Help me plan trip to madagascar !

[leedragon]

So I just recived my paycheck and I have just enough for a ticket. I have wanted to travel there for for about 20 years now so I just gonna say f*ck it and buy me a ticket.

there is 2 chameleons that I absolutely must see Brookesia perarmanta and calumma crypticum.

so aftter google a bit I find that Brookesia perarmanta lives in Tsingy. but anyone have any tips or clues on where to looks? how and what do I get the best chance to see one? where in Tsingy do they live? is the time of the year relevant to how hard is to spot one in the wild?

and calumma crypticum is lokated in andohahela national park. any ideas where which nitchs and places trees or such would be good to look for to find a calumma crypticum?

anyother tips and ideas are warm welcomed

and yes I forget. which vaccines should one take before heading there?

 

[Haileybug]

This is so neat I've always wanted to go to catch a wild chameleon here's a link I watched the other night of how they catch them in Hawaii I'm not sure but maybe this could help you !
And you can get typhoid from the contaminated food and water so you should get a polio shot

 

[Haileybug]

Here you go
http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/destinations/traveler/none/madagascar

 

[leedragon]

This is so neat I've always wanted to go to catch a wild chameleon here's a link I watched the other night of how they catch them in Hawaii I'm not sure but maybe this could help you !
And you can get typhoid from the contaminated food and water so you should get a polio shot

hi man, thanks alot really that helps, I think I gonna start with tetanus, which I know I am missing that one. I am not planing to catch them but to observe if I have the oportunity I would love to feed it some moth or some other insect, that would be so cool. I gonna bring a mirrow and hope it fires him up ( the calumma crypticum) so I can se it´s full colors.

 

[jannb]

We got all the vaccines listed when we went. I would highly recommend a guide or you will probably never find those species on your own. If you possible can avoid Air Madagascar as much as you can. They are absolutely terriable!!!

 

[leedragon]

We got all the vaccines listed when we went. I would highly recommend a guide or you will probably never find those species on your own. If you possible can avoid Air Madagascar as much as you can. They are absolutely terriable!!!

do you know any guies that have an eye for chameleons? I was looking into a tour but I am not sure if they help me or hinder me to find those chameleons ( due to schedules and suchs)

 

[jannb]

Our resort hooked us up with a guide. Thorsten Negro goes all the time. If you don't want to take one of his tours he might me able to hook you up with a guide. Bill Love might know someone too.

 

[kimmytheriault]

And you can get typhoid from the contaminated food and water so you should get a polio shot

Typhoid and Polio are two different things - if you want to be vaccinated against typhoid you need a typhoid vaccine.. not a polio vaccine. just an FYI.

I'd definitely check the list for recommended vaccines for that area and get them all! If you end up going, have so much fun! I'll make it there one day! (maybe. haha!)

 

[Ilike4hornedchams]

Wow this is awesome, (So is that Youtube Video!!) I'f I were you I would also try to go to Nosy be and some other northern islands maybe, the island (nosy Be) looks like Hawaii but more remote! Ok Big question here, what are the laws like if you wanted to try getting a chameleon WC home with you??? Is it strictly Illegal? Are there ways of having them shipped to you illegally but safely for the animal??? Lol Sry I just gotta ask, i'm addicted to Chameleons can't help it! Better than being addicted to crack right? lol.. I kinda doubt anyone will even try answering this but if someone, anyone has done this.. Ima be planning my trip a year from now! Mwah hahaha

 

[Ilike4hornedchams]

For all of us people that are curious how much is the ticket to go to Madagascar?

 

[Carlton]

We got all the vaccines listed when we went. I would highly recommend a guide or you will probably never find those species on your own. If you possible can avoid Air Madagascar as much as you can. They are absolutely terriable!!!

The other vaccine they suggested for us was pneumonia. I don't recall getting one for typhoid, and if you had your polio series as a child you may not need that. If your flight routes through Nairobi you may be required to get yellow fever. If you fly direct from the EU to Antananarivo I don't think you need it.
Definitely use a guide...for translations and navigation if nothing else. We brought a small notebook with photos of each species we were looking for and would pass it around at each village to see if the residents saw them nearby or not. Much easier to show them than try to describe them.

 

[Carlton]

For all of us people that are curious how much is the ticket to go to Madagascar?

