Five out of Five!

Today, Friday August 4th, we were thrilled to see all five lemur species here at Berenty reserve – ringtails, Verreaux’s sifakas, red-fronted brown lemurs, white-footed sportive lemurs and a dwarf mouse lemur.  (It is the smallest of all the lemurs - about the size of a small hamster).  The latter two are nocturnal, and involved a hike in the spiny forest at night.  We were fortunate enough to see a white-footed sportive lemur by day. They are so cute!

White-footed sportive lemur in fork of tree

While out on our night walk, we also caught a glimpse of an owl in the forest and at the end saw the most wonderful display of stars and the most visible band of the Milky Way I think I have ever seen.  Somehow the sky seemed closer than ever!

On the morning walk, we saw nocturnal fruit bats slumbering in the distance, enjoying the warmth of the sun at the top of a huge tamarind tree.  These are big bats – around 1.2m (4 feet) wingspan) so could be seen and heard from quite a way a way.  As we observed them a troop of brown lemurs came through their tree which set the bats off with quite a flying display.

This warty chameleon was also spotted on the morning walk.  This variety do change colour to blend in with their surroundings

We were also fortunate enough to have a Giant Coua walk by our bungalow door:

And watch Madagascar bee-eaters fly and catch insects repeatedly:

And on our final morning (Sunday August 6) we were granted close-up viewing of a mother sifaka and her sleeping baby in the small tree in front of our bungalow):