Rule #1: If you’re going to an island full of lemurs, you bring bananas! And lots of them!
Located adjacent to Vakona Lodge, near the Andasibe-Mantadia Nat’l Park, exists a little gem for the animal lover: Lemur Island.
As the name implies, Lemur Island is the home of lemurs…and there are a lot of lemurs.
We were pleasantly surprised. After we arrived we were greeted by friendly boat-men and were taken in 2-3 person canoes on a short boat ride around the small island.
As we slowly rowed passed each shore the boat man whistled a call to alert the lemurs that banana wielding tourists were ready to feed them.
The lemurs crawled and swung down from the trees and bounded past the reeds and tall grass to greet us and climb onto our canoe.
We’d like to think the Lemurs were friendly creatures just there to greet us and receive pets but it quickly became apparent they were only interested in bananas.
We actually enjoyed the small furry primates pulling on our arms and climbing all over us to get at the small pieces of bananas our boat-men handed to us.
The lemurs ate the fruit out of our hands.
They were actually quite gentle–they have small short finger nails on soft, padded feet and it was fun having them sit on our shoulder.
At the end of our boat ride we were taken back to the other side of the island where even more bold and friendly lemurs resided.
We were lucky enough to meet and interact with:
the Ring-tailed Lemur
Black-and-white Ruffed Lemur
the Bamboo Lemur
and the Diademed Sifika (who was a little shy)
Lemur Island is a treasure and animal lovers will really enjoy it.
It should be mentioned that these beautiful creatures seem to be treated well.
There are no fences on the island and with a steady stream of banana wielding tourists visiting them daily we felt confident they were happy.
There are two fees to explore Lemur Island:
10,000 MGA (about €3) per person for the short boat ride to the island that you can walk around.
20,000 MGA (about €6) per person for the longer boat ride around the island where you will get to interact with the ring-tailed lemur.
😍😍😍😍amazing!! How did you find Madagascar? I fancy it a loooott,but I’ve heard different opinions ab it, that is not safe( you can be robbed, maybe worse) at all to explore it, walk around without guide etc. If you could help me with some info, I w appreciate a lot. You’re doing such wonderful things and we so grateful you share your experiences with all of us. Cheers!
Hi Ana! We absolutely fell in love with Madagascar! There are definitely some challenges with getting around as the roads need some improvement. However, the wildlife is spectacular and the lemurs are just as playful and fluffy as you’d expect! The landscape is beautiful and the locals are friendly, especially the children! It is worth going if you are thinking about it!