Ankarafantsika National Park, Mahajanga Province, Madagascar

5Maria_the_Snorkeler 5:00 PM Dec 24, 2016

Incredible experience: magical bird with a flower on its face, fish eagle, jacana, crocodiles, and many more
My experience at the Park was extremely enjoyable, to put it mildly. In fact, it was incredible. Bird- and animal watching started as soon as I arrived in the Park in the morning. Birds were everywhere: sickle-billed vanga, Madagascan hoopoe, broad-billed roller, Malagasy kingfisher, magpie robin, Malagasy bulbul, long-billed tretraka, and Malagasy coucal – just for starters, to say nothing about the family of Coquerel’s sifakas and numerous spiny-tailed iguanas. We went into the forest to see more birds including Van Dam’s vanga, paradise flycatchers (rufous male and female), rufous vanga, hook-billed vanga, crested ibis in the nest, red-capped coua, Coquerel’s coua, crested coua, Scops owl, white-breasted mesite, souimanga sunbird (male and female), Madagascan cuckoo-roller, lesser vasa parrot, crested drongo, Sakalava veaver, and Chabert vanga. The Scops owl was absolutely loveable and following and watching a couple of red-capped couas was fantastic. I also saw 2 snakes, a common big-eyed snake at the forest and a huge ground boa near my bungalow (the lodge where I stayed, Gite de Ampijoroa, is in the Park too). The boa was really big, about 3 meters (see picture). After a quite agreeable lunch at the restaurant near the entrance to the Park/Lodge, I had a boat ride on the lake. It was probably the most incredible boat ride I had in my life. I saw the crocodiles in the wild for the first time, some in the water and three crocs on the banks. And a wealth of birds! Apart from numerous cattle egrets, the birds included white-faced ducks, purple heron, Humblot’s heron, Malagasy kingfisher, Madagascar bee-eater, striated heron, glossy ibis, Squacco heron, black heron, three-banded plover, jacana, fish eagle, sooty falcon, and Madagascar buzzard. A Humblot’s heron walking among young crocodiles looked bizarre. It was great to see jacana, the famous small wader bird with disproportionately huge feet. The most interesting was watching black herons fish using the canopy trick: using its wings to make an umbrella to create shade and thus attract fish into the shade. There was a family of brown lemurs near the lake, playing and resting in a big tree. I liked Ankarafantsika so much that, on the way back from Nosy Be and Ankarana Reserve, I decided to spend one more night there and asked for the same bungalow in hope of seeing my friend the ground boa. Early in the morning I went birdwatching to another location where I was absolutely thrilled to see the iconic Schlegel’s asity, a small passerine bird with a blue and emerald “flowers” around the male’s eyes. The couple of asities was working on their nest (redecorating it from the way it looked). During this short morning walk, among other birds, I also saw a couple of courting and, finally, mating crested couas. Amazing! The lake with its inhabitants impressed me so much that I took another boat ride, this time in the morning. There was only one crocodile in the water in the distance (perhaps because it was not warm enough yet for them to bask in the sun), but I had a wonderful chance to watch a jacana from a very close distance and take a very good look at the fish eagle (see pictures). When I returned from the boat ride, I was greeted by my friend the boa in front of my bungalow. Finally, wildlife I saw during my two night walks at Ankarafantsika included Malagasy-cat-eyed snake, several chameleons including short-nosed chameleon, nightjar, a big bat hanging from a branch, grey mouse lemur, a sleeping common gery, a frog Heterixalus luteostriatus, sportive lemur, fat-tailed dwarf lemur, and a tree rat. What else to dream of? To go there again. My special thanks to my wonderful and patient guide Olga

5Maria_the_Snorkeler 5:00 PM Sep 25, 2018

Back in wonderful Ankarafantsika
I have already visited Ankarafantsika twice (see my detailed 2016 review) and loved it. During this visit to Madagascar I also went there twice and liked it even more. During my second visit I was once again extremely lucky with the local naturalist guide. This time it was the famous Gabriel, the teacher of many younger guides. In addition to being extremely knowledgeable and competent, Gabriel speaks excellent, fluent English and it’s a real pleasure (and fun) to be guided by him. The forest generously offered a wealth of birds including all the usual suspects: Madagascan hoopoe (juvenile), broad-billed roller, Malagasy coucal, sickle-billed vanga, magpie robin, Malagasy bulbul, both the rufous and white forms of paradise flycatcher, lesser vasa parrot, red-capped coua, Coquerel’s coua, crested coua, souimanga sunbird (male and female), etc. I also saw buttonquails, forest rock thrush, grey-headed lovebirds. I had an interesting walk around the lake where I was very lucky to encounter a very cute Madagascar pygmy kingfisher practically in daylight not long before sunset (before that I have only seen his bird at night time, sleeping). Like last year, I watched a black heron doing its canopy trick: folding its wings to make an umbrella so as to create shade and attract fish into this shade. There was a big group of local people fishing all together in the water because that way they are not (or are less) afraid of being attacked by crocodiles. I had a very good look at the famous Madagascar fish eagle. During the day and night walks I saw many reptiles: beautiful chameleons (oustalets, long-nosed chameleons, etc.), geckos including cute leaf-tailed geckos, skinks, iguanas, and snakes. I especially liked a couple of courting spiny-tailed iguanas and an iguana with its head peeking out of the hole in the tree. I saw two snakes. One was a cat-eyed snake (Madascarophis colubrinus) climbing the stairs to my bungalow. Unfortunately I startled it and it went away. Another was a blonde hognose snake (Leioheterodon modestus) looking for prey in the holes in the ground. The lemurs around the lodge (brown lemur and Coquerel’s sifaka) were as cute as ever and at night I saw nocturnal lemurs and tuft-tailed rat. At night time at the lodge (I once again stayed at Gite de Ampijoroa which I like very much, particularly, for its location in the park) I saw three Scops owls, two of them perched on the same branch. It was incredible! They were just a few meters away from me and I could see them very well. During my boat trip I saw several crocodiles including a pretty baby croc and a huge crocodile, and another crocodile surrounded by my favourite Squacco herons with their spectacular hairdos and blue bills. On the last morning at Ankarafantsika Gabriel found me the jewel of this wonderful park, a family of Schlegel’s asity with sapphire and emerald “flowers” (supraorbital caruncles) around the male’s eyes. The male was picking dry leafs for the nest and showing these leafs to his modest-looking lady for approval. I stood there for half an hour just watching him do it. While we were in the forest, Gabriel picked a wild little yellow mango for me and it was the sweetest mango I have eaten in my life. Gabriel Ramandroso is also known as a founder of a children’s club where he volunteers teaching French, English and Foundations for Farming for the kids from local poor families. Thank you, Gabriel, and hope to see you again at Ankarafantsika!