Lemur Conservation Network
A Project of the Madagascar Section of the IUCN SSC Primate Specialist Group
While visiting Ranomafana National Park, I stayed at Centre ValBio so I could get a first hand look at the Center, learn about their work, and chat with the staff. Stay tuned to the LCN blog for an interview with Pascal Robeson, Centre ValBio’s Madagascar Country Director, and a post about CVB’s truly inspiring work. During my hikes in the park, Pascal arranged for me to have Théo as a guide. Théo is the favorite guide for everyone at CVB. […]
The small town of Kianjavato is located about 1 1/2 hours east of Ranomafana National Park on the RN 25. This is where LCN member Madagascar Biodiversity Partnership has one of their four main field sites, and where their partner Conservation Fusion plays the important role of teaching and inspiring local children to conserve their unique land. I visited this field site for one day and night to see their work first-hand, visit the lemurs in the nearby forests, and meet with two of the […]
Like most visitors to Madagascar, I began my travels in the capital of Antananarivo. My time for this trip was limited, so I headed out of Tana the following morning en route to Madagascar’s third largest city: Antsirabe. The Road to Antsirabe Antsirabe is about a 3 1/2 hour drive down the RN 7 from Antananarivo, passing by barren hills, rice fields, picturesque small villages, and roadside towns with local Malagasy out and about — shopping on market day, playing baby foot […]
As a tourist, it can be intimidating to plan your first trip to Madagascar. It seems so remote and exotic! Plus, it’s large, with a less-than-stellar road system, and the plane tickets are expensive, so you want to do it right the first time. In this blog post, I’ll share a variety of options for traveling to Madagascar for the first time visitor, with some helpful tips and quotes from the experts. Don’t be intimidated, and don’t fret about “doing it right.” There […]
A Weekend Adventure to See One of Mada’s Top Singers A few of the volunteers and researchers at Centre ValBio took a weekend trip to Kianjavato to see Khelen in concert. Khelen is one of the most popular singers in Madagascar at the moment and… she happened to be hosted by Aina, a friend of one of the researchers. As luck would have it, we could also stay at the same house as Khelen and entourage were going to leave the […]
Many conservationists agree that ecotourism is the number one thing that can ensure the survival of lemurs in Madagascar. “Lemurs are the goose laying the golden eggs for Madagascar,” says Jonah Ratsimbazafy, Secretary General of GERP Madagascar. “Thousands of families depend on lemurs, because tourists will not come to see empty forests.” The local Malagasy people need to see that lemurs are more valuable alive than dead. Tourists will come to see lemurs in the wild. But much more work needs to be done […]
Continuing on from Andasibe and Ranomafana, I was sad to be leaving behind Madagascar’s rainforests. I don’t know when or where I’ll next be able to stand in awe of jungle, its sights, its sounds, its wildlife. I wasn’t quite done with lemurs though, oh no. Madagascar’s south is drier, warmer and has more of a mainland African feeling to it. This is the area where the world famous baobab trees grow, evolving perfectly to suck up and store […]
In the last post, we examined what makes coquerel’s sifakas so special and what threats they face in the wild. But since Madagascar is such an incredibly diverse and remarkable place, I’d like to focus this post on Madagascar itself. I could bore you with an essay-like description of the fourth largest island in the world (after Greenland, New Guinea, and Borneo) and its collection of flora and fauna (nearly all endemic to the island). But I’ll try to keep […]
