Golden Bamboo Lemur-Spotting

The guide met me at the side of the road, just at the bottom of Centrest Hotel's driveway.

He hailed a local share taxi, which is a short pick-up truck with a covered bed and an open back. People spilled out of the back and sides. I wished I hadn't brought my luggage, but the guide said that it would be easy to flag down a taxi brousse in front of Ranomafana National Park when we were done looking at lemurs. I intended to catch one to Fianarantsoa, where I could switch to a taxi brousse bound for Antisirabe. I had plenty of time and I was looking forward to a bungalow at Green Park Hotel tonight.

We hiked into the park after I paid my admission fee.

Lots of other tourists this time.

But my guide had his ways of finding animals. In addition to trekking far away from other tourists (I hurt for three days after), today's tactics were less nefarious than last night's. He simply made a few phone calls to lemur-spotters, freelancers who roamed the park spotting lemurs.

Using this method, we easily found the golden bamboo lemur.

Here he is.

Here are more photos of the morning's hike.