Day 12 - Monday 14/09/2105: La Table
Air Madagascar moved our flight from 11:00 to 10:00 meaning we had to check-in at 08:00. We figured that if we were organized we could get back to the thorn scrub area near La Table by 06:00 and get in 90 mins of birding, in a last chance effort to see Verreaux’s Coua and Red-shouldered Vanga. The first proved relatively easy this morning, but we had to track the Vanga through dense thorny scrub before getting a fairly good look at a pair. This means that we have seen 1/3 of the world population of Red-shouldered Vanga as only 3 pairs are known to exist - all in this localised and totally unprotected area. ‘La Table’ actually refers to a mesa (a flat-topped hill’). The mesa itself is legally protected but does not hold the Vanga.
We retraced our steps to Tulear airport, said goodbye to Mosa, who had been our guide at the wader pools and in the La Table area as well as on his own property, and flew back to Tana. After lunch a few of the tour group visited a local market, but Alison and I had an afternoon off at the hotel. |