Nov 7, 2006

My goodness it seems like ages have passed since I last wrote a message. For starters, let me just say that Madagascar was phenomenally frustrating but also extremely rewarding. I feel like I have grown as an independent and self-reliant human being and I have seen some amazing things. My learning curve for the entire duration of the trip was quite steep.

First, I spent two days in Paris (my first time there). I navigated the metro system with five weeks-worth of field gear and found my way to my hostel. I wanted to see a bit of the city before getting some much-needed sleep so I promptly set off for the Catacombs. Something I have wanted to see for a very long time. I ate some bread and cheese in a lovely old cemetery and then found the catacombs. For those of you who might not already know this, I absolutely love caves, mines, cellars, really any hole in the ground, and I was very excited to check out the labyrinth of tunnels underneath Paris. The catacombs did not disappoint me and I was absolutely awed by the ossuary. Sometime during the 1700’s, it was decided that the Parisian cemeteries were far too conjested and were posing major health problems. So, thousands upon thousands of skeletons were removed from the cemeteries and placed, in neat little artistic piles, down in the old limestone quarries underneath the city. These bones are still in place today and one can walk down long hallways lined with skulls, femurs, and tibias. It’s unreal.

After sleeping for 15 hours, I spent the next morning wandering about some more. I visited the Cathedral of Notre Dame and I walked along the Seine. I met up with my fellow researchers- Stan, Elizabeth and Rod- under the Eiffel Tower and then, a happy quartet, we ate a lovely dinner and rested up for our trip to Madagascar.

Our flight down to the Red Island took 10 or so hours and we arrived after nightfall. The first thing that struck me was the piles of people, everywhere, each of whom tried to take our luggage and get us in their taxi. Apparently, according to Stan and Elizabeth, this was the “best it’s ever been.” Interesting. The capital, Antananarivo (Tana), is a bustling, hilly, and polluted city. We spent a day running errands and shopping for our expedition. Everything was foreign to me. In Tana, you are constantly accosted by people begging for money or begging to have you buy their wares, no matter where you go. For me, the market was the most surreal.  Literally piles of “merchandise” everywhere accompanied by hords of people, goats, dogs, chickens and some cows walking in the street. Groups of dirty children pulling on your clothes, and trying to climb into the car. By the way, cattle in Madagascar are Zebu cattle- related to Brahmas. They are ridiculous looking. They have a fat-storing hump on their backs (which wobbles when they move) and lots of loose skin flaps along the underside of their necks and bellies. Apparently, these features make them more hardy. They are able to withstand food shortages and they are able to stay cool since their extra skin increases their surface/volume ratio.

So, after leaving Tana, we headed south to Ranomafana National Park. Rano-mafana means warm water and indeed, there are thermal springs down in Ranomafana village. At the park, I spent a week and a half learning all about the plants in the southeastern rainforest and helping Rod, Stand and Elizabeth conduct their field research. There are many, many interesting plants there and I am quite proud of myself that I am actually able to correctly identify them (well, at least I was able to). There are spiny plants and plants that smell like cilantro. There are sticky plants, furry plants, plants with leaves that are two feet long, plants with crazy fruits sprouting out of their trunks, plants with fantastic-smelling flowers, and plants that are the favorite foods of different types of beetles (and lemurs). My time in the forest was most excellent and I practiced my French with our guides/research assistants. I also learned a handful of Malagasy words. Interesting. On our day off, we walked down to Ranomafana village, about 6 kilometers down the road from the park. The road winds down a valley, alongside a beautiful river. It was a very nice stroll. In town, we walked through the marketplace (more manageable than Tana) and ate lunch at a nice new hotel.

Unbelievably, the weather was absolutely gorgeous for the majority of my time in Ranomafana. Clear, blue and sunny skies without a hint of rain. It seemed like a joke to say we were in a rainforest. This all changed my last two days in the forest and I was immediately reminded of how lucky I was that the weather managed to stay so beautiful for so long. At night it usually got quite cold and wet (something I was unprepared for). I took to sleeping in more or less ALL of the clothes I brought and I was SO glad I brought a wool hat and long underwear. If anyone could have seen me, I am sure I would have looked extremely comical.

At Ranomafana, I saw a handful of quite intriguing animals. There were several types of lemurs: The Eulemur make grunting/snorting noises like pigs, the Sifaka bound from tree to tree. They are IMPOSSIBLE to keep up with but fun to observe WAY up in the canopy with binoculars. They had small babies when I was there who were learning how to jump from tree to tree. VERY cute. We also saw some bamboo lemurs. These quiet and docile creatures really go to town on the giant bamboo, which grows throughout the forest. They are highly destructive and basically mow the bamboo down and pick apart the soft pith inside the “trunks.” The bamboo there is incredible. I found a stalk that went up up up and then curved around in the canopy for awhile. I lost track of it and therefore have no idea how many meters long it was. Regardless, that’s one big piece of grass! I also saw a few mouse lemurs. These tiny primates easily fit in the palm of a human hand and they have HUGE eyes. I saw two chameleons. The first one we saw was, I think, a Brookesia species (how appropriate, no?). It was little, tan, and had some funny bumps above it’s eyes. The second chameleon I encountered accidentally when I grabbed it while reaching for some leaves. Oops! Blue legs, funny red nose bump, and an attitude. I have photos of both. We also found a really neat stick insect, and some beautiful scarab beetles, including a rhinoceros beetle.

