Diademed Sifaka

Madagascar Day 11

Left the hotel at 6:05 for a 2 hour drive to a nearby reserve (poor roads again).
Had some really close encounters this morning. First we saw three Black and White Ruffed Lemurs playing in the trees above us. It was raining slightly and the visibility was poor, sadly the photos have not come out well.

We then saw the Common Brown Lemurs again in a little huddle, looked like a big round clump of fur until one of them got up and ventured off.

Reports that the Diademed Sifaka's had been spotted, but up hill, so the group split, those who wanted to do the climb and those who didn't. I went up the hill and we all stopped for photos at a view point. I then offered to take a photo of two of the group with the view behind. When we turned round to leave the rest of the group had gone! We heard voices so followed them up hill to find a different group of people? The three of us were on our own! Our local guide then came up the hill with one of the slower of the group, he suggested we followed the other path and then turn right at the end up the hill. We did that, still didn't find the group, then lost our local guide too! This all sounds dramatic, but we were found within 10 minutes and followed the park guide to get some beautiful views of the Diademed Sifakas.

We got back to the hotel in the afternoon with enough time to visit their own Lemur Park. This was a group of 3 islands where they have some very very tame lemurs living. The guides had bananas which the lemurs loved and he (without your knowledge) enticed them to jump on to your back or head! I have some funny photos of shocked looks from some of our group. The lemurs were quite light really and I can confirm their scent is a bit musky or ferret like!

Wild Lemur Species Count = 15
Diademed Sifaka
Black and White Ruff Lemur
Goodman's Mouse Lemur
Golden Eastern Bamboo Lemur
Reddish-grey Mouse Lemur
Hubbards Sportive Lemur
Verreaux's Sifaka
Red-fronted Brown Lemur
Ring-tailed Lemur
Milne-Edwards' Sifaka
Greater Bamboo Lemur
Golden Bamboo Lemur
Red Bellied Lemur
Common Brown Lemur
Brown Mouse Lemur