Over the course of the last couple of days we have been told a number of interesting facts - some of which I remember.
Madagascar has a population of 25 million and 90% use wood for cooking. You can imagine the deforestation and threat to wild life when the population is growing by 3% each year. Thankfully there are a few national parks and Andisabe is one. We were glad we had brought our poles as we climbed over roots and stumbled down steps. During the four hour rain forest walk (where I kept thinking this could be New Zealand - lots of ferns and pongas - except of course for the lemurs). We spotted four types - golden, black and white, indira and common brown. My madagassy language skills did not allow me to remember their proper names. But there are differences. Some jump vertically and some horizontally. Some eat spiders and insects to reduce acid in their stomach others eat dirt. The main threat to the lemur are the birds of prey (kite), a panther/puma type of animal and us humans. The walk was a bit like last night's. A guide finds a lemur high up in the tree. They let all the other guides know (cell phone or bush signals) and everyone converges on the one spot. How many tourists can you get in one rain forest? The treat was hearing the family of lemurs call to each other. It was like going to the orchestra. A quiet melodious start ending in a crescendo - finishing as quickly as it started and always 4 to 5 minutes long. Beethoven would have been proud. In the afternoon we walked another couple of hours, far away from other tourists. We all enjoyed the walk even though we only saw spiders and lizards.
And here are some photos of the island we visited late afternoon. A small canoe crossing (I mean small perhaps 4 paddles - 3 metres) and we were on the private reserve for lemurs. Lemurs haven't taken swimming lessons and don't like getting their feet wet. They are reasonably tame having been lured by offers of banana. One took a liking to Harry's hat and would have stayed licking it all night except an offer of banana came his way.
And this is the shed that houses the generator that produces the power for the people to cook us dinner.
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