Madagascar, an odd corner of the world

Madagascar
an Odd
Corner of the World
By Todd Gustafson
Ring-tailed lemur Berenty
The very name MADAGASCAR calls to mind rain forests, lemurs, strange insects
and reptiles. As a traveling photographer it is my goal to create superlative
images that capture unique species that make Madagascar such a fascinating
destination. In February of 2008 I and 7 intrepid photographers visited this island
country set in the Indian Ocean. Separated from the African mainland for
millennia, Madagascar’s flora and fauna have evolved to species unique in the
world. 800 indigenous plants and hundreds of animal, reptile and insect species
inhabit the many specialized ecosystems.
The habitats we visited included the rainforest at Andisebi National park, Spiny
forest, gallery forest and scrub forest in Berenty. In all habitats there were
fantastic lemurs, insects, amphibians, and reptiles.
Spiny Forest at Berenty
Nikon 80-200mm f2.8 lens 8 piece panoramic
Part of the magic of this adventure was traveling through the scenic countryside.
There are hills, mountains and valleys with medieval villages and towns nestled
amongst emerald green rice paddies. The architecture has an interesting mix of
tropical traditions heavily influenced by French Colonialism.
Hillside farms and rice paddies along the road
Nikon 80-200mm f2.8 lens
The timing of our trip coincided with Madagascar’s monsoon season and we
were prepared to photograph in the rain. We each had plastic bags, rainproof
clothing and umbrellas. As it turned out we never had a problem with the rains.
On several occasions we had rain clouds blow in… just in time for lunch. As we
finished lunch the clouds broke and the rain stopped. On another occasion we
were finishing a hike in the rainforest and got to the bus… just as the rain started.
We drove to our next destination and arrived… just as the rain stopped. On a
much larger scale, we flew to the Berenty Reserve in the south… just as the
week long rains stopped. While we were there a monsoon hit Tana… where we
had just been. Sometimes it is better to be lucky than smart.
Sometimes it is better to have a great local guide than to be lucky. On this, my
first trip to Madagascar, I was blessed to have Solofu as our guide. His
knowledge of all things Malagasy was effortlessly shared with the group. Our
group of avid photographers was an eye opener for him, with all of our equipment
and our enthusiasm for new photo subjects. His comment on the second day of
the tour went something like “This not a sightseeing tour, is it?!?” His enthusiasm
and expertise, coupled with his newfound desire to see things with a
photographer’s eye, resulted in multiple opportunities to make beautiful images.
Our guide, Solofu
Comet moth
Hissing cockroach
Nephila spider
Pill millipede
80 % of the Chameleon species in the world are indigenous to Madagascar. Our
first destination was in the northeastern district where we explored Andisebe
rainforest reserve. We arrived at the Andisebe Lodge at night and could see
chameleons in roadside bushes by the light of the bus’s headlights. Since we
weren’t ready to photograph, having just arrived, no one had flash units available
so we used a hand held flashlight to make night shots of the female Verruccosus
chameleon. At night the chameleons are quiet and allowed us plenty of time to
deal with flashlight angle and distance as well as exposure, depth of field and
focus issues.
Verruccosus chameleon (female)
Parson’s chameleon (male)
Panther chameleon
Oustalit’s (spiny) chameleon
Brevicornus minor
Above chameleon images taken with Nikon 105VR 2.8 macro lens
The main attraction in Andisebe is the native rainforest, home to the Indri Indri,
the largest of the lemurs. We followed leaf covered trails that led us deep into a
mountainous forest filled with mushrooms, frogs, and insects. The haunting calls
of the Indri Indri drew us deeper into the forest until we were right under a tree
where two of the giant black and white Lemurs were perched high in the leaf
covered branches with white sky behind them. Most of our group got a few shots
before they bounded from limb to limb and off though the tree tops. We then
took a moment to discuss “panic shooting”. We had traveled half way around the
world to see and photograph Lemurs and by golly we had just seen and taken
bad photos of Lemurs…AWFUL photos of Lemurs.
Listening for the calls again we followed them down a steep slope to where they
were feeding. With the Lemurs in trees on the down hill slope and us positioned
on the hillside we were much closer to a pleasing eyelevel view of the Indi indri.
We now had a plan of attack. Whenever they moved to a new tree we were able
to keep to the uphill side for some great photography.
Indri indri
This led naturally to a discussion beyond “panic shooting” to what I call Subject
Driven photography vs. Situation Driven photography. The first photo opportunity
with the Indri indri was subject driven. There were the lemurs, there we were,
and by God, we were going to take pictures of them!
The second part of the shoot was situation driven. The lemurs were still the
subject of our photography but being at eye level and shooting them on clean
branches was a much better situation.
Later in the afternoon we found a pair of Lemurs who were resting in comfortable
crooks of trees. Although it was difficult to find a perfectly clear view of them,
everyone had the chance to move up and down the hillside to find small clear
patches to photograph through. Those who had already successfully
photographed the Indri indri looked to the paths ahead, searching for new
subjects to photograph. This jewel-like tree frog is one of the subjects.
Boophis Bifficallus Frog
Nikon 105VR 2.8 macro lens
Madagascar is a macro enthusiast’s dream! Armed with a Nikon D3 camera
body, a 105VR lens and an R1-C1 ring flash I was able to shoot macro subjects
in the rain forest with no tripod. Hand held photography gave me the flexibility to
get in good position for tiny subjects and saved untold amounts of energy by not
having to lug around a tripod.
Here are some of my favorite macro subjects from the rain forest.
Vacona palm frog
Giant millipede
Painted Mantela frog
Mushrooms (sp?)
Long-necked giraffe beetle
Mushrooms (sp?)
Above rainforest images taken with Nikon 105VR 2.8 macro lens
The dry spiny forest of Berenty had a new cast of photo subjects. A host of
plants, all unique to Madagascar, were home to new species of lemurs,
chameleons, bats, and insects. Lemurs that we photographed included red
fronted brown lemur, white fronted brown lemur, Verreaux’s sifaka, and ringtailed lemurs (the difficult part of photographing them was keeping them outside
of minimum focal distance).
Me with ring-tailed lemur troop. Photo by Ted Schroeder
What was I looking at?!?
Here are all ten lemur species that we photographed in Madagascar.
Ring-tailed lemur
Diadem sifaka
Black and white ruffed lemur
Verreaux’s sifaka
White-fronted brown lemur
Red-fronted brown lemur
Grey mouse lemur
White-footed sportive lemur Grey bamboo lemur
Indri indri
Verreaux’s sifaka (Dancing sifaka) has a signature behavior that is a challenge to
photograph. In the morning the cream and brown colored lemurs descend from
the trees and make their way to meadows and low trees to feed. Their mode of
transportation is a two-legged, dance-like gait. The photographic challenge is to
anticipate where they will descend and where they will “dance”. The red dust of
Berenty makes a great background for these elegant primates.
Verreaux’s sifaka
Todd Gustafson can be reached at
(847)373-5622
Email [email protected]
Website gustafsonphotosafari.net/
All photographs taken with Nikon D2x and 600 f4 lens and 1.7 tele- converter at
minimum aperture unless otherwise noted