Day 20 - Tuesday 22/09/2105: Cap Masoala
Alarms at 03:30 for a 04:00 breakfast and 06:00 flight to Maroantsetra. Then a short drive through town to reach the quay from which we obtained two small open motor boats to get us to Cap Masoala. Since I was looking forward to seeing some seabirds on this 2-hour ride, the experience turned out to be a lot worse than disappointing. I was drenched more or less from the outset; for much of the journey I couldn’t open my eyes because of the continuous facefulls of seawater I was receiving; it was impossible to use binoculars whenever we did see any birds, partly because of this drenching and partly because (despite this being a birding trip and having a birding guide in the boat) the driver would not slow down to allow us to view the wildlife; a storm brewed and we received an additional drenching from the sky; my Lumix camera was damaged somehow so that it would not work for the next 36 hours. After this torture we had a beach landing which although a bit rough at least it was dry – not that it would have made a great deal of difference as the inside of my boots were as saturated as the rest of me. Alison was also wet though, through her position in the boat, she had managed to stay a bit dryer then me. On the way over we stopped in the sheltered waters of Nosy-Mangabe Island where we looked for Humblot's Heron (unsuccessful) and Madagascar Flying Fox (which put on a good display).
OK – this is a beautiful beach resort, we are the only people staying here, the food is good, it is warm but not too hot and as I write this in our beach bungalow I can hear the sound of the Indian Ocean waves lapping on the shore.
OK – this is a beautiful beach resort, we are the only people staying here, the food is good, it is warm but not too hot and as I write this in our beach bungalow I can hear the sound of the Indian Ocean waves lapping on the shore.
After a shower and a cup of coffee, I was in a better frame of mind. We had a walk along the beach and soon found some Madagascar Pratincoles on some rocks and some groups of Crested Terns, mostly Lesser but with a few Greater as well.
We returned to base for lunch and then went for a walk in the rainforest here. Due to its inaccessibility Cap Masaola is one of the most unspoilt areas of Madagascar. The forest has a different variety of trees and Pandanus than we had seen in Perinet, with more dense under and mid-story growth giving rise to a generally darker forest. We did find a few birds but none of the target species.
After dinner we did a night walk, again just Alison and I, and found a new snakes and some Ghost Crabs on the shore. The latter have eyes on fairly long stalks and have an unusual habit of running upright on their rear 2 pairs of legs. We didn’t stay out too long as it started raining.
We returned to base for lunch and then went for a walk in the rainforest here. Due to its inaccessibility Cap Masaola is one of the most unspoilt areas of Madagascar. The forest has a different variety of trees and Pandanus than we had seen in Perinet, with more dense under and mid-story growth giving rise to a generally darker forest. We did find a few birds but none of the target species.
After dinner we did a night walk, again just Alison and I, and found a new snakes and some Ghost Crabs on the shore. The latter have eyes on fairly long stalks and have an unusual habit of running upright on their rear 2 pairs of legs. We didn’t stay out too long as it started raining.