Chameleon Cuddling

Peyrieras Reptile Reserve

We spend a relaxing morning enjoying the hotel before meeting Zack. I should let you know that Zack’s real name is Njaka. But the letters ‘Nj” are pronounced as a ‘z’ so it’s Zacka and he shortens it to Zack to make it easier for his clients.

We are heading back to the capital city of Antananarivo (Tana) today but we have an exciting stop along the way, the Peyrieras Reptile Reserve. 

The reserve is also nicknamed Chameleon Kingdom. It is a specialized zoo that allows people to see Madagascar’s reptiles, insects and amphibians up close and personal.

So Many Chameleons

I am totally enthralled with the chameleon enclosure. There are so many of them and so many different spieces (actually between 10-30 different spieces). 

We watch them eating, their long tongues swiftly flying out of their mouths to catch the cricket. Click here for a short video. 

I get to hold some chameleons and have them crawl on my head. Can life get any better?

It is fun to watch them, they don’t seem to respect each other’s space. But neither do they seem to mind… most of the time. Click here for a short video.

Some of the colours are so vibrant, greens, reds and blues. Some of these chameleons we saw in the wild but there are new ones as well.

I think the reserve’s guide thought he was going to have to drag me out of the chameleon enclosure kicking and screaming. I could have stayed all day. Click here for one more video.

Smaller Chameleons

There is another enclosure for smaller chameleons. The guide takes out a couple small ones and puts them on a branch. One of them has a cricket in his half opened mouth. You can tell that the other one, eyes twitching, is contemplating his chances of grabbing the unfortunate cricket out of the other’s mouth. I think the first one senses those intentions, steps back and swallows.

Other Residents

We also see a Nile crocodile (no cuddling involved), a variety of frogs, and some snakes. We get to pet a tree boa constrictor. There were numerous geckos and some very large moths with their cocoons.

The tour ends at a pen with young Tenrec which resemble hedgehogs but are related to shrews. Click here for a short video.

I am sad to leave the reserve. I could have spent many more hours there (specifically in the chameleon enclosure).

Road to Tana

We continue the drive back to Tana. Where the highway has bad sections of potholes, there are often “hole fillers” standing by. They can be children or adults with spade in hand shovelling dirt into the potholes in hopes of getting tips from drivers. Its likely a bit of a scam as once the holes are filled they put themselves out of business, so presumably they empty the pothole again and start over.

Cable Car Transit System

As we enter the city around 5:00pm the traffic becomes gridlock and it takes another hour of inching along to reach our hotel. 

To deal with congestion, the city built an expensive cable car system to transport people over the traffic. It opened in 2025. We see the tall towers and cables but it’s not running. Later in 2025 there was a military coup in Madagascar ousting the President who had built the system. Some of the cable car stations were burned in the protests against the President as the project was viewed as an extravagant waste of money. 

Even when it was operating the system had few riders as the fare of 2,000 ariary (.60 cents CAD) was too expensive for many compared to the bus fare of 500 ariary (.15 cents CAD). 

In addition, because of the frequent power outages in the electrical grid in Tana, the cable cars had to be powered by diesel generators which were so expensive they only ran the system for 2 hours in the morning, then 2 hours in the afternoon during the rush hours.

It is not known if or when the cable cars will resume under the current government.

Final Evening with Zack

We finally arrive at our hotel and for our last night we invite Zack/Njaka to join us for dinner. We have a nice chat and express our thanks to Madagascar Green Tours, our guides and Zack for a great tour of Madagascar. We highly recommend this company for anyone wanting to visit Madagascar.