Transition

We left the eastern rain forest and headed southwest, eventually to reach the dry west coast and spiny forests of the south. A day long drive through interesting scenery got us to the edge of Isalo National Park and the beautiful sandstone massifs.

We spent the following day exploring the park on foot. This was primarily a scenic day but we see a few nice birds and our first Ring-tailed Lemurs. This lemur is probably the best know of all Madagascar lemurs and a whole lot of fun to watch. We should see a lot more of them later in the trip.

Madagascar Bee-eater

Ring-tailed Lemur

Up very early the next morning, we traveled to the dry forest of Zombitse National Park. This is one of the few tiny locations for the Appert’s Tetraka, our target species for the short visit. While a few of us got an ever so quick look at the bird, it eluded my camera lens. We did see lots of Cuckoo-rollers, the only species of its family. It is neither a cuckoo, nor roller, and a very strange bird. From there we spent the rest of the day traveling to the true spiny forest and the coastal community of Tulear. 

Cuckoo-roller

Cuckoo-roller

Red-capped Coua