Brian Finch on the completion of his tour to Madagascar

Travel in Madagascar can be frustrating. They have for example the most capricious of airlines that changes flight times at a whim...but somehow things have a strange way of working out, and once our destination is reached, all the hassles are forgottten when confronted with the wonders of Madagascar's endemic bird families, The strange Mesites, for example, with no obvious immediate relative,

A Sub-Desert Mesite waits for us to go away

the colorful (and some not so colorful) Ground-Rollers,

A not so colorful Short-legged Ground-Roller

the monotypic Cuckoo-Roller tumbling in the sky as it noisily traces the limits of its territory, glowing Asities sandwiched somewhere in between Broadbills and Pittas, but like neither,

Schelgel's Asity whose built-in fluorescence makes hiding difficult

and the Vangas who have evolved so bizarrely as to resemble different groups covering scythebills, treehunters, hornbills, shrikes, butcherbirds, nuthatches, babblers, flycatchers and warblers, It is like the world of bird diversity rolled into one extended family, and impossible to see the “family resemblance,” between it's members.

Blue Vanga - Image Bill Eden

Sickle-billed Vanga

Rufous-shouldered Vanga, one of the world's rarest birds

Then there are the Lemurs, and the most impressive herp (and other!) fauna on the planet.

 
Sportive Lemur - Image Bill Eden

Ring-tailed Lemur with young - Image Bill Eden

Oustalet's Chamelion - Image Bill Eden

Emblematic of Madagascar's wonders,  A Giraffe Weevil - Image Bill Eden

It is always such a pleasure sharing this incredible fauna with an appreciative group, and especially one with such dedicated persistence,...and of course Madagascar's friendly people, comfortable accommodation and tasty food all contribute to making tours here so memorable.