Nosy Ambariovato
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- Apr 30, 2025, 10:56am
- ☀️ 30 °C
- Altitude: Sea level
MadagascarAnkify13°33’26” S 48°22’11” E
Day 13
We were so very fortunate to be able to hire our tour guide and driver from our morning Viking arranged tour to take six of us on an additional tour.
Our afternoon adventure was to Lemuria Land, an area on Nosy Be where native plants and animals are protected and endangered tortoises are bred. It was a beautiful, lush jungle with pens for the various tortoises and native crocodiles. The Angonoka tortoise, also known as the Ploughshare tortoise, is endemic to Madagascar. This species is critically endangered and is considered to be the most endangered tortoise in the world. It is a strange looking tortoise, with the males having a bony "horn" on its lower front carapace. It uses the horn to battle other males for the right to breed. Another endangered tortoise that they are successfully breeding is the radiated tortoise. The name comes from the radiating sun design on its back. Our favorite tortoise was Napoleon, a 214 year old Aldabra giant tortoise, who loved to have his neck scratched and petted.
Lemurs, who are endemic to Madagascar, roam freely in and out of the park. The lemurs love banana and have learned that the park rangers carry bannanas. Our ranger guide, who happened to be a childhood friend of our tour guide, was kind enough to share his banana stash with us, so we were the lemurs' newest friends. They were so fun and furry! We all had a grand time feeding and being climbed on by lemurs. The common brown lemurs loved sitting on our shoulders and arms, licking banana off our fingers. We also saw northern bamboo lemurs, black, red ruffed, red chested, and ringtail lemurs plus a very fun variety called dancing lemurs for their tendency to pogo hop.
Chameleons are also on Madagascar, and we were lucky enough to spot two varieties. One was easier to spot than the other! We also saw a Madagascar iguana, which is the smallest iguana in the world.
We were extremely happy campers by the time we returned to the ship. It was another glorious day!
Mahafaly! Cheers!Read more
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