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8 Anja, Zombitse, Antokay reserves

by BassVac | Nov 14–16, 2013 | 62 | 194

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On the journey down the RN7 we visited some of the smaller reserves. Set in the spectacular granite country south of Ambalavao is the community run Anja Forest Reserve. It is an area sacred to the Betsileo people and they are able to show you ring-tailed lemurs in their natural habitat. South west of Isalo is Zombitse National Park, another pocket of forest protected since 2002. This forest is surrounded bu a dry moonscape having suffered for hundreds of years from slash-and-burn agriculture and tree felling. Local Bara and Mahafaly people are keepers of Zebu, they continuously need more space to feed their herds and grow rice and corn. Within this forest haven we photographed sifakas and sportive lemurs. Antsokay Arboretum near Toliara was created in 1980 by Swiss botanist Herman Petignat to conserve plants endemic to the southwestern part of Madagascar. It is a good place to learn about and photograph the plants adapted to the arid conditions including euphorbias, kalachoes, didieraceaes and baobabs.