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Published: June 25th 2017
Geo: -18.9427, 48.4085
The country of Madagascar (or as Deb P might say "why are they mad at Gascar?"😉, is another of those countries that remains somewhat off the beaten path. This is something of a surprise given the success of the cartoon Madagascar movies and the latest IMAX Island of Lemurs release- things like that normally provide a jolt to any countries tourism. Just the opposite has happened in Madagascar as the French Government has put in place a travel ban because a vigilante mob in Nosy Be burned two tourists alive that they suspected were pedophiles involved in the killing of a local 8 year old boy (the Police have since stated that there was no evidence that the pair were involved in the boys death and that the boy may have simply drowned- two people in the mob were killed by police and 26 people were arrested). French tourists were the dominant group visiting this former colony so the financial impact of the ban has been significant in this already devastatingly poor country. Reportedly, 90 per cent of its population of 22 million people are living on less than two dollars a day. Because Madagascar continues to struggle with
generating any substantial tourism, particularly beyond the beach resorts, the infrastructure needed to get around is somewhat lacking. We looked at hiring a car and driver but to feed DH's need for social contact beyond me (can't imagine why dealing with me 24/7 in small spaces would make her desperate for other interactions??), we explored other options. And as a result we decided to give bus tours another shot and use a company we had used previously with success, had an itinerary that fit with everything we wanted to do (with a heavy Lemur emphasis), and was a manageable size (14 other people also looking for Lemurs).
Madagascar is an extraordinarily unique island and there is an assortment of highlights but the star attraction is the Lemur. On the cuteness scale, these critters give the koalas, pandas, and even the baby sloths a run for their money and they are endemic to Madagascar and and the neighboring Comoro Islands. Lemur in Latin means "ghost" (part of Roman mythology) and many of the Malagasy people believe lemurs are similar to spirits or ghosts because of their haunting stare and night activity. From a more scientific perspective, lemurs are small primates known as
"prosimians," which, roughly translated, means "pre-primates" or "before monkeys." And any of our long suffering readers will know what happens when monkeys show up- I lose all ability to cap the number of photos taken so brace yourselves for lemur overload. It's generally accepted that there are five families of lemurs and just over 30 living species (with a number of subspecies the total types of living lemurs are around 50). Some species of lemurs are now extinct, including one ancient lemur that was as large as a gorilla — over 400 pounds. Today's lemur species range in size from the tiny pygmy mouse lemur, weighing in at about an ounce, to the 15-pound indri lemur and the sifaka, which are both roughly the size of a Don T's wallet. We didn't get to see every species but we did get up close and personal with quite a few. This involved a number of bush/jungle walks as most lemurs spend most of their time at the top of the rainforest canopy or in the forest midlevel (an exception is the ring-tailed lemur made famous through cartoons, which spends most of its time on the ground). And based on her comment
on the last blog, May M will be happy to know that lemur females are dominant. A group of lemurs (normally around 15 members) usually has one dominant female who leads the group, controls their movement, and has first choice of food and mates. This may also explain why these groups seem to be constantly lost, bouncing (as opposed to swinging like monkeys) in zig-zag patterns all through the trees without actually getting to where they want to be.
During this first leg of our journey, one other critter that Madagascar is quite famous for also made an appearance- or more accurately, tried not to make an appearance- the chameleon (from Greek words meaning “earth lion”??). Madagascar is home to about half the world's 150 or so species of chameleons- chameleons are small to mid-size reptiles that are famous for their ability to dramatically change colors (contrary to our belief, a chameleon typically does not change colors to match its surroundings- instead, color is usually used to convey emotions, defend territories, and communicate with mates). From the colour change, to the bulging eyes (that move independently from one another), to the curled up tail, to their very long tongue (used
like a laser to snap up an nearby insects), to their vise-grip feet (chameleons have a bizarre way of moving in which they slowly rock back and forth between each step taken, often in time with the movement of nearby leaves being blown by the wind), these mini Godzillas, although operating at a much different pace to the hyped-up lemurs, were fun to watch.
And just to round out our unique-to-Madagascar critter fest, we have to mention the fossa, if for no other reason then to say I had never even heard of this animal before. They are very hard to see in the wild (and impossible to sneak up on if you're part of a bus tour gang) so we dropped in to a conservation area for a quick look. The mysterious cat-like fossa is Madagascar's top predator- it would appear to be the love-child result of a cougar and mongoose. The fossa has been assessed as "Vulnerable" due to habitat loss so, although unexpected, it was great to have even this brief encounter.
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Uncle Mel
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Another awesome blog!