Lac Aloatra Bamboo Lemurs, September 2026
Before my Madagascar Carnivore Tour, Patrick Richard and I spent two nights together north of Antananarivo looking for Lac Aloatra Bamboo Lemurs. The trip was inspired by Cheryl Antonucci’s 2023 visit and her report provides lots of useful information most of which I won’t repeat.
Lac Alaotra Bamboo Lemur (Hapalemur alaotrensis)
These critically endangered lemurs are the only primates in the world to live exclusively in wetlands and they are found only in the reed beds in and around Lac Aloatra.
Fortunately they are well studied and quite easy to see.
Patrick, his brother Mario (our driver) and I stayed in the same small lodge that Cheryl had stayed in: Camp Bandro, run by the local community project set up to help local people and protect the lemurs. They still get very few visitors so every mammalwatcher helps.
It took all day to drive from Tana to the simple lodge. It is only 300 kilometers and the road is actually pretty good most of the way. ‘Good’ as there are few pot holes… but then again it is also ‘not good’ as the road is full of very slow trucks. Reaching speeds above 20 kmh for more than a few seconds was a rarity for pretty much the entire journey.
Lac Aloatra dawn
The following morning we left before dawn to meet our local guides who took us through the reed beds in a dugout canoe.
These guys monitor the lemurs – or the Bandro as they are locally known – every day and know how and where to find them.
Within 30 minutes we had heard some animals and saw them well five minutes later.
Lac Alaotra Bamboo Lemur (Hapalemur alaotrensis)
We spent three hours paddling around the reeds looking for lemurs while encouraging the local fishermen to turn down their music. We saw two different troops of lemurs pretty much where the guides expected to find them.
Malagasy Flying Fox (Pteropus rufus)
Delighted with our lemurwatching Patrick took me to nearby Parc Etal see a colony of Malagasy Flying Foxes later that morning. Once again a small community project has been set up to try to protect the bats. The fairly small colony is easy to see. My second lifer of the morning.
Malagasy Flying Fox (Pteropus rufus)
After lunch we visited a house in the village that was home to a colony of Malagasy White-bellied Free-tailed Bats. Lifer number 3. This house was very close to the lodge so appears to be a different house to the one Cheryl visited in 2023, though the bats inside are the same species as Cheryl saw.
Malagasy White-bellied Free-tailed Bat (Mops leucostigma)
Their pure white bellies are distinctive.
Malagasy White-bellied Free-tailed Bat (Mops leucostigma)
The final highlight of our trip was a chance to visit an exhumation party in the village.
I heard music blasting from the village the night we arrived …. all night long.
I asked Patrick what was going on and he explained that the local people in this part of Madagascar throw exhumation parties every seven years.
Exhumation party
If I understood correctly, once every seven years the extended family travel home to gather at their family crypt. The seven year cycle varies from family to family (i.e not all exhumation parties happen in the same year).
The party revolves around a lot of loud music and the family removing the remains of their relatives and wrapping each in a new (and additional) shroud of burial cloth. No bones are on display. And then they party! Man do they party. They dance through the day and night holding the newly-wrapped remains along with photos of their loved ones.
I was reluctant to intrude, but Patrick assured me it was not a problem. And when we got to the crypt there didn’t seem anything remotely sombre about the ceremony. So far as I could tell everyone was joyfully celebrating the memories of their loved ones. I decided I like this tradition. Gone but not forgotten. I hope my kids are taking note.
After a second night at the lodge we drove back to Tana to meet our carnivore tour group.
A big thanks – yet again – to Patrick and Mario for taking me up to Lac Aloatra, and to the friendly local guides and camp staff. It’s an easy trip from Tana and a worthwhile one too.
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