Chameleon Spotting

Madagascar's extraordinary diversity of chameleons is one of the island's great natural spectacles, and Andasibe is a reliable place to encounter multiple species in a single visit. Both day and night walks yield sightings, with different species active at different hours.

During daylight, guides search through dense vegetation for cryptically coloured animals — Calumma crypticum (the cryptic chameleon) and the larger Calumma parsoni (Parson's chameleon) being the most prized daytime finds. At night, sleeping chameleons turn pale and become visible with torchlight from several metres away. Small Brookesia leaf chameleons, resembling dead leaves on the forest floor, are found only with careful searching — some species here are smaller than a fingernail. A single guided walk in the right conditions can yield six or eight chameleon species.

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Madagascar has about half the world's chameleon species — roughly 100 of the planet's 200 or so — and the Andasibe rainforest is one of the best places to encounter them. Parson's chameleon, the largest in the world, is regularly found on night walks at Analamazoatra. During the day, the bright green Calumma malthe and the knob-nosed male Furcifer verrucosus lurk in the undergrowth; guides spot them by the particular stillness and branch-rocking gait that no other animal replicates.

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