Madagascar is home for more than half of the world chameleon species. It is one of the main attractions and one of the creatures people really want to see during the forest expeditions in Madagascar.
Chameleons in Madagascar can be split up into two different groups: the arboreal chameleons with two genera Culumma and Furcifer, and the ground chameleons, sometimes called leaf chameleons, with a single genus Brookesia.
Up on the trees, chameleons range from the biggest size such as the Panther chameleons (mainly found in the northeast,north and northwest of Madagascar), Parson’s chameleons (found mainly in the east), and the Oustalet’s chameleons (well-adapted to the drier habitats) to the smallest of the arboreal chameleons which is the Nosed-horned chameleons.
On the ground, the Brookesia, the leaf chameleons, are so well-camouflaged and sometimes they are difficult to spot in the dead leaf litter. They are more adapted to the forest floor.
If you want to see more chameleons, many of our tours will take you to different places where they are so unique to their habitats.
One of the things you should not miss during your trip to Madagascar is the frogs. Madagascar is home to more than 275 species of frogs, and many of them are endemic but vulnerable and endangered.
When walking at night, especially in the rainforest, their calls take over the forest sound with different tunes. Each species of frogs has an amazing colour ranging from light green to dark brown and from reddish to yellowish, sometimes with stripes, sometimes with dots.
One of the most conspicuous frog species is the Mantella. They have different attractive colours depending on the species, and they are mainly found on the forest floor and marshes.
There are also the Heteroxalus, or the Madagascar Reed frogs, which are always found in the marsh vegetations, the Scaphiophrynes, or the Madagascar burrowing frogs, which are sometimes hiding in the tree trunks covered with mosses and lichens, the Mantidactylus frogs, the most terrestrial frogs in Madagascar hiding themselves in the dead leaves, and the Boophis frogs known as the tree frogs.
Many of our tours will give you the opportunity to spot many of those endemic Madagascar frogs, and they will be part of your forest experience.