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Published: April 13th 2016
I woke up to the sun blistering through my open shutters, sat up and stared out at the ocean rubbing my eyes smiling at finally being in Madagascar.
We did get breakfast this morning, the domestic was a storm still on the horizon and Phillipe was quite cordial as we had booked a tour to Lakobe National Park with him. Lakobe is critically important to the survival of the Lemurs, with all species being on the UN Red list from Threatened to Critically Endangered. Deforestation. slash and burn agriculture and to some level superstition has impacted hugely on these amazing creatures. Neither Monkey nor Ape they are Strepsirrhini Primates, sharing this tiny order of the family tree with Lorises, Galagos, Bushbabies and Pottos.
Madagascar as a country makes you work hard. Its amazing, exotic, otherworldly and truly deserves its reputation as the Noah's Ark as it broke off Africa 160 million years ago, shedding its last terrestrial ties to Antarctica 130 million years ago and finally India 90 million years ago leaving its botany and fauna to evolve in isolation. Political unrest and regular military coups combined with deep poverty mean basic infrastructure is just that, basic, if it
exists at all. Roads are a loose term even in this "Rich" North eastern corner of Madagascar - Rich because the economy in Nosy Be is tourism dependant. It is a fragile web constantly battling Military Coups, civil unrest, indifferent airlines, devastating cyclones and a sad lack of tourism promotion by the Government.
Nosy Be gets the lions share of tourists with direct flights from Milan, France and Reunion Island where we flew in from. Having tried for months to book with Air Madagascar and getting either no response to emails or a response from a witchdoctor who offered an impressive range of services including Dad Debts (How did he know I owed my father money?), workplace grievances (he knew that too?) matters of the heart and removal or laying down of curses.
I opted to pay the extra and fly Air Austral directly to Nosy Be as given the time of year and distances involved in travelling mainland Madagascar I didnt have time to spend 2 or 3 days travelling between destinations which happens often especially in cyclone season. I had done my research and knew I could see Lemurs and Chameleons in the wild on Nosy
Be and her smaller islands.
Lakobe was my first hit list destination. Philippe drove us the 20km but hour long drive to where we would meet our guides on the shore at Lakobe. Our guides were great young guys with excellent English and didnt seem to mind me singing Harry Belafonte songs..well ok, one song...Day'O (the Banana Boat song)..at the top of my lungs while paddling.
After the drive there I needed a toilet before setting off paddling across the ocean to Lakobe National Park itself so I asked my guide and he pointed to a brush screen enclosure with a stone inside it and said - "For Yellow ok?"....yes, I actually had planned on only doing Yellow but I still am not sure if I was meant to pee on the stone or stand on the stone.....so I stood on it.
The paddle in traditional outriggers to Lakobe takes around an hour. The scenery along the way is beautiful and the guides dont seem to mind at all if you grab a paddle and lend an arm.
Sweating in the hot sun as we got to the village our guides pulled the outrigger onto the
Crocodile Lizard
The hardest animal to find in the jungleshore and lead us to a open air restaurant where we had a feed of fish, crabs, riz (rice) and salad. The food was great. We eyed off the embroidery (another thing I had on my to do list in Madagascar, the embroidery style is unique and magnificent so I had planned to buy some) as we set off on the trek with Marna making a mental note of which lady had which fabric outside her house for later.
Having liberally sprayed ourselves with Mostik spray to keep the mosquitos away and Marna having also done yellow but with the warning of Yellow ONLY, we were ready to do what we came here for....see Lemurs.
A short and not too strenuous walk through the jungle with our guide pointing out the Ylang Ylang (pronounced E Lang E Lang) Vanilla, Pepper, Cardamon, Cocoa and Coffee plants along with some others that he explained were traditional medicines we met our first Chameleon, who happens to be the smallest Chameleon in the world. This tiny little species is hilariously cute and has adapted to living amongst the leaf litter on the forest floor so does not need to camouflage. Next we
stared at a tree for a few seconds wondering exactly what the guide was pointing out before my eyes finally focused - the member of the gecko family known as the hardest animal to find in the jungle, the Crocodile lizard.
