Kirindy Private Reserve - Lemurs, Fossas, Reptiles and Screams in the Night (June 6) by Maya

From Morondava we drove what was supposed to be a 2h drive on a highway which turned into a 3h drive on a really bumpy dirt road to a park reserve called Kirindy. 
The road into Kirindy Park

 We arrived at lunch time checked into our Dungalow 4.0 and ate a light lunch.  Then we went on a walk through the park hoping to get our first look at lemurs! We walked through the forest for 5 minutes then, our guide spotted a Oustalet's Chameleon which was about a foot long and a faint green color hiding in a hole in a tree!    

After about ten more minutes of walking our guide told us to wait there while he went in search for lemurs off trails! He came back and said he found a group of Sifaka in a tree! 







After lots of pictures the lemurs decided they were getting tired of sitting still they jumped away from tree to tree! It was really cool to see them jumping!  We also saw a group of common brown lemurs.














 We walked for 2 hours but didn't see anymore lemurs but we did see geckos, iguanas and chameleons and a skink.
Spiny-tailed collared iguana 
Spiny-tailed collared iguana



Spiny-tailed collared iguana

Oustelet's Chameleon
Skink
there was a brown miniature lion-like thing that wandered around the camp called a fossa, they are the largest predator on the whole island. they are supposed to be pretty rare but since there was always at least one around the camp we thought they might be leaving food out for them. At one point some lemurs came to the camp and tried to get food from the trash bin but, fortunately the fossa came and scared them off!







 That night we also went for a walk when it was dark out so that we could see the other species of night time lemurs! That night we got to see the Mouse Lemur and the red-tail sportive lemur. The mouse lemur was about the size of a  mouse, (hence the name "Mouse Lemur"), brown, really big eyes, and tiny bear like ears! 

Me shining a light into the crevice of a tree trunk looking for a mouse lemur
gray mouse lemur peeking out of a crevice in a tree
Gray Mouse Lemur braving our presence

Red-tail Sportive Lemur
We also saw a big-headed gecko and an Ocelet gecko.

Looking closely at a big-headed gecko

Big-headed gecko



Ocelet gecko

 We were about ready to head back when we heard a car horn honk.  At first we just ignored it because we thought it was our driver telling us it was time to come back but then we heard it again. Then we heard honking several times in a row like someone needed help or someone was trying to get someone's attention!  Then we heard a really weird noise like some kind of animal or possessed person. It was really loud and sounded like howling and cackling! It would stop and start again... We thought it was an animal but we asked our guide if he knew what it was.  He seemed a bit worried and said no. We turned our flashlights off and slowly and quietly started to walk back. Eventually we got to the point where the noise got too loud and weird and none of us wanted to go any closer so we stood there not moving because we were so scared! Our guide said that he would  go see what the noise was and where it was coming from. We asked for directions to get back if he didn't come back and then he left. After 10 minutes there were footsteps coming into the forest! We hid in the shadows covering our eyes so that if it wasn't our guide they (or it) hopefully wouldn't see us! Then our guide came back with the driver who was making the noises! Apparently he was doing that to scare off a bush pig that was walking around the car. He was so scared from the dark and the bush pig, but he was definitely over reacting!

I know it may not sound that scary but it was the scariest thing that has ever happened to me!  We were all scared, even our guide.

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