Vahimantsina walk at Mitsinjo with Pierre

---

Geo: -18.9427, 48.4085

Vahimantsina Walk - the four to five hour circuit Loved the Malagasy names for the various walks so
had to share them!

First a word about the nature walks we went on while here. They were all great and we enjoyed them
immensely. That being said, we did not have books to show us the correct spelling of what we were
being shown so some of what is written here is what "We heard" when something was told us. Another thing we found out when we were paying bill was that if you are staying at Mitsinjo once you have paid for your first entry into the park you do not have to pay again until you leave and then you must pay each time you enter the reserve. Very nice!!!!

For our first trip, we decided to go for the longest walk that was offered, the four to five hour
walk. When we had first arrived, Hasiana knew one of the guides, Pierre and told us he was a good
guide so we set our first walk up with him. The first bird we saw was one we had seen around the
campsite, the crested drongo. He is kind of like the mockingbird in his repertoire of sounds he can
make. Looks like the fork tail drongo of Africa except has a crest on his head near the beak.
Unfortunately the next birds were flycatchers that dart about and were hard to see in the early
morning sun.

A bit about the trails here. A lot of work has gone into the trails at Mitsinjo. Part of them are
large stones especially on the parts going uphill or downhill. There are also handrails on some of
the steeper parts. The pathways are cleared enough that you do not have to worry about touching
something that might scratch you etc. Now, all bets are off when you go off trail in search of one of
the lemurs or other special creatures! This is why long pants, hiking shoes, and pants tucked into
your socks makes perfect sense!!!

Took us past one of the nurseries with tree seedlings growing. Explained when they do re-planting
they plant a fast growing seedling that will shade the medium growing seedling planted next, which
will shade the slow growing seedling planted last. They plant them in groupings of three for this
purpose.

Our next treat was to see the Parson's chameleon. This particular chameleon is endemic to Madagascar and particularly to this region. Found out after our visit to this chameleon the range of movement is only about 10 metres and this is part of the reason he is so easy to find. Very colorful and because it is a male has horns on the front of the head. Very interesting. Pierre said the tongue was as long as the tail.This we want to see.

Headed up another set of steps, you get your exercise on these walks because there is a lot of up and down! As we were walking up the stairs, Pierre stopped and showed us a paradise flycatcher nest that had a tree frog sleeping in it. The tree frog was one of the largest of the tree frogs. Quite a sight to see.

Stopped and admired the vakkona plant from which most of the roofs around Andasibe are made. It would be interesting to watch one of these roofs be put on a building because it looks like it is done
slightly different than thatching you see in Africa. It is also used to make the beautiful baskets
and other woven goods. Just a word about these hikes, there are over 12,000 plant species in
Madagascar and 70 to 80% of them are endemic. Bird species 285 with 115 of them endemic to
Madagascar.

Took a short rest from climbing another set stairs and heard about the Travelers Palm/Ravenala plant. This is another endemic plant to Madagascar and gets the name from the fact that water can be obtained by making a hole in one of the trunk. There are also nuts that are edible if necessary.

Finally got to see a Paradise Flycatcher sitting still long enough for us to get a picture. This one
was in the blue phase and had a very nice blue eye as well and the suimanga sunbird flitting here and there!

Took us off the main path again and found a couple of eastern wooly lemurs that were still sleeping
and started waking up as we watched them. Saw the cuckoo shrike, crested drongo and magpie robin in a fairly close grouping. We kept seeing the cuckoo roller but were not able to get a picture. The cuckoo roller is a predator and soars and cries as he does!

Pierre took us to a shelter they have built for a rest while he went to look for the indri-indri.
This particular lemur is a big draw to this park and the national park and so they really want
everyone to see them so they have what I call the "lemur whisperer", who goes out and finds where one of the families is hanging out and calls the guide to help them get the guests to the lemurs. Works for me. We had to go off trail and head up a steep slope and then down and there they were! This one of the largest lemurs and has the "famous" song you hear every day sometimes 4 or five times a day. People say it is kind of like a whale song but is hard to describe but is very memorable! The brown lemur chatters and grunts.

One of them was fairly close to us and the indri-indri whisperer had some young leaves of one of the
trees they love. The indri then made one of the famous leaps and suddenly was about 10-12 feet from Laura! Was so incredible to see this animal up close. Their fur is beautiful and their eyes seem so wondering. Ate the leaves and then started making a humming noise. At first thought it was someone's cellphone but no, the indri indri makes this noise before they are ready to move on after eating either epaca or ocatea leaves. These are two of the 80 species of plants they eat!

As we continued on found three or four brown lemurs moving in the trees above us. The indri indri and the brown lemur are two of the lemurs active during the day; the eastern wooly is a nocturnal lemur so we were lucky to find him moving a bit.

Found the cactus ryslias (my spelling for this plant) which is found in the rainforest and can be used to clean the hair especially of dandruff and also if you use enough it can tint your hair.

Scared a little brown snake off the path, Pierre caught it and Robert held it for a picture. I chose to take the picture! There are other birds and things we saw but did not get written down but may show up in the pictures!

Past a small pond where there was a scientific station to measure rain and wind speed. Do not know if it was hooked up. Another group had discovered a boa constrictor that was enjoying the sunshine but Pierre said was just awakening from hibernation.

Mark, one of the researchers had told us of the giraffe beetle and Pierre found us the male and female beetle. Very interesting with very long neck with tiny head at end!

Out to the road where we tried to find the scops owl but was not in usual habitat so on back to camp. That evening visited with researchers and Mafajaka (spelling may be incorrect), a local member of team who was going to Cambridge to study for a session. All made for a very interesting evening.

---

Photos

/Traveler's Palm
Pierre is cutting into the base of the Ravenala plant or Traveler's Palm to show how there is water available and this is why it was called this.

/perhaps the Paradise Flycatcher
have determined it is and is the blue morph............there is also a reddish morph

//perhaps the Paradise Flycatcher
/