagascar – we were surprised at the basic tourist and general infrastructure. The roads were terrible, it’s hard to get from place to place, very low standard of living and there are almost no English speakers (lucky for us Ruti speaks some French).We quickly learned that we are almost the only tourists that arrive without a personal guide

For a small payment the local bus driver took us to the entrance of the park – which was not on his route. Once we got to the gate of the park – things became better

We had two great English speaking guides who were knowledgeable about the flora and fauna of the park. We explained to them from the beginning that we are interested in all animals – including the small ones and not only the lemurs. Therefore, we walked at a pace of about 100 meters an hour since we found more and more insects all the time. Well, we also saw a bird or two

See the spider?

The peak was when we encountered one of the smallest chameleons in the world. The guide found it in between dry leaves – there was no way that we would have found it by ourselves

For comparison – the largest chameleon in the world

And yes, we also saw lemurs – high on the trees and on the ground, and also a beautiful Ring-tailed mongoose. We spend an amazing two days in the park – including a night tour where we saw numerous chameleons and small night-active lemurs

Sanfords Brown Lemur

Crowned Lemur

Blue lemur

Ring Tailed Mongoose

From there we continued to the Red Tsingy that has a unique and amazing landscape from red sandstone

Maayan discovering that the Madagascar Hissing cockroach crapped on him

From there we continued to Ankarana National Park. Also there we spent two amazing days with wonderful guides. We were impressed by the pointy rock Tsingy landscape formation, that was created by erosion of the limestone by acid rain from the volcano

Nymphs (bottom) and adult (top) of a leaf-insect. The nymphs secrete a waxy substance to protect them

Madagascar Paradise Flycatcher

The lemur is taking a selfi with Moran

Commersons Leaf-nosed Bat

One of the most amazing animals we saw - Leaf-tailed Gecko that has unbelievable camouflage. On its sides it has flapping skin that surround the branch and on its back there are patches that look like lichens – so it is almost impossible to see her. Even when the guides pointed her out – it was hard to recognize where she starts and ends

Leaf-tailed Gecko

We continued to a cooperative farm were we got a tour in French and saw cocoa and Vanilla plantations

Zoe couldn’t hold herself and wanted to taste the ‘chocolate that grows on trees’

We continued to Nosy Be – an Island in the north of Madagascar. We arrived at our falling apart “hotel” on the beach. Even though we booked in advance – they did not know we were coming, nobody knew English and there was no place to eat or buy food. In the end we found a improvised restaurant on the beach

Although the beach was beautiful – the next day we moved to a real hotel (with a pool and wifi) and spent two days on the beach snorkeling, diving and sailing to nearby islands

The peak was a tour in the Lekobe National Park that included sailing in local canoes (made from hollowed out trees that are still used by local fishermen). We did a sailing competition and enjoyed ourselves very much

Madagascar Ground Boa

Minute Leaf Chameleon

Orange-backed Mantella

The rest of our trip – in our next update