Manakana Avaratra

Today was a long walk through the Ranomafana National Park where we were hoping to see a few more lemur species a part from the mouse lemur, the black and white lemur, or the ringtail lemur, which we have seen now. The walk was amazing with some beautiful plants and thick vegetation. We walked between different spotters who would wander around the rainforest trying to spot lemur groups. Unfortunately, we didn't see many groups of lemur like at the previous National Park, mostly individuals, and so getting good photos was even more difficult than normal. I did my best, but feel free to google the lemurs I mention to get a better idea of what they really looked like. We spotted the Red- bellied lemur, the golden bamboo lemur, the greater bamboo lemur, and the common brown lemur. These were so amazing to watch, even if they were just eating. They were insanely cute, and watching them jump from tree to tree was an impressive spectacle until they wandered out of sight. We were very lucky to see the Greater bamboo lemur as there is only one left within this National Park. Mostly, they were killed during deforestation, and the population became unstable enough that it collapsed. Leaving just the one female in the park. They have attempted breeding programs but to no avail. The best bet now is to have a complete reintroduction program to bring the population back. Though they will likely wait until the final female passes away. This is because they have to wait for funding, but also, she is quite old, at 17 years and she is now incapable of reproduction. Introducing a new population may be dangerous for her for a number of reasons, so they will wait until the right time. We walked for about 4 hours before we had to head back to the hotel for lunch. On the way out, we were very lucky to stop a horned ground Chameleon. This is very rare to spot at all because it resides in the long grasses and near the ground. It is even rarer to spot it during the day. He was only spotted when one of the members nearly stepped on him while he crossed our walking path. He was very unique and amazing to look at.
Although many could come back to do a similar hike in the afternoon, I had a huge football game on in the afternoon and couldn't miss it. As a result, I headed back to the hotel, had some lunch, and rested until about 3 pm when the game started. About halfway through, the rest of the group returned and informed us that it wasn't really worth the time, and so I had no reservations about missing it. The game was quite good, although not many chances, it was close. So close, it ended as a 1 all draw. But given that Liverpool scored late to secure the result, I couldn't complain. After this, we continued on to the other football games of the day, which included Barcelona vs. Real Valladolid, as I was watching with a guy from Catalonia. This game ended in a very similar fashion, with barcelona scoring late to rescue a point. We then watched Newcastle batter Chelsea 4 - 1 before watching Arsenal score late to secure a win over Brentford. This was it for a day of walking and football, but a day I thoroughly enjoyed still.Read more