For the last part of our Madagascar trip we drove to a remote area to the south of Majunga. First we had to cross the wide Betsiboka Bay by ferry. We wondered where all the beer in the yellow crates and the huge sound system were going, it appears they were heading to the village next to where we would camp!
There were many traditional dhows crossing the bay ….
.. although some looked like their sails needed a bit of attention.
We made a detour to a nearby lighthouse where there was a highly visible population of Mongoose Lemurs …
.. and a family group of Crowned Sifakas.
With no tarmacked roads, transportation in this remote region was mainly by ox-cart.
Our progress was blocked by a wide river, the cattle could swim across …
… but the ox-carts (and our Landcruisers) had to cross by pontoon …
.. pulled by a very muscular villager.
Our well provisioned camp was beside the beautiful Lac Kinkony. All seemed peaceful until night fell …
….. when very loud rap music started up in the nearby village and continued from 1800 until 0800 the next morning. It appears that a much revered local man who had lived into his 80s had just died and his body would lie in state for a week whilst the locals got drunk and partied all night in his honour. Bear in mind that there would be no refrigeration and daytime temperatures were in the mid 30s so it would be wise to approach the village from upwind.
The following morning, a bit bleary eyed due to lack of sleep, we set of in boats to investigate the bird life of this beautiful lake.
Much of our time was spent searching the narrow channels between the reeds.
We found the endemic Madagascar Jacana …
… and Allen’s Gallinules (bizarrely one of these African crakes was found on Portland in Dorset a few years ago but only survived long enough for locals to twitch it) ……
… but our main target was the almost unknown Sakalava Rail, a bird that was only reliably observed five times in the 20th century but has recently been shown to be quite common at Lac Kinkony.
Back for lunch and a siesta.
Nearby woodland held the beautiful Decken’s Sifaka.
We had another boat trip in the late afternoon then it was time to relax with a sundowner …..
… before the music from the village started up all over again.
Nocturnal forays near the camp proved fruitless due to the racket so we drove for several miles to find Madagascar Nightjar and this charming Grey Mouse Lemur.
The following day we made the long and bumpy drive back to Betsiboka Bay and boarded an even more decrepit ferry than the one we had come out on.
The following morning we took a boat trip from Majunga around the Bay, finding White-throated Rails in the mangroves …..
… Lesser Flamingos ….
… and the recently split Madagascar Sacred Ibis on the mud flats ….
… but our main target was the endangered Bernier’s Teal which we saw very well. We were due to fly from Majunga to the Comoros Islands but due to a Mad Air reshuffle we had to fly back to Antananarivo that afternoon for an overnight stay and fly to the Comoros the following day, something akin to flying from London to Paris to get to Glasgow. This was the problem that had necessitated the 16 hour drive described in Part 2 of this narrative.
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