Lovely lemurs

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Geo: -25.0323, 46.99

It was another very hot and sunny day when we arrived at Madagascar. Our bus containing 17 of us set off along the coast from where we had docked in the south eastern corner. It is a beautiful island with luscious greenery, sandy beaches and a gorgeous back drop of mountains. The population is young and poor with most people living in wooden shacks and with clearly nothing to do but make babies! Apparantly the unemployment runs at about 50%, which explains why you are mobbed by people wanting to sell you stuff at every opportunity. On the way to the reserve we stopped at Flacourt Camp which as well as being a base for soldiers has a tiny museum showing simple artefacts reflecting the life of Madagascans. Although poor, they look healthy but certainly there are no obese ones. Many young girls were carrying babies on heir backs and all of them were curious about us even though they must see bus loads of tourists coming through regularly. The kids on the road side always waved at us and lots of people were simply sitting about doing nothing. The staple diet is rice and fruit supplemented by fish and occasional meat.
At the Nahampoana Reserve we were again mobbed at the entrance by youngsters selling beads and bangles etc. Our " Guide" was a young man with such an accent that we could not hear much of what he said but it was clear anyway that he did not know very much! He spent most of the time telling us to walk slowly and follow him. We saw some lovely tortoise which are native to Madagascar and then to our delight we got to see the lemurs in the trees. They are beautiful creatures and we were fortunate to see three different varieties- ring tailed, blond and brown. We also saw a non poisonous boa snake in the grass. At the end of the walk there was a soft drink and we were "treated" to a group of dancers. How authentic they were I am not sure.
Although the unmade road to get to the reserve was extremely bumpy I am glad we made the trip and can recommend Madagascar as a beautiful country to visit.

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Comments

[stephen cole]

Looks lovely. Have a great time do not get eaten by lions.