Crown of thorns, Palmarium, Madagascar

Opening our next location of our Madagascar 2019 trip: Palmarium. A generic description of this location:

"The private reserve of Palmarium is also known as Ankanin’ny Nofy which translates from Malagasy as ‘nest of dreams’. It is spread across 50 hectares of peninsula land in the Lake Ampitabe area on the East coast of Madagascar, nestled on the banks of the Pangalanes channel and the Indian Ocean. Separated from the latter by thin coastal sand dunes, the landscape otherwise comprises of littoral forest with relatively flat terrain and some well-kept trails for exploration. "

- source: https://www.naturalworldsafaris.com/africa/madagascar/palmarium-reserve

Palmarium is well known for its accessible lemurs. The lemurs roam free in a pretty large private reserve yet have grown used to people. It's a semi-wild experience at best, but still enjoyable. And, it has the unique feat of being able to see an Aye-aye, more on that later.

This first photo is from the garden part of the hotel, where they grow some ornamental and medicinal plants. The species is commonly cultivated throughout the world, yet originally native to Madagascar.