Not sure if you're already aware, but a large wildfire broke out in Ranomafana a few days ago. The fire is burning in a section of the park that is far from water, so they're struggling to contain it. Centre ValBio is fundraising for supplies to sustain the community fire fighting efforts. Would you consider promoting CVB's linktree where they are collecting donations? https://linktr.ee/centrevalbio

Thanks @ninjatag, and this is an important call to action. Like so many others, I have been watching in horror the fires spread in LA, but at the same time I have been getting frequent updates on the situation in Ranomafana, one of Madagascar's largest and best national parks. It is heartbreaking. If it is within your means, I would encourage anyone who is able to donate. Here is the linktree as an active hyperlink:

For those who don't know, Ranomafana is a rainforested national park in south central eastern Madagascar, and is home to a huge diversity of amphibians and reptiles, as well as all manner of other animals and plants. We are constantly describing new species from this area. I was there just a couple months ago, enjoying some of this incredible diversity. But also seeing first-hand how unseasonably dry it was.

ILYYYYY

This is the authoritative guide to the herps of Madagascar. There are no others. It is a fantastic resource. However, there are a few things you need to be aware of:

the binding is shit and your book will begin to fall apart 100% guaranteed if you use it semi-regularly for longer than two weeks. Nothing you can do about that - just bear it in mind.

It is written by herpetologists for herpetologists - that is to say it contains some rather complicated methods for determining which species you have in front of you. The introduction does a pretty good job explaining these things, but it can still be hard to figure out exactly which scale is which when doing an actual ID if you are not a professional.

You don't have a choice of other books to buy so basically this is the only book if you want to actually know what animal it is you are looking at.

It is not a light book. It is certainly not a pocket field guide. It has almost 500 pages. It is worth its weight.

Madagascar's taxonomic status is pretty far behind most of the rest of the world, because there are just disproportionately more species to describe. Because of this:a. about 60 new frog species have been described since the book was published in 2007b. there are about 200 undescribed frog and 20 reptile species that are known to exist but just haven't yet been described.c. some parts of the book are mislabelled or are no longer correct.

In spite of all its faults, I still contend that this is the best field guide I have ever worked with. I have owned three copies. It is worth the money. I call it my Bible.

I have compiled a list of updates to this fieldguide here. This list is not complete, but it contains a lot of updates that really improve your ability to ID certain species in the field, and adds a lot of newly described species where they were before just given as pictures. It does not contain species were not previously figured in the book though.

I wish you the best of luck with your field pursuits! I expect photos and a full report!

Awesome! Whether or not you will need your waterproof case will depend largely on where you are going, but seeing as the main site in the dry south for tourist/voluntourist activities has been shut down, I'm gonna go ahead and assume that you're going to be headed to either rainforest or dry deciduous forest (which can still be rather wet).

I was going to go through and make a big long list of things to do, but then I did a quick google search and found this excellent list of things you should do to take care of your kit in high humidity environments. Be sure to read the comments on that post as well, as they contain still further advice.