Obviously the focus for us for this trip was to raise money for WaterAid projects in Madagascar to help people in poverty to access clean water and improve their health and hygiene… however we’d be lying if there wasn’t another pull..the wildlife.

Madagascar is so rich in biodiversity and so the chance to get up and close with the many unique species that live on the island was a huge bonus.

Our guides had arranged a nature night walk on the border of Ranomafana National park and so our first chance to see these amazing animals up close.

We were split into smaller groups and our local wildlife guide rubbed some banana on to a tree. Slowly we started to see movement in the dark and a small mouse lemur appeared searching out the fruit. It was hard to see but our first lemur spot! Little did we know just how many lemurs we would end up seeing and promise.. the photos get better..much better.

There followed a walk stopping every few metres to see frogs, geckos and some amazing chameleons.

The next day we went into the main part of the Ranomafana National park. We saw golden bamboo lemurs, black and white ruffed lemurs as well as many birds including a very moody looking owl.

Here are some video clips showing the lemurs in action.

The high/ lowlight of the day (depending on your sense of humour) was the moment when we were all staring up at a lemur just as it decided it was lemur loo time. The warning of ‘He’s having a poo’ wasn’t quick enough and splat! Our group was hit with hard pellets followed by a warm brown liquid. Michelle in our group got the worst of it (Pootle got poopled) getting a face full but Nik got a good wallop too. It’s probably a sign of good luck, right?

The wildlife didn’t end there. That night we had to escort a scorpion and a cockroach out of our hotel room and share the breakfast table with a very small but bright green lizard and lunch with a rather meaty looking beetle.

In the coming days we were to see so much more but this was a great couple of early days for wildlife spotting.

There was ahem….a different kind of wildlife in the night between these two visits as after another hearty carb heavy meal of rice and chips we headed out with some of the group to a local bar. Bar, might be putting it a bit strongly. Malagasy villages don’t have much we would recognise in the UK as a shop or bar. These are more like wooden shacks where locals drink or get a meal (we learned that the many wooden buildings called Hotely weren’t actually hotels but places where locals can go for a fixed low price meal). We found one such bar a few hundred yards from the hotel and ordered a round of Three Horses Beers (and later a sneaky shot of rum).

One of the local shop/ stall owners was closing up and had a small speaker playing Malagasy music. It had a vague Christmas carol feel to it and this inspired us to start singing Christmas songs. In fact we borrowed the speaker and plugged in the phone to play a selection of Christmas 80’s classics to the locals. I think they were very appreciative of the Last Christmas and Fairytale of New York singalongs. Our guides and group mates danced and jived in the streets and the bar was happy to keep us in rum and THBs.

Can’t beat a bit of eighties…can’t believe we didn’t do Karma Chameleon though!