It is 28th September & Delana & I have been packing for our forthcoming short trip to Madagascar! This a a twelve day recee for a more comprehensive trip to this fabulous island next autumn. Delana has been twice before & we are trying out one of her contacts who arranged her last trip, which went very well. We organised accommodation for ourselves, but used the agency for a driver & hopefully a decent four by four vehicle. We expect total ecological devastation outside of the protected areas & terrible roads which take time to navigate. On the plus side, the reserves look amazing & we can't wait to visit. I think that this is the most excited I have been for a trip in a long time. We hope you enjoy this post of our travels to this magical (sometimes forgotten) island.
The next day we are at the airport early, but no water! No toilets working, no coffee to be had! The whole of Jo'burg is out! Plane was delayed on the runway for nearly two hours, so screwed up my birding time around the hotel.
Our hotel was pleasant & quite close to the airport & we enjoyed a lovely evening at the restaurant.
On 30th September I spent an hour birding around the hotel gardens & then we were off with our driver & car. Getting out of the city was very time consuming & frustrating, but eventually we hit the open road. The road is narrow & full of potholes & people!
So going was slow but we stopped for a walk around Mandraka Park which was very pleasant. We managed to get close up & personal with a pair of Malagasy Paradise Flycatchers.
Then we were on the road again for our next stop at the Mangoro River. We looked for Madagascar Pratincole on the rocks without success, but we did score with Souimanga Sunbird, which was my 8,000 species of bird in the world!
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