Festival of Wildlife 2008 - Mel Kinder

On the advice of our expert in Madagascan wildlife, top photographer and author Nick Garbutt, we opted to split the Festival across two different locations this year. Madagascar is an island of such varied landscape, flora and fauna that it would have been unjust to see only one tiny segment of it. As such, and restricted to one week for the main Festival trip, we decided to head initially to Madagascar's key National Parks of Andasibe and Mantadia, four hours drive to the east of Antananarivo.

Staying at the beautiful oasis of Vakona Lodge close to the edge of both parks enabled us to split up for each excursion into small groups of about five or six and, along with our National Park guides, local Madagascan guides and experts, venture into both parks. At first, being more of an open plains, big sky kind of person, I was a little concerned as to how I might contend with traipsing through a dark wet rainforest. These thoughts soon evaporated, and after an initiation thrill of racing through the undergrowth with Nick, Alison and Hery (our top Madagascan guide) in pursuit of Indri (the largest lemur), I am now a complete convert!

The great thing about a walking safari is the freedom of feeling close to the wildlife and the growing ability and confidence with each walk to be able to spot and identify species yourself. Initially I was devoid of the thrill of the danger realised by the potential proximity of a dangerous animals (Madagascar has no dangerous carnivores to worry you) but this sensation was soon filled with the anticipation of encountering a nearby chameleon or leaf-tailed gecko. Night walking heightens these senses and offers even novice spotters some chance encounters with a mouse lemur, tree frog or even a rare Hairy-eared Dwarf Lemur, which we were lucky enough to come across during our first night in the forest! Whilst here we were accompanied by researchers from the local Association Mitsinjo conservation group, who work tirelessly to help preserve this precious jewel of remaining Madagascan rainforest and it's wild inhabitants.

At Andasibe and Mantadia, not only were we fortunate to have great close up sightings (and experience the wonder of the wailingly eerie call) of Madagascar's largest lemur, the Indri, but also the beautiful Diademed Sifaka and Black-and-white Ruffed Lemur among countless sightings of chameleons, geckos, frogs, snakes and many weird and wonderful insects.

Lemur Island at Vakona offers rescued lemurs the chance of a new 'wild' life where they can spend their days eating their usual diet of leaves, berries etc. on a large island and where they have become habituated to the frequent visits from Vakona guests. We delighted in being able to hand feed these gentle skilled acrobats with pieces of banana, which they willingly accepted in a very polite, unhurried and dextrous manner.

Having spent three nights at Vakona we then braved an early start for the winding road back to Antananarivo followed by a short flight up to the north-west coast hotel accommodation of Anjajavy. Flying over the central regions of Madagascar made me wonder if we had just left all that remained of the beautiful forest which once covered the island. All we could see for mile on end was unusable barren land interjected with the red cuts of landslips and the occasional rice field. Green pockets of deciduous forests soon became visible. Anjajavy is a remote idyll situated on the untarnished dry forest coastline and accessible only by plane and boat. It was the perfect complement to the glistening humid rainforest of the east.

From this luxurious but unpretentious base we were able to take a combination of boating and walking safaris, listen to the fascinating Madagascan experiences of writer Hilary Bradt and conservationist Richard Lewis from Durrell Wildlife Trust and enjoy informal painting tuition through the skills of wildlife artist Jonathan Truss.

Photographers revelled in the opportunities of capturing images of one of the world's rarest birds - the Madagascar Fish Eagle and then to discuss their attempts of this and other wildlife conquests with the likes of Jonathan and Angie Scott, Nick Garbutt and David Back.

On a number of occasions a group of Coquerel's Sifaka delighted in playing hide and seek with our party within the grounds of Anjajavy, appearing, posing briefly for photos before disappearing again, one by one along the same route, once the leader decided the time was right. Sifaka tea-dancing across the Oasis garden at tea time was almost a daily ritual!

The Malagasy people are possibly some of the poorest, yet the warmest people you could meet anywhere. They delighted in our presence for the Festival and were overjoyed to show off their ravaged but still so beautiful and interesting island. I hope that they are helped in whatever way is possible to find a way of existing and prospering in tandem with their rich wildlife legacy.

Next year in May, we will be taking the Festival to the plains of the Serengeti in Tanzania where we will be joined by among others, photographer and TV presenter Chris Packham, zoologist and top wildlife photographer Mark Carwardine and artist and conservationist Mandy Shepherd. Click here for more details.

Click here to go back to the main festival 2008 blog.