Blogs from Madagascar, Africa - page 36

We left Tana a few days ago and headed east to the rainforest where we saw the largest lemur of them all, the indri. It was FREEZING, as in see your breath freezing, but worth the trip, got to watch a mother and her baby sunning themselves in the trees, as well as the rest of the family leaping about. Also got to hear them call, which was beautiful and eerie but a lot like the noise my dogs make when they want attention! Also got to see plenty of other rainforest species, which was different for me as I have been working in dry forest, and great for Lys who is a beach bum and hasn't seen much terrestrial wildlife during her time with Frontier! We are now back in Tana, Lys is leaving first ... read more

Just a few shots the computer refused to accept at the end of the last blog. The stunning natural swimming pool at Isalo NP, which was an idyllic oasis and so much better than we expected - for once a tourist attraction that deserved the hype! The park was also home to a small species of Baobab I can't remember the name of - paka.. something or other. Sorry about that, we had better improve our learning skills for the 150 species of fish we are expected to know !! Anyway they are bizarre plants. The Ringtail Makis were cool too, a semi-tame group of wild lemurs which just behaved as if we weren't there. There reaction as soon as the sun came out was to sit down and put their arms out wide to soak-up ... read more

Here's a slightly extended version of a trip from Tana to Toliara - mainly photos with a few words to set the scene. Our first view of Madagascar was the arid western side of the island as we came into land at Tana. A short taxi ride found us at the Manoir Rouge hotel in Ifaty a typically dusty Malagasy town servicing the airport. The view of everyday life from the window was enough to entertain Lexa for quite some time, with the butchers right outside displaying every part of a Zebu, much still covered in fur. A lot of the time human power is still the way to go around here with bikes, Pousse-Pousse and carts everywhere. With high petrol prices (75p/lt) travel further afield is by taxi-brousse often loaded with people and luggage quite ... read more

Having been chased from the cold weather of the "hautes plateaus", I recently found myself in a 19 hour taxi-brousse ride from Antsirabe to Morondava. I knew I was getting into warm territory when the brousse stopped in Miandrivazo for a late night snack (10pm) and I found myself taking off my sweatshirt! Bring it on! As we slowly made our way over what seemed to me a dried up river bed full of gigantic canyons, all through dahalo (bandit) country, I attempted a delirious sleep. We arrived in sunny Morondava at 7am. Having planned so well for this trip, I had brought no guide book and disregarded all information that my friend provided about the town. I assumed I'd find cell coverage and all would be well. Yes, Morondava does have cell coverage, but it's ... read more

As of yesterday I am no longer a working woman here in Madagascar, although I have been in the office all day! My travelling companion may not be back in town for a few days so I am trying to entertain myself until then! The last month has flown by, the expedition went well, found some (biologically) very interesting stuff and saw some beautiful places. The group were really nice, it was all about the challenge, starting with the chin up challenge, escalating to the Super G bench press challenge and the how far can you throw Super G challenge. Wild times! We returned to town for a celebratory night out, with all the staff celebrating a particularly tough month by snorting creme brulee and mixing our drinks. We then spent the next day lying on ... read more