Matandia National Park

Matandia National Park

Today was grueling!! Together with Luc, we arranged a 4x4 vehicle to drive us the 20 kilometers to the adjacent Matandia National Park. I woke up at 4:15 am, exited the tent, arranged my gear, and walked out to the main road, just in time to meet Luc, Pedro, and the driver for our scheduled 4:30 departure. The road to the park started off decent, but quickly deteriorated and we were soon traveling at the break-neck speed of 10 mph. It was expected, however, and within an hour and a half, we’d reached our first stop. Luc had spotted 3 Blue Pigeons high up in a tree so we got out the vehicle for a better look. We walked the road for a short distance and Luc had also found us a pair of Malagasy Pygmy Kingfishers that we had quick views of as they darted back and forth across the road. In the distance was a calling Red-Fronted Coua, but even after playing its call on Luc’s phone, it wouldn’t make an appearance. Three Greater Vasa Parrots then flew overhead. This was the first view of the GVP, which, unlike the similar and smaller Lesser Vasa Parrot, has an almost out-of-control flight pattern.

We got back in the car and drove another 15 minutes or so to the start of our trek into the forest. We bid the driver farewell and entered the forest, first walking along a very nice trail, but soon enough, Luc had us bushwhacking off-trail until we found a small, almost invisible trail leading up the side of a hill. After a good 5-minute slog uphill, Luc told us to wait and he went on ahead. A few moments later he signaled us to continue up to where he’d been standing. When we reached him, he pointed to the ground and asked us if we could see the birds. Looking down, I could only see what appeared to be leaf-litter and scattered twigs on the ground, but at closer look, it became clear that I was staring at a pair of Collared Nightjars on their day roost.

Once again, we were absolutely dumbfounded how someone could have seen these birds as they were so well camouflaged. It was obvious that he did not just stumble upon them that morning and that they had been found on an earlier date. But being creatures of habit, the pair routinely returns to the same spot each day. Perhaps they enjoy the daily visits from the groups of birdwatchers that come by each morning.

Over the next 3 hours Luc had us climbing, crawling, jumping and slipping through the forest in search of some of Madagascar’s most sought after birds (and lemurs). One highlight, for sure, was a lone Pitta-Like Ground Roller that had taken us roughly an hour to track down. After a good 30 minutes of tough walking through the forest, we reached a known spot for the PLGR. Again, Luc had us sit and wait as he circled around in front of us with the hope of pushing the terrestrial bird toward us. No luck, and we continued on. Just then, he shouted out that there was a roller in front of us at about 10 meters distance. Neither Pedro nor I could see what he could see, but with the use of a laser pointer, he was able to indicate the bird’s location and we had fairly good views for several minutes.

We reached a point where the road passed and exited the thick forest. We continued along the road for several minutes where we ticked off Madagascar Lesser Cuckoo, a bird more frequently heard than seen, and kept our eyes open for the tiny Madagascar Flufftail that lurks in the thick vegetation along the roadside. We reached a junction in the road, turned right and within 15 minutes had reached a small lake. We sat down for the first time in what must have been a good 4 hours of non-stop walking. Here we enjoyed the serenity of this forest lake and were able to enjoy good, yet distant, views of several endemic species, including Meller’s Duck, Madagascar Grebe, and Madagascar Swamp Warbler.

After the 15-minute lake visit we headed back to into the forest for another chance at finding the very vocal, yet not-so-easy-to-find Black-and-White Lemur, an animal I am quite familiar with as it is in the collection at the SF zoo. It was at this moment of returning to the inside of the forest that we had finally saw other people. Up until then we had been alone in the forest. This is definitely a major benefit of visiting Mantadia. Because it is necessary to have a 4x4 vehicle to reach and its location, only a handful of visitors that come to Andasibe-Mantadia NPs reach this section of protected area. Whereas Andasibe received 100% of the area’s visitors, Mantadia probably gets less than 10%, making it, in my opinion, much more enjoyable. Andasibe’s relatively small trail system turns into a human traffic jam as day visitors from Antananarivo race up the hill to get a view of the Indri and if you are not in the park at the opening hour of 6am, you will undoubtedly get yourself caught in the jam.

Luc spoke with the other guides and was informed that they had seen Black-and-White Lemurs not very far from where we were. We headed in the direction of an area we’d been to earlier that morning and eventually came upon a small group of people who were staring high up into the canopy of the forest. Some 25 yards up, sprawled out on a horizontal limb of what had to be one of the forest’s highest trees, was a single Black-and-White Lemur, unaware, or most likely uninterested in the fact that we were staring at it in awe from several feet below. Pedro was now feeling much better as he had now seen all of the expected diurnal lemurs of the park. He had been a great sport and extremely patient with my bird quest.

We headed back to the road where we eventually met back up with the driver and had lunch. Nothing better than canned sardines on French bread!! Somewhat exhausted from the morning’s expedition and with the day progressing on and the level of fatigue high, we informed Luc that we would not be trekking up to the ridge, as was planned, but would be content with walking the road to see if we could tick off a few of the easier birds to see. We began right away playing the recording for Madagascar Flufftail and within just a few minutes had one pop out of the dense underbrush at the side of the road for a very quick view. Not content with what we saw, we continued another hundred yards or so down the road where we picked up the call of another bird. Playing the tape again, we patiently waited until a beautiful male popped out of the bush to give us a good 10-second view. The following 45 minutes was spent searching for the elusive Scaly Ground Roller, which, in the end, we failed to see. However, of the four possible Ground Rollers at Matandia, we were able to tick off not only the Pitta-Like GR, but also a Short-Legged GR. The SLGR was eventually found after following its call for several minutes. It involved a strenuous up and down climb through thick tangled vines, but ultimately Luc had found it (I’m still not sure how he saw it) high up in a tree (not where I’d expected to see a “Ground” Roller).

After the disappointing search for the Scaly Ground Roller, we headed back to the car and started off for the 90 minute drive back to Andasibe (pronounced Ahn-DAH-see-bay), stopping once to unsuccessfully flush out a Madagascar Rail and then again for an amazing view of a Long-Eared Owl. The long day was now over and in the end, we had seen 48 species of birds, including 24 lifers, and 4 lemur species (Indri, Red-Bellied, Black-and White, and Brown).