Madagascar animals: what you can see, and where

Many of Madagascar's native animals live nowhere else on Earth: more than 100 kinds of lemur, nearly half the world's chameleon species, hundreds of frogs, the tenrecs, some of them hedgehog look-alikes, and the fossa, a slim hunter of lemurs. Ten days gives you a fair chance at several lemur species, chameleons, geckos, frogs and birds found only here. The fossa and a wild aye-aye you'd see only with luck.

Where you go decides what you meet. Andasibe, three to four hours east of Antananarivo, has the indri. The RN7 south adds bamboo lemurs at Ranomafana and ring-tails at Anja and Isalo. Kirindy, in the west, has sifakas by day and, with luck, the fossa at night, and the far north has crowned lemurs and panther chameleons, usually blue or blue-green around Nosy Be. Every trip we run is private, with park fees and local guides included, and we never promise an animal.

Why so much of it lives nowhere else

Madagascar's long isolation helped produce a distinctive fauna. Habitats range from eastern rainforest to dry western forest:

• Lemurs. More than 100 species, living naturally nowhere else. In 2020 the IUCN found more than nine in ten of them threatened with extinction.
• Chameleons. Nearly half of the world's species, with new species still being described.
• Frogs. Hundreds of named species, almost all found nowhere else.
• Birds. About 300 species, more than 100 found only here.
• Plants. About 82 per cent of native vascular plant species grow nowhere else.

What Madagascar doesn't have

Madagascar has no native monkeys, apes, big cats, elephants, giraffes, zebras or antelope. Its native land mammals are lemurs, tenrecs, small rodents, a few carnivores and bats, and its largest native carnivore is the fossa.

On our wildlife trips you walk forest trails with a local guide, compulsory in the national parks. If lions are the picture in your head, read Madagascar or Tanzania first. Leave snakes alone and keep away from crocodile habitat. The CDC also advises avoiding fresh, unchlorinated water because of schistosomiasis. Our dangerous animals guide covers these precautions.

The lemurs you can see by day

Lemurs stay in their forests, but each species has its own range:

• Indri. The largest living lemur, 6 to 9.5 kg, black and white with a stubby tail, and found in no zoo. At Analamazaotra, the small southern part of Andasibe-Mantadia National Park, habituated families sing mostly in the morning, and the song carries about 2 km.
• Sifakas. Long-legged leapers that cross open ground in sideways hops, arms up: the "dance". Verreaux's at Kirindy and Isalo, Decken's in the Tsingy de Bemaraha, diademed at Andasibe-Mantadia, Milne-Edwards' at Ranomafana.
• Ring-tailed lemurs. The south and south-west only, and on the ground more than any other lemur. On our routes, Anja Community Reserve near Ambalavao and Isalo. Babies are born in August and September.
• Brown lemurs and their cousins. Common brown lemurs at Andasibe, red-fronted lemurs at Kirindy and in the Tsingy, crowned and Sanford's brown lemurs in the far north, and black lemurs on Nosy Be, where only the males are black.
• Bamboo lemurs. At Andasibe and at Ranomafana, where the golden bamboo lemur was discovered in 1986.

In the parks they're wild and often high in the canopy. Our guide to where to see lemurs goes park by park.

Lemurs and other animals after dark

Many lemurs are active only at night:

• Mouse lemurs, the smallest primates in the world. Madame Berthe's, about 30 g, lives only around Kirindy.
• Sportive lemurs, which sleep by day in tree holes and feed on leaves at night. A good guide can sometimes show you one peering out of its hollow in daylight.
• Dwarf lemurs. The fat-tailed dwarf lemur hibernates for up to seven months of the cool dry season, living off fat stored in its tail.
• The aye-aye, which taps on wood with a long, thin middle finger, listens for grub tunnels and hooks the grub out. It's Endangered, and in some areas seen as a bad omen. A wild one is a rare find: your realistic chance is the Palmarium on the Pangalanes Canal, which runs night visits to a small island with habituated aye-ayes.

Night access depends on the park or reserve, so confirm the actual walk when you book. Our trips have night walks at Andasibe (optional on the Eastern trip), along the forest edge at Ranomafana, at Ankanin'ny Nofy and at Kirindy. You may find eyeshine, sleeping chameleons or frogs, and possibly a leaf-tailed gecko. Bring a head torch with a red setting. Cooler months can be quieter.

Tenrecs and the giant jumping rat

Tenrecs are small mammals found mostly on Madagascar, and here they've evolved into look-alikes of hedgehogs and shrews. The lowland streaked tenrec of the eastern rainforest uses specialised quills to make a high-pitched sound. Some tenrecs become less active in the cooler months.

The giant jumping rat lives in a small area north of Morondava. Our 20-day trip's Kirindy walk looks for it.

Frogs, snakes and insects

Nearly all of Madagascar's native frogs are endemic, and Analamazaotra records 84 amphibian species. Warm, wet evenings can bring more calling frogs, though a night walk still needs patience.

Madagascar has tree boas and ground boas, which are non-venomous constrictors. A guide may spot one among branches or on the forest floor. Keep your hands away.

The small animals deserve time too. Our reptiles and insects experience is a starting point if you'd rather spend an hour looking closely at a forest edge than hurry on to the next large mammal.

Whales, by coast and month

Humpbacks migrate to Madagascar's waters to breed and calve. Sightings depend on sea conditions as well as the animals.

• Île Sainte-Marie. Our Eastern trip offers whale watching from July to September and ends with three nights on the island. More in our Île Sainte-Marie guide.
• The south-west. Humpbacks also occur off this coast. Ask about current departures and sea conditions before making an outing part of the route.
• Around Nosy Be. A 2018 survey recorded humpbacks from late July to mid-October. Those dates describe that study, not a fixed annual timetable.

Choose a responsible operator and follow its distance rules. Nobody can promise a whale.

Which park for which animals

Our national parks guide compares the walking and access. Choose the region before adding individual species to a list.

The 2-day Andasibe trip, from €320 per adult, is the short rainforest option. The Eastern trip adds the Pangalanes and the Palmarium's managed lemur visits.

For bamboo lemurs and ring-tails, the Classic South combines Ranomafana, Anja and Isalo. The 5-day West trip instead visits Kirindy and the Tsingy, with different sifakas and a chance of a fossa sighting. The far north has crowned lemurs and Lokobe's black lemurs. Tell us the animals that matter most before trying to join all those regions.

How close you get, and how to behave

In the national parks the animals are wild and keep their distance. That's the point, and a long lens or a patient guide gets you the shot. At the private reserves of Vakona and the Palmarium, generations of habituated lemurs come down to meet you, and that makes the experience different from watching a wild troop at a distance. Some of the Palmarium's species aren't native to that forest, though, and Peyrieras, our chameleon stop on the road to Andasibe, gives you close-ups rather than wild forest. If you'd rather keep to wild animals, tell us and we'll reshape the trip.

The IUCN's primate specialists publish recommendations for responsible lemur watching. Their advice includes:

• Don't feed or touch lemurs, however tame. They can bite, and diseases pass both ways.
• Keep at least 7 m away, even when they're above you, and stay no more than about 30 minutes with one group.
• Say no to the pet lemur. Most tourist businesses that keep lemurs do so illegally, so skip the photo with one on your shoulder.
• Skip rosewood and ebony souvenirs, which are illegally logged.

We'd add: don't pick up a chameleon or a frog for a photo. Tell us which animals matter most on the booking page or WhatsApp, and a real person in Antananarivo replies within 24 hours.

Photo: Rafael Peier on Unsplash.