Day 8 - Thurday 10/09/2015: Ranomafana
Again we spent the morning in Ranomafana forest. Here we added 4 new birds: Red-fronted Coua, Pitta-like Ground-roller, Common Sunbird-asity (which proved to be unusually uncommon on this tour as it was not seen again and was only seen on this occasion by us and 2 others of the tour group) and White-throated Oxylabes (which was only seen by Alison and I). The only new mammal was Eastern Red Forest Rat.
After packing our bags and a 3-course lunch we left the Ranamafana Lodge. Still in the Ranamafana area we visited a cave full of Major’s Bent-winged Bat, one of only two places known to hold this species. Opposite the cave we had good views of cascades.
A little further on we had an interesting walk through an area of paddy-fields in a further unsuccessful attempt for Madagascar Snipe. Our guide enlisted the help of a local lad and between them they covered quite a large area in an attempt flush one of these previously regular, but now elusive and declining, birds. We did find our first Madagascar Cisticola; and the sight of 10 white ‘Western’ birders, complete with optical equipment, trying to balance on the narrow mud and turf walls between the paddies, provided the local people working in these paddies with a high level of entertainment. Much laughter ensued – but no-one actually fell in.
|
We then drove the relatively short distance to our next hotel – the Zomatel in Fianarantsoa, Madagascar’s second largest city (but it lacks an airport). The roadside landscape along the way was almost entirely given over to paddy fields, with no space for native flora or fauna to survive.
We arrived at dusk. At dinner we celebrated Margaret’s birthday with a cake. Having brought in the cake complete with a firework and sung “Happy birthday”, Margaret promptly denied that it was her birthday and proceeded to decimate the cake by cutting it into unorthodox shapes (triangle, star, crescent, hexagon etc) for distribution. I’m not sure what the hotel staff would have made of this performance (most of us were as bemused as we were amused) but I’m sure they enjoyed consuming the leftovers. |