Well, 10 years ago our flights alone were over $2200 (LA, NY, Paris, to 'Tana). We took a couple of regional air taxis within Madagascar but I don't know what they cost. I remember my seat belt didn't latch so I ended up holding one end of the belt for the hour flight, unable to tell the attendant before we took off. We took a wood plank water taxi over to Nosy Boraha...the boat was massively loaded with crates and bales under the deck planking with people sitting on top crammed shoulder to shoulder. The boat rolled and wallowed out over the local river mouth bar into open surf and all I could think of was how many shark dorsals we saw along the way. It must have been 90 F with humidity about the same in the cabin.

 

[Carlton]

Forget bringing a cham home with you! Totally illegal. You also have too many other countries to get it through even if it did survive.

 

[Motherlode Chameleon]

My guidance would be to consider going to either the northern part and the eastern part of the island to look for chameleons first. The guides I have talked too and from the readings I have done have said that there are chameleons in the western parts of the island. However there are not as many species compare to the eastern forest and they are not as abundantly found as seen in the eastern forests.

Best Regards
Jeremy A. Rich

 

[jpowell86]

there is 2 chameleons that I absolutely must see Brookesia perarmanta and calumma crypticum.

First off..good for you!! I am glad that you are going! I think that Madagascar is on every chameleon keeper's bucket list.

I also think it is awesome that you want to see crypticum. I was actually asked not too long ago by another keeper, "if I were able to get my hands on one species, what would it be?" My answer was crypticum. Such an awesome species. Please get loads of pics! I am excited to see what you find.

I have been wanting to do a trip like this as well, but I have been debating in my head as to whether I should do Madagascar or Tanzania. I don't have any information to give you for help...I just wanted to rally behind your decision!! Have fun!

 

[jajeanpierre]

First off..good for you!! I am glad that you are going! I think that Madagascar is on every chameleon keeper's bucket list.

I also think it is awesome that you want to see crypticum. I was actually asked not too long ago by another keeper, "if I were able to get my hands on one species, what would it be?" My answer was crypticum. Such an awesome species. Please get loads of pics! I am excited to see what you find.

I have been wanting to do a trip like this as well, but I have been debating in my head as to whether I should do Madagascar or Tanzania. I don't have any information to give you for help...I just wanted to rally behind your decision!! Have fun!

Tanzania. It is breath taking.

 

[Haileybug]

all of you are so amazing

 

[leedragon]

Our resort hooked us up with a guide. Thorsten Negro goes all the time. If you don't want to take one of his tours he might me able to hook you up with a guide. Bill Love might know someone too.

thank you thank you thank you. I just emailed Thorsten Negroat http://www.tanalahorizon.com/. I saw that he already have found calumma crypticum in the wild and with all his pictures and presentation it looks like he is the right man for the job. after we see calumma crypticum and brookesia perarmanta. if there is time to spare I would like to see brookesia vadoni, furcifer timoni, calumma globifer, parsonii yellow lips and furcifer minor. in that order haha maybe even furcifer labordi. If I travel the time of the year before they lay eggs or just after they hatch ( they do die after laying the clutch right?) but as I said calumma crypticum and brookesia perarmanta are the MUST.

 

[leedragon]

The other vaccine they suggested for us was pneumonia. I don't recall getting one for typhoid, and if you had your polio series as a child you may not need that. If your flight routes through Nairobi you may be required to get yellow fever. If you fly direct from the EU to Antananarivo I don't think you need it.
Definitely use a guide...for translations and navigation if nothing else. We brought a small notebook with photos of each species we were looking for and would pass it around at each village to see if the residents saw them nearby or not. Much easier to show them than try to describe them.

haha back when I was single I was into the idea of getting a partner who could speak french so I could save some expenses with the translator haha. I have lent out my "nature hidden jewels" but besides the book I think I gonna print some pictures of the chameleons I want to see. as you said the lookal people may understand it best if they can see pictures of the animals. And their aid would be most helpful in finding them.

 

[leedragon]

First off..good for you!! I am glad that you are going! I think that Madagascar is on every chameleon keeper's bucket list.

I also think it is awesome that you want to see crypticum. I was actually asked not too long ago by another keeper, "if I were able to get my hands on one species, what would it be?" My answer was crypticum. Such an awesome species. Please get loads of pics! I am excited to see what you find.

I have been wanting to do a trip like this as well, but I have been debating in my head as to whether I should do Madagascar or Tanzania. I don't have any information to give you for help...I just wanted to rally behind your decision!! Have fun!

thanks man. after we find calumma crypticum I gonna dedicate a picture of it just for you haha. I would like to go to tanzania and see wild jacksonii jacksonii and take some data of the uv and temperatures and just get to absorb all the knowledge I can from them in the wild. they are my favorite chameleon species.