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A nature photography tour of Madagascar, Part 6: Anja Reserve
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A very dignified-looking ring-tail lemur. They are usually very willing models.
Canon 5D4, Sigma 150-600mm F4.5-6.3 |
Previously in this series, I talked about my visits to Andasibe NP, where I photographed lemurs and chameleons, and to Tsingy Rouge NP, where I captured beautiful erosion-made formations. I also talked about shooting sifaka lemurs and baobab trees in Kirindy Forest Reserve and visiting several secluded stops on my way to the southern part of Madagascar. Lastly, I talked about my visits to Isalo and Ranomafana National Parks.
This will be the last article in the Madagascar series. Thus I’d like to share my images from the very best location I visited during my trip to this incredible island: Anja Community Reserve.
Anja Reserve is a woodland area and freshwater lake situated at the base of a large cliff. Much of the reserve is dominated by fallen rocks and boulders, and there is much sheltered habitat in the pocket of forest that has been established between the huge boulders. The reserve was created in 2001 to help preserve the local environment and wildlife and to provide additional employment and income to the local community.
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Gigantic boulders, detached and fallen off a main mountain thousands of years ago, dominate Anja’s beautiful landscape.
Canon 5D4, Sigma 150-600mm F4.5-6.3 |
I’ve visited many locally managed reserves during my travels around the world, and they always prove to be a fantastic way of reducing (hopefully eliminating) the endemic species being hunted to extinction by elevating the financial value that these communities receive from conserving the habitats and wildlife populations rather than depleting them. This is beautifully demonstrated in Anja and other reserves in Madagascar.
The reserve is home to the highest concentration of maki, or ring-tailed lemurs, in all of Madagascar, numbering over 300. After finding that 95% of makis in Madagascar are now gone, the locals initiated the formation of a nature reserve, effectively establishing the world’s largest congregation site for ring-tailed lemurs.
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Ring-tailed lemurs find safety in numbers and often huddle together, which is a blessing for photographers!
Canon 5D4, Sigma 150-600mm F4.5-6.3 |
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Ring-tailed lemurs have found a home between the gigantic fallen boulders of Anja. When transiting between locations, they often perform “serial jumping,” in which the group takes turns jumping from a high point – a true joy to witness and shoot.
Canon 5D4, Sigma 150-600mm F4.5-6.3 |
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Not only do they move together, but they also tend to model together, boasting their beautiful tails.
Canon 5D4, Canon 70-300 F4-5.6 |
I would say that anyone who’s even slightly fond of animal life simply has to visit Anja Reserve. Seeing the lemurs and experiencing their behavior in such close proximity is absolutely exhilarating. And for wildlife photographers, it’s an absolute paradise. Since the lemurs are habituated and used to human presence, they aren’t bothered by visitors. They keep going through their daily routines of eating, jumping between rocks, tending to their young and grooming each other’s fur and beautiful tails. Luckily, feeding has ceased in recent years and the lemurs take care of themselves.
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One of my favorite shots from the trip: a closeup of a baby ring-tiled lemur hiding in its mother’s fur.
Canon 5D4, Sigma 150-600mm F4.5-6.3 |
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When ring-tailed lemurs reach a few weeks of age, they transfer from the mother’s abdomen to its back, riding her like a furry dragon!
Canon 5D4, Canon 70-300 F4-5.6 |
Mutual grooming is a vital aspect of lemur socialization (as with all primates), reaffirming social connections and helping rid each other of parasites. They live in groups (or “troops”) of up to 30 individuals and are strictly diurnal, exclusively active during daylight hours. As one of the most vocal primates, the ring-tailed lemur uses numerous vocalizations, including calling for group cohesion and predator alarm calls. When one troop wanders too far for shooting, there’s a good chance another troop will be close by and more readily available.
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Grooming is a behavior typical of all primates, and if no one else is willing, self-grooming may be the last option.
Canon 5D4, Canon 70-300 F4-5.6 |
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When the tail is nice and fluffy, it can and should be flaunted!
Canon 5D4, Sigma 150-600mm F4.5-6.3 |
The scientific name for ring-tailed lemurs (lemur catta) translates to cat-lemur. This is not only due to the lemurs’ tendency to rub on surfaces like a house cat to leave its pheromones but also (and more funnily) due to one of its many vocalizations – its distinctive meow, which is uncannily similar to a house cat’s.
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A closer portrait of a ring-tailed lemur.
Canon 5D4, Canon 70-300 F4-5.6 |
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| Canon 5D4, Canon 70-300 F4-5.6 155mm | 1/125 sec | F5 | ISO 100 |
Anja Reserve is incredible, and I cannot recommend it enough. No Madagascar wildlife trip would be complete without it! I hope you’ve enjoyed this Madagascar series. If you have, please consider visiting this beautiful country – it is in dire need of your money, but moreover, it’s simply fantastic.
Erez Marom is a professional nature photographer, photography guide and traveller based in Israel. You can follow Erez’s work on Instagram and Facebook, and subscribe to his mailing list for updates and to his YouTube channel.
If you’d like to experience and shoot some of the world’s most fascinating landscapes and wildlife with Erez as your guide, take a look at his unique photography workshops in Madagascar, Greenland, Namibia and Vietnam.
Erez also offers video tutorials discussing his images and explaining how he achieved them.
More in this Series:
- Part 1: Andasibe
- Part 2: Red Tsingy
- Part 3: Kirindy Forest
- Part 4: The Long Way to Isalo
- Part 5: Isalo and Ranomafana
Selected Articles by Erez Marom:
- Landscape Composition – Balancing the weights
- Lava Frenzy: Shooting Fagradalsfjall Volcano
- Landscape Composition – Separation of Elements
- Parallelism in Landscape Photography
- Black Hole Sun: Shooting the Total Solar Eclipse in Argentina
- Winds of Change: Shooting Changing landscapes
- Landscape Composition – Negative space
- Shooting Kīlauea Volcano, Part 1: How to Melt a Drone
- Whatever It Doesn’t Take