Southern Madagascar is the kingdom of the iconic ring-tailed lemur — the 'Maki' of the Disney animated film, walking upright on the ground with their striped tails held high. The Anja Community Reserve near Ambalavao shelters around 400 habituated ring-tails in a small scenic forest at the foot of granite cliffs — a community-run conservation success story. Berenty Private Reserve further south is the most famous site for the 'dancing' Verreaux's sifaka, a lemur known for its sideways bounding gait, and also hosts thousands of ring-tails. Berenty's toxic tree plantings are controversial (causing partial baldness in lemurs), which is why many travellers now favour Anja.
