A Brief Visit to Mitsinjo National Park

We should have visited when we were younger and more fit!

October 2022

Click on any image for a larger view;
Contact garya at this domain if you would like the high quality image for printing

We arrived at Mitsinjo reserve late in the day, having spent time at Peyrieras Wildlife Park on the way. We checked in at our hotel, the Feon'ny Ala. Then we headed out for a night walk along the road.

On our night walk Dona found a mouse lemur, and we saw several chameleons, frogs, and spiders. We also heard a Scops Owl.

Mitsinjo Spider
Spider

Mitsinjo Chameleon Xxx01
Xxx Chameleon
Mitsinjo Frog Bright Eyed
Bright Eyed Frog

The next morning we went looking for birds and lemurs on one of the trails in the Mitsinjo Reserve. Our guide was a young man named Frederick, a.k.a. "Riek."

Mitsinjo Bird Crested Drongo
Crested Drongo
Mitsinjo Bird MGBulbul
Madagascar Bulbul

Mitsinjo Bird Blue Coua
Blue Coua
Photo by Sid
Mitsinjo Bird MGBlue Pigeon
Madagascar Blue Pigeon

Mitsinjo Bird MGMalachite Kingfisher
Madagascar Malachite Kingfisher

Madagascar Wagtail

Mitsinjo Bird Chabert Vanga
Chabert Vanga
Mitsinjo Bird Xxx PA200210
Bird Xxx
Photo by Dona
Mitsinjo Bird Xxx
Bird Xxx

Mitsinjo Bird MGParadise Flycatcher
Madagascar Paradise Flycatcher

Mitsinjo Chameleon Xxx02
Xxx Chameleon

Mitsinjo Chameleon Xxx03
Xxx Chameleon
Mitsinjo Chameleon Xxx03
Xxx Chameleon
Mitsinjo Chameleon Xxx04
Xxx Chameleon

Mitsinjo Frog Xxx01
Xxx Frog

Mitsinjo Flower Xxx Blue
Flower Xxx Blue
Mitsinjo Flower Xxx Yellow
Flower Xxx Yellow
Mitsinjo Flower Bird Of Paradise
Bird Of Paradise

Mitsinjo Flower Xxx Red PA190129
Flower Xxx Red
Photo by Dona
Mitsinjo Flower Xxx Red PA200233
Flower Xxx Red
Photo by Dona
Mitsinjo Flower Xxx Pink PA200234
Flower Xxx Pink
Photo by Dona

There were some strange looking things hanging from some of the trees by the hotel. They turned out to be some sort of trap, although we didn't find out exactly what they were trapping.

Mitsinjo Trap Xxx
Trap Xxx

Mitsinjo Butterfly Indian Ocean Satyr
Indian Ocean Satyr

We heard some strange wailing, and Riek led us to the source — a small group of Indri. There was a male, a female with a baby, and an adolescent. The indri were chowing down on some kind of parasite attached to leaves.

Mitsinjo Lemur Indri PA190161
Photo by Dona
Mitsinjo Lemur Indri
Mitsinjo Lemur Indri
Mitsinjo Lemur Indri PA190171
Photo by Dona

Indri
Indri indri

Mitsinjo Leaf Parasites
Leaf Parasites
Mitsinjo Lemur Indri
Indri eating leaf parasites

Click to hear the Indri vocalizing

We also found a group of Common Brown Lemurs. They are diurnal and eat foliage and fruits. As fruit-eaters, they help disperse the seeds of fruit they eat.

The Common Brown Lemur is a subspecies of the Brown Lemurs. As the Common Brown Lemur is a rainforest inhabitant found only in the north, this is the only place we saw it. We saw other Brown Lemurs, such as the Red-Fronted Brown Lemur, in dry areas of the south.

Mitsinjo Lemur Common Brown PA200215
Photo by Dona
Mitsinjo Lemur Common Brown
Mitsinjo Lemur Common Brown PA200225
Photo by Dona
Mitsinjo Lemur Common Brown

Common Brown Lemur
Elemur fulvus

Madagascar has only mildly venemous snakes, which was great because we didn't have to worry too much whether to inspect a snake closely or not. There are two boa constrictors, the Madagascar Tree Boa and the Madagascar Ground Boa. We had our first encounter with both of these in the wild while at Mitsinjo. Both the tree and the ground boa are primarily nocturnal.

The Tree Boa was peacefully sleeping the night off ... where else? ... in a tree. But while they spend the day sleeping in the trees, their active night is spent hunting mostly small mammals on the ground. There are two tree boa species, S. madagascariensis and S. volotany. S. madagascariensis is a rainforest dweller, and the one we saw here. S. volotany is found in drier regions; we saw it later on. Tree boas are relatively small; the largest officially recorded was 1.85m long.

The Ground Boa we found was hiding underneath some leaves. It is the largest of the boas found in Madagascar, averaging about 2.4m in length but growing up to 3m.

Mitsinjo Snake Tree Boa
Madagascar Tree Boa
Sanzinia volotany
Mitsinjo Snake Ground Boa
Ground Boa
Acrantophis madagascariensis

We are always on the lookout for interesting insects. We were particularly keen to find a Giraffe-necked Weevil. We did manage to find one but it was a female; the male has a much longer neck.

Mitsinjo Praying Mantis
Praying Mantis
Mitsinjo Bug Giraffe Weevil PA200195
Giraffe Necked Weevil (Female)
Trachelophorus giraffa

Photo by Dona

We returned late in the day to Antananarivo to spend the nightr; we had a really long drive the next day to get to the put-in camp for our trip down the Manambolo River.