Monday, 2 June 2014

Madagascar: A Photographic Tour (September 2013)

In September 2013 I spent a fortnight in Madagascar with my partner Helen as part of a group on an organised “Exodus” trip. Of course I was particularly interested in seeing and photographing the unique wildlife of the island (and in particular its lemurs), a high proportion of which are endemic.
The wildlife did not disappoint: we saw 13 species of lemurs together with a bewildering array of birds, reptiles (including some spectacular chameleons), amphibians and invertebrates. However, we also had plenty of opportunities to observe and interact with the Malagasy people, both on the long bus journeys that were involved with crossing the island from east to west and during rest and overnight stops.
During our fortnight on the island I took over 3000 photographs, ultimately keeping around 1000 as a photographic record of our visit. The images below give a flavour of the wildlife and the people that we came across.

Wildlife

Madagascar is most famous for its lemurs, a family of mammals that exists in the wild only here and on one or two other small Indian Ocean islands. It is now possible to track some of the rarer lemurs in Madagascar’s reserves using transmitters and receivers, together with the knowledge of the excellent local guides. As a consequence we were able to observe two of the rarest mammals in the world, the Golden and Greater Bamboo Lemurs. However, photographing lemurs in the wild proved, in most cases, to be incredibly difficult. Animals were often high in the tree canopy, in the shade, but adjacent to bright patches of light as the sun shone through gaps in the foliage. I had to resort to manual focussing and bracketing images: even so, most were unusable. Fortunately the commoner lemurs (in particular Ring-tailed Lemurs [Image 1] and Verreaux’s Sifakas) proved to be rather more photogenic: consequently, a high proportion of my lemur images feature these two species. A few nocturnal lemurs, including Hubbard’s Sportive Lemur (Image 2) were also seen in the daytime.


Image 1: Ring-tailed Lemurs, Anja NP

Image 2: Hubbard’s Sportive Lemur, Zombitse NP

Madagascar has more species of (endemic) chameleons than the whole of Africa and we were lucky to see several of these including Parson’s Chameleon (Image 3), the largest in the world. Birdlife seen included a high proportion of species endemic to Madagascar, together with familiar birds such as Great White Egret and Common Myna. Madagascar Hoopoes (Image 4) look very similar to European and African Hoopoes, but are a separate species. We also saw some amazing invertebrates, including giant spiders (non-venomous!), praying mantises, stick insects, scorpions, crabs and the bizarre Giraffe-necked Weevil!

Image 3: Parson’s Chameleon, Perinet NP

Image 4: Madagascar Hoopoes, Anakao

People
The Malagasy people are, with a few exceptions, incredibly poor yet very dignified. The country has recently been rocked by political upheaval, whilst corruption and economic mismanagement amongst senior officials have made matters worse. Birth control is virtually non-existent in a country where Catholicism (introduced by the French, who colonised the country from 1895 to 1960) is the major religion, and AIDS is rampant. Half the population is under 20 years of age, but the average life expectancy is only 62.
 Our tour involved several long bus journeys and I became habituated to taking photographs of the landscape and the people through the bus windows as we drove along, or at the various stops along the route. Images 5-8 are representative of the many hundreds of photographs that I took along the way.

Image 5: Broom Wholesaler and Traders, Antananarivo

Image 6: Malagasy Boy with Coke Bottle

Image 7: Rum Factory Worker near Tulear

Image 8: Malagasy Couple on Traditional Boat, Anakao

Some parts of the capital, Antananarivo, were designated as “no go” areas for tourists, but otherwise our movements were not restricted and we enjoyed interacting with the people, bartering for souvenirs and learning about the culture. This was a fascinating holiday, both for the traveller and for the travel photographer, and I have had no problems putting together a slide show that shines a light on this unique country, its wildlife and its people.

Learning Points
·         Photographing subjects in forests where there are extremes of contrast is extremely tricky! To stand a chance of getting decent results it seems best to shoot entirely manually and I should consider bracketing exposures using the D7000 in order to under- and over-expose by (say) two shots.
·         Concentration is required at all times to capture that “decisive moment”!
For a selection of other wildlife images, see my gallery at: www.roystonwildlife.com















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