Anja & Lemur Cattas galore

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 Our second stop along our roadtrip was Anja, which is a community managed protected area. We only spent one night there, it was a pretty nice little campsite with little shelters under which we could set up our tents. There was a great view with these dramatic rock formations(mountains?) on both sides.

 

The best thing about Anja, we found out the next morning. First off, while waiting for breakfast; a group of ringtail lemurs came and passed by our campsite. Later that morning we did a circuit tour where we learned that the lemurs passing by our campsite was just the beginning of our lemur experience. According to our guides, about 400 ringtails live in Anja, in groups of about 20. Being a community managed protected area, the lemurs here have never been hunted by locals and are very accustomed to humans. So when we did our circuit tour, we found ourselves in the midst of a group, with lemurs passing overhead.

 Also we're in the season for baby lemurs and saw a fair few of those too, some of them starting to assert their independence by hopping between branches on their own- which was nothing short of adorable.

Lemur proximity scale

  

The hike also included some great views, but the lemurs were definitely the highlight. It seems pretty incredible to find lemurs here more approachable than they were at a private reserve (called Berenty) that we visited in the south. I'm still in Tana now, not working as hard as I should be on a paper but enjoying a reasonably fast cybercafé and getting lots of practice with the french keyboard. Until next time! Veloma!