Lemurs are a signature primate in Madagascar. [Photo/Agencies]

Threatened by habitat loss and hunting, Madagascar's lemurs, a critically endangered species, are finding refuge in a private sanctuary on this vast Indian Ocean island.

At Nahampoana game reserve, one of the wide-eyed creatures－the island's signature primate－appears between long bamboo stems, while a little further down three others play in the trees on a riverbank.

Nearly two decades ago, this 50-hectare former French colonial garden was turned into a privately run game reserve.

It is now home to 150 lemurs.

"Bamboo lemurs come here naturally, because it's quiet. They are protected in the reserve, and the numbers are increasing," says Leonard Dauphin, the sanctuary's supervisor.

There are around 100 known species on Madagascar, but only six are found in the park, among them the iconic ring-tailed lemurs that are probably the most widely recognized.

It is only on this island that lemurs appear in the wild, having evolved separately from their cousins, the African apes, over millions of years; in the grounds of the reserve they roam freely among the frogs, turtles and crocodiles also living there.

The main threat facing Madagascar's lemurs is deforestation, which is one of the most serious environmental issues facing Africa's largest island.

"Before, it was paradise. The clouds would flirt with the mountains because of the forests," says Gauthier, a park guide pointing to Saint-Louis, the area's highest mountain.

"Now it's a desert. The trees are being cut every day."

For nearly two decades, Nahampoana reserve has survived thanks to sponsor Aziz Badouraly, who owns a travel agency in the nearby town of Fort Dauphin.

Around 3,000 tourists visit Nahampoana reserve every year－but the numbers are not enough to keep it afloat, and Badouraly says it needs help from the government.

But authorities on the island, where nine out of 10 people live below the poverty line, can barely spare any funds to implement national biodiversity conservation and protection programs.

Julio Razafindramaro Pierrot, who governs the southeastern Anosy region where the sanctuary is situated, acknowledges the problems caused by the widespread practice of destroying forest to make way for crops, but says the state's hands are tied.

Around Nahampoana, local efforts to try to educate the villagers－who claim the lemurs damage their crops－appear to be beginning to bear fruit.

"We are working well with the villagers," says Dauphin.

"For example, we sell them lychees from the reserve at a price which is three times cheaper than at the market. In exchange, we ask them to respect the animals.

"It's in everyone's interest."