Baobabs: check - Lemurs: check

We spent the weekend at Fort-Dauphin, in the far south of the Island. The place itself is a dump. The very few decent buildings are occupied by QMM, a mining company subsidiary of Rio Tinto, and there are really no good accomodations (we stayed at top-of-the-line but decaying "Le Dauphin") and surprisingly prices are the same as in Tana. Locals blame inflation on the mining guys. But people come here for another reason: the town is located in a stunningly beautiful setting - a peninsula with opposing half moon beaches and mountains only miles away from the shores. Botany enthousiasts have access to all three types of primary forest (dry/transition/wet) within an hour drive. On Saturday Alvin and I visited Berenty, which is a small enclave of primary forest that was preserved in the middle of a gigantic agricultural complex growing some kind of Mexican Agave to be exported to China. Today I am pleased to say: mission accomplished. In fact, not only did I see Baobabs and Lemurs, but I even saw Lemurs on Baobabs! Because of its isolated nature, the animals in Berenty are trapped on a relatively small surface, and there are very easy to see. There are (lots) of Lemurs (ringtails, brown lemurs and the dancing sifaka), as well as boas, flying foxes (a 50-inch wingspan bat), and a bunch of colorful birds (sorry, no names, not really into that). Unfortunately, the boas were hibernating, so we only got to see a nest, and we were not allowed to get close to the godzilla bats. On the other hand, we saw a LOT of lemurs and these things are really fun to watch. One of the species (sifaka) can only walk upright... and sideways. Imagine white fluffy monkeys breakdancing to "walk like an egyptian", very entertaining. Here is a video of a ringtail feasting off a cactus.
Travelling tip: if you want to get an overdose of lemurs you should stay at the Berenty hotel, a bunch of bungalows right in the park. This is the lemur-watching equivalent of Pier 39. Don't spend more than one nigt though, as the reserve is rather small. Berenty is only 88km (55miles) from Fort Dauphin, but it takes 3 hours to get there because the road is in such a bad shape.