Madagascar November 2012 - January 2013, Lac Kinkony

Just like we started our two months in Madagascar with a bang (see post Madagascar November 2012 - January 2013, Bemanevika Lakes) I wanted to end the trip with a real cracker. A site in Madagascar to do this is Lac Kinkony. Normally the right time in the hear to visit this site is November or begin December, for the roads are still passable and the birds have started breeding. I however visited the lake in mid January and therefore the access was a bit difficult. From Mahajanga I took the boat the Katsepy (5.000 Ariary for a small speedboat or 3.000 Ariary for the large ferry). From there I took a taxi-brousse to Mitsinjo (10.000 - 15.000 Ariary). Be prepared for a very rough ride, for the roads are beyond bad (even worse than the Maroantsetra - Tamatave road). In Mitsinjo everything can be arranged: special permits at the police station (I don´t think they are necessary, but it prevents you from having to bribe police or army men) and guide and boat (the roads from Mitsinjo  to Makary are impassable in January) can be arranged at the Asity office. The right person to help you arrange all these things is Cesar. He also runs the only guesthouse in Mitsinjo. Just ask people in the taxi-brousse to drop you there, everybody knows him. The boat from Mitsinjo to Makary costs around 40.000 Ariary and the rowers deserve every single Ariary of it, for they row five hours straight in 40 degrees Celsius. The boat was a metal one and it is very, very hot inside. A hat, sunglasses and loads of sunscreen are highly recommended. It is possible to go to Makary and back in one day, staying overnight is recommended, for the birds are more active in early morning. For a stay overnight you have to camp out. There are very decent shelters where you can put up your tent (5.000 Ariary for the tent and 2.000 for a guard, but I don´t think that that was really necessary) In the morning I made a small pirogue trip to the lake which produced many lovely encounters includin two Madagascar Jacanas, Purple Gallinule, Little Bittern and the main prize: two adult Sakalava Rails feeding their two chicks!

Sakalava Rail (Amaurornis olivieri)chick

Sakalava Rail (Amaurornis olivieri)

Sakalava Rail (Amaurornis olivieri)

Madagascar Jacana (Actophilornis albinucha)

After the trip I returned to Mitsinjo by rowing boat again for the same fare as the first trip. The boat trips to and from Makary turned out to be very productive with sightings of Humblot´s Heron, Madagascar Pond Heron, Madagascar Sacred Ibis, African Spoonbill, Painted Stork, Comb Duck, Madagascar Pratincole, Caspian Tern, Madagascar Sandgrouse and Barn Owl (ssp. hypermetra).

Humblot´s Heron (Ardea humbloti)

The day I returned from Makary I took the overnight taxi-brousse back to Katsepy and this turned out to be the roughest ride of the entire trip so far. With the visit to this site our trip through Madagascar ended. I think I can say it was one of the most succesfull trips to Northern Madagascar ever, for we saw almost all seldom-seen species (Sakalava Rail, Bernier´s and Helmet Vanga, Amber Mountain Rock Thrush, Madagascar Serpent Eagle, Slender-billed Flufftail, Madagascar Red Owl and Madagascar Pochard). We missed the mythical Dusky Tetraka (despite intensive searching in Marojejy national park) and somehow managed to miss Cryptic Warbler. Unfortunately Scaly Ground Roller and Brown Mesite were only heard (despite seven days of very intensive searching for both species). The two months yielded 175 bird species in total and over 30 mammal species and I am highly content with this result. This island is a truly magical place and I am genuinely looking forward to my next visit to this country so I can complete my list of endemics.

Madagascar Swamp Warbler (Acrocephalus newtoni)