Nosy Mangabe Special Reserve, Toamasina Province, Madagascar

5reptileenthusiast 5:00 PM Mar 6, 2016

Frog, Lizard and Lemur Heaven
We spent one day in Nosy Mangabe with the wonderful guide Elysee in December of 2015. Masoala Forest Lodge, where we were staying, arranged for us to spend much of the day here looking primarily for reptiles and amphibians and we were not disappointed. I was surprised to see so few reviews for Nosy Mangabe in TA – we found it to be just as interesting as Masoala National Park, and we highly recommended a visit. Our early morning boat ride was smooth and pleasant, and we made our wet landing without incident. A quick trip to the restroom led us to the first of many biological marvels on this day – our first (any only) Green-backed Mantella, a gorgeous frog with a greenish-yellow back, a little blue speckling on the hands and legs, and a black body. We were thrilled – this is what we came to Madagascar to see! Once leaving the camping area, the eagle-eyed Elysee soon found a Common Leaf-tailed Gecko plastered to the side of a tree, incredibly camouflaged. We had seen these crazy critters on our night hikes when they are much easier to see, but this was our first in the light of day, when they look just like the tree that they are on. These two finds set the stage for a most productive day hiking the wonders of Nosy Mangabe. The big mammal prize of the day was the group of Black-and-White Ruffed Lemurs Elysee tracked. So playful in the trees – we saw moms with babies and big males just chilling in the treetops. We also ran across White-fronted Brown Lemurs multiple times and got very close to them at least twice. They seemed to tolerate us for the most part, but every so often we would get a snarl or two. The reptile prize of the day, surprisingly, was not the Common Leaf-tailed Gecko, but the ridiculously small and endangered Brookesia peyrierasi, Peyrieras' Pygmy Chameleon. These little guys hang out in the leaf litter and when disturbed, roll over and play dead. Elysee worked very hard to find us one of these little cuties, and we were thrilled to see it, the smallest Brookesia species we would see on our entire trip. It was a great day for reptiles and amphibians; in addition to those mentioned above we also saw a gorgeous green-with-orange-spots Day Gecko, and four or five species of frogs other than the Mantella. We had planned to hike in the morning, have lunch, and try a new trail in the afternoon, but when we emerged from the forest for lunch it was already after 2:00, so we ate and waited for our 3:00 boat back to the lodge. It was amazing how quickly the day went, and how much we saw. The forest is full of life, but additionally, there is an area of the island that holds a number of tombs, and we found that to be as interesting as the wildlife. The island does allow camping, there are flush toilets, and a nice covered area with picnic tables. At this writing I believe it is possible to stay overnight on the island, but no night hikes are allowed, so even though there are aye-aye here, you would need to be pretty lucky to see them.

5Sandra A 5:00 PM Oct 12, 2016

Primary Forest
Great island that has never had a human settlement. We saw 2 different lemurs, the smallest chameleon, and the leaf tailed gecko. We did not have time to camp there but there is a camp site with a out house. The flora and fauna is beautiful and very lush. The boat ride was about 40 minutes and was not too bad.