Lemur means 'spirit of the night' or 'phantom of the forest.' It's tragic that they are all endangered, with no obvious path to survival, but it was amazing to be able to see them.
Most of the pictures are from Andasibe-Mantadia National Park. A few are also from the Lemur Reserve & Botanical Park outside of Antananarivo.
Grumpy Frog's way cuter cousin, the gray bamboo lemur
Verroux's Sifaka
I promise this isn't a picture of muppets.
Red ruffed lemur
Indri - the largest surviving lemur species.
Indri really did look like people dressed up in costumes as they swung and hung upside down in trees.
Indri howling - see the video below for the sounds
Ring-tailed lemurs (which looked so cute in the Madagascar movie) turned out to be the most vicious and territorial of all the lemurs we saw.
Mongoose lemur
Collared lemur
Eastern wooly lemur
One of the loudest sounds in the animal kingdom
The video below captures two families of indries calling back and forth to establish their territories. Turn your volume all of the way up to get an idea for how loud it is!
When lemurs attack
In addition to the national park, we also visited an adjoining private reserve (Vakôna) where they had an island with lemurs. We didn't realize the lemurs were used to being fed bananas by the guide, and it was completely unexpected when they jumped on us!
Alex said this was the most fun thing he's ever done!
Keri wasn't so sure...
New friends
Lemur peek-a-boo
Katie wanted to take this guy home with her
Matching fuzzy faces
No caption needed
Mmmm...yummy hat!
Beauty of Madagascar
Pile o' Nile Crocodile
Spot the frog?
Can you find the mossy leaf-tailed gecko? There are two versions of their camouflage - leaf-form and bark-form.
Lily Waterfall
Vanilla plant
Vanilla bean (nearly ripe)
We had the beach to ourselves for 3 days at the Ony Resort
Geyers of Analavory
In the central volcanic highlands of Madagascar, we visited geysers that looked very similar to Yellowstone, except the water was not heated. It turns out these formations are actually formed by excess water drained from nearby aragonite mines. This water has a high concentration of carbonic acid, which creates sparkling mineral water when released to the surface.
Life on Madagascar
Antananarivo ("Tana") and the bigger cities
Traveling to the center of the main cities is to travel back in time fifty years, with many cars and buildings that haven't changed from the 1960's. The ingenuity and craftsmanship they showed with recycling aluminum, car parts, and many other used objects was impressive.
You could build an entire car from pistons and gaskets up to doors and bumpers from different merchants...but I have no idea how they make them work together.
Fields that aren't used for rice are used to extract and fire clay bricks for construction. In the background are the "patchworks" of drying clothes that dot the country.
Garbage is scoured for aluminum, steel, and other reusable items.
Pouring recycled aluminum into a dirt mold to create a new cooking pot
Charcoal smelter to recycle aluminum scraps
One of many different small items crafted from recycled materials
Highlands villages and country
The highlands village seem largely unaffected by time. Rice is planted by hand, plowed with spades, and transported by carts pulled by zebu. The original highlanders migrated from Borneo 1,200 years ago, bringing both rice and zebu with them.
Traffic jam in the highlands
The brilliant green rice fields of the highlands
Traditional rice farming
Traditional and more modern transportation in the highlands
Rickshaws being used to transport water, charcoal, and rice
Blacksmith forging a machete in eastern (more forested) highlands
Katie taking a turn working the furnace bellows
Steel grinding wheel fashioned out of a bicycle wheel with a bicycle tube to provide the gearing belt
Heating and crafting a zebu horn
Finished and partially finished birds fashioned from zebu horns
Ravo's mother-in-law, Aimee, who immediately tried to adopt Katie
Highlands communities have rice fields in the valley bottoms, villages on the hillsides, and tombs (such as this one) at the top of the hills
Katie's face being painted with volcanic mud
Highland girls selling face painting and souvenirs crafted from volcanic rock
Flower girl
Keri teaching the game "sticks"
East coast rain forest fishing villages
The east coast was populated later than the highlands by Bantu Africans. Their traditions of fishing, slash-and-burn farming, and charcoal production continue to be the primary way of life for Malagasy in the east.
One of the channels built between freshwater lakes during the French colonial period. The canal system provides over 400 miles of passage just inland from the coast, allowing boats to avoid the difficult Indian Ocean coast.
Fishing village welcoming committee
Train station at the fishing village. Most railways in Madagascar have not been used in decades.
Pirogue dugout canoe. With the depletion of large trees, new pirogues are difficult to make, and most pirogues were heavily repaired.
Morning sorting of fish to take to sell and to distribute throughout the village
Today's catch heading to market
Kids posing for their new Malagasy alt-rock band album cover
Katie was swarmed by kids from the fishing village, who collected mussels for her. In return she taught them to do cartwheels and played with them for hours.
Keri and Alex testing out the seaworthiness of a pirogue
Thanks to our guide and driver Ravo!
Keri: After negotiating this trip via email in February 2018, I still had no idea what to expect. I was ecstatic to find Ravo waiting and smiling for us at the airport. He was very open and honest about our agreed upon itinerary and how current security conditions in western Madagascar have changed (mostly due to the upcoming presidential election). We made the last minute decision to revise our itinerary and bypass the west all together. I was a little disappointed since this was the area I was most looking forward to seeing but the risks were too great. Our new itinerary was perfect and included 3 days of beach time and relaxing. We had an amazing time and loved the Malagasy people.
Smiles all around for a fantastic 10 days in Madagascar! Thank you Ravo!
2 comments:
Thank you for taking the safe route! Great pics once again. Love you all! ��
I really enjoyed and appreciated these few days trip with Browns'family.
Only few days but learn more in every day life.
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