Daraina & Loky Manambato

When we finally reached the edge of the dry deciduous forest, Amidou, our guide and somehow lonesome manager of Loky Manambato Protected Area, and his two friends, the Aye-Aye trackers, had already spotted the first group of Golden-crowned sifakas or Tattersall’s sifaka (Propithecus tattersalli) up in the branches of a grove of trees. We followed them in a hurry through high dried out grass, always looking up, following the graceful white lemurs with our eyes. That´s why we didn´t notice the family digging holes in a dried-out riverbed and searching the excavated material in a big pan for gold. And only a few metres above their heads, the Golden-crowned Sifakas were nibbling on the sweet yellow blossoms of a local tree. They seemed to know that it is fady, taboo, for the locals to harm or even hunt them. Continue…