Further up into the hills, carefully placed feet on the slippery muddy path, our guide started calling Maki Maki - the local Malagasy name for the lemur. Way up in the trees a solitary nocturnal species sleeping in a stylishly curled palm leaf bed - my first lemur sighting. Too far out of reach for my camera Marna managed to get a couple of good shots and some of the Boa Constrictor we passed.
Across a stream, my shoes on my ''many open wounds'' feet soaked as we avoided leeches and hopefully any bacteria. I was actually glad for once I was taking doxy.
Through the twisty turning paths and suddenly I smelt fermenting mango and our guide again called Maki Maki, as I felt some heavy raindrops on my head.
They weren't raindrops....I was being peed on by Lemurs.
Marna did not get peed on.
Lemur pee is pleasantly fruity scented and
if we could get a Kardashian to endorse it as a hair tonic we would make a fortune. Yes, I understand there may be some logistical information to work out on the collection of commercial quantities of lemur pee.
But not unsurmountable, there are people professionally employed to make racehorses pee by whistling.
Not sure if this will work with Lemurs but hey, you never know.
Suddenly there were lemurs around us everywhere, Black lemurs - the male is black, the female exactly matches my hair except she has furry white ear trims.
Leaping Lemurs.......AWESOME! Far from the easiest things to photograph while they are leaping the time we spent with them was absolutely magic.
Eventually we had to make our way back and Marna bought a beautiful cloth she bargained for by drawing a figure in the sand with her finger with the vendor drawing another figure. Eventually they agreed on a price, we wandered back down to the village, had a drink and I blew bubbles at the kids sitting around before heading to the beach and decided to go swimming.
Except the tide was out, way out. And the water remaining
on the sludgy squishy mud tidal flats was red hot.
A man walked a herd of Zebu across the shore to a hill in the distance. We picked our way across the tidal flats trying to reach water deep enough to get more than ankle deep in. Eventually our guide came and waved us back and we realised we had walked a fair way, past the on holiday resorts that would be full of tourists come high season. We wandered through a village before having a nap on the beach while we waited for the tide to come back in. Eventually one of the guides walked out and got the canoe half way in and we picked our way through the sludge for the paddle home.
We ran aground several times and we both paddled to help the boys and also to beat another canoe with a family of italian tourists.
Sweating buckets we finally arrived back at the shore where a little boy with a dapper fedora was washing peoples feet for a few ariaries. We obviously undercharged him because he gave us a look of disgust. An entrepreneur in the making.
Eventually Philippe turned
up to pick us up after we had bought a couple of coconuts to drink sitting in the village centre. On the way back he suddenly stopped the car and there was our first Madagascan Chameleon in bright colors strolling across the road. We spent a few minutes filming him and tried to get Philippe to stop trying to prod him with a stick to come out ( a common practice, and how Marna got bitten, trying to get one of our pool boys at Anjiamarango to put the chameleon down). Interestingly, the chameleon is regarded as Fady or bad luck to many Malagasy. A chameleon entering a house is a bad sign, even worse if an Aye Aye (A nocturnal lemur species) is spotted, a sign of impending death which has lead to villagers killing them on site and as a result their critically endangered species.
Once Philippe dropped us back at Eden (A drive that included a roadblock stop requiring the cars papers and some ten thousand ariary notes being handed over) we both headed straight for a cold shower before Marna went for a wander around the garden of our hotel.......and spotted Lemurs in our garden!
As the sun set over the Mozambique Channel we moved to my bedroom balcony and took pictures of the sunset before deciding where to go for dinner. Going down for our meals every day required a trek down the hill with a short cut path used by humans and goats in total darkness so Marna's dive torch came in handy...I was trying my hardest not to injure my leg any more.
We had just turned the corner of the goat track to the cobblestone street when I heard - sensed - someone behind me. 2pac. Coincidentally said he had been to see his boss but my spider senses tell me he had been watching and waiting for us since we got back from Lakobe.
I wondered if this is why they call Africa the dark continent, that sense of something just out of sight just out of view in the shadows of the blackness......whatever it was....I loved it.
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Dancing Dave
David Hooper
Evolving in isolation
Leaping lemurs, chameleons, pottos and aye ayes...paradise lost but for you Cindy...paradise found. Brilliant!