I left Ranomafana, in the rain, on a Taxibrousse. This ride was extremely hyped up and I wasn’t even sure I would actually be able to get a ride. However, after paying a man who showed up out of nowhere, a Taxibrousse did stop at the agreed-upon time and I gratefully clambered aboard. Taxibrousse, by the way, are dilapidated minivans. My seat was in the back of the van and I had to crawl over several other damp people to get there. I sat down and realized that there was some unhappy animal nearby. It took me about 10 minutes to realize that thes animals making a noise every time the van hit a bump were three young chickens tied to my seat. Wow, what a great ride I had after I realized that. Anyway, we finally reached Fianarantsoa (Fianar) where I planned to check my email and spend the night.  I found my hotel and wandered around a bit. I met an intriguing character at the internet café who turned out to be a street performer and he showed me the way back to the Taxibrousse station. I slept relatively well but I was beginning to realize that beds in Madagascar do not have mattresses. They only have foam. This proves to be exceedingly uncomfortable since you can feel all of the slats underneath the foam. I don’t get it. After my stay in Fianar, I decided I was going to sleep in my tent as much as possible. Why pay for a hotel when the tent is more comfortable anyway?

My Taxibrousse from Fianar to Tulear (Toliara) (on the west coast) was a major expedition, which had caused me a great deal of anxiety. I was very pleased to know that I had a seat in a car but it was an overnight trip (we would be arriving in Tulear around 2 am) and I hadn’t been able to find a place to stay. I had some time to kill before the taxibrousse lefft the station in Fianar and I decided to write down some of names of the different companies. I guess I didn’t need to worry in the end since we didn’t actually arrive until 6 am. Yep, that was a 13 hour taxibrousse ride. Wow. Now I can say I have taken a taxibrousse and maybe I never have to do it again. My seat was the back corner. I was able to curl up, slightly. But the van was cold and the driver drove with his window down. I was very grateful that I was sitting next to a big, plump lady. She was warm and squishy and she made my ride that much more pleasant. I don’t know why the ride took so long. We stopped more times than I can count. That probably had something to do with it. Interesting. Perhaps not too surprisingly, I was VERY happy when we finally reached Tulear. Here you go: Ko Fi Fi, Ko Fi Am (that’s the one I used), Sofitrans, Bades Blances, Mafio, Buxi Fi, Mami, Safidi Ko, Sonatra, Transfi, Kotrafia, Pim Fifi, Fititafa, and Sotraco.

From Tulear I headed back east to Beza Mahafaly Special Reserve. For those of you with a map, that’s near Betioke. I spent 9 days at Beza, meeting the lemurs, helping out with some mouse lemur research, and sweating profusely. My goodness it was hot at Beza! Luckily, we could take all of the bucket showers we wanted. I had never taken a bucket shower before and they are actually quite nice. The water heats up during the day and a late afternoon bucket shower is something worth looking forward to. I saw some great lemurs, fantastic plants, and some beautiful landscapes at Beza. Part of the reserve is a spiny forest full of Pachypodium, Commiphora, and Euphorbia species and some baobab-type trees. The lemurs at the reserve include mouse lemurs, the ringtailed lemur (probably the most famous lemur of all), and some bizarre vertical clinging/leaping lemurs called Sifaka. Usually these animals jump from tree to tree. However, this is not always possible and sometimes they have to jump along the ground to get from tree to tree. They’re like little sword fighters leaping along sideways on their hind legs. Extremely comical. I continued working on my plant IDs and I learned a few more Malgasy words. I ate LOTS of beans and rice and I enjoyed some special shredded mango salad and tamarind (Kily) fruit. The stars were also magnificent at Beza. I spent a few evenings trying to locate Capricorn, without success. However, I did see a neat constellation called the southern crown and I even saw some glorious shooting stars.

After Beza, I was really ready to go swimming in the Indian Ocean. I was hot and grubby and the lure of the ocean was too much to handle. I had a few days to myself so, after returning to Tulear for a night, I headed south to a little hotel on St. Augustin Bay. By the way, as a side note, Madagascar has some excellent yogurt. The current president made his fortune selling yogurt and now his company is a booming success. They make some excellent and tasty dairy products. I bought a bunch of yogurt for my time by the sea. La Mangrove, where I stayed, was more or less just what I needed. I had a rather harsh introduction to the place- it was low tide and the bay consisted of mud as far as the eye could see. Clearly, I would not be doing much snorkeling here after all. I set up my tent down by the waterfront and went off in search of a freshwater grotto that was supposed to be very nice about 2 miles down the road.

As usual, it was hot and sticky and I kept checking the coast to see if maybe, just maybe there was a place I could swim. I found no swimming holes but I did come across a lot of fisherman who were out wading in ankle or knee deep water. I am not sure what they were trying to catch but they were shouting, and slapping the water surface with giant sticks. I am guessing that they were trying to scare something into a net. The high tide line was littered with millions of mussel, oyster and clam shells. It seems that seafood is an important part of the diet in St. Augustin. Finally, I came to the grotto and indeed, it was very nice looking. However, apparently there was an entrance fee, and, since I thought I was going swimming, I hadn’t brought any money (quietly I cursed the hotel staff who had sent me all this way without mentioning this minor detail). So, I turned around and walked back to La Mangrove.

By the time I returned, the tide was getting to be a reasonable height and I learned that there was a very deep natural pool at the end of the pier at the hotel. So, I spent some time flinging myself of the pier into the water repeatedly. As long as the water level was high enough, this was my favorite pastime in St. Augustin Bay.

Being something of a water rat, I decided I really wanted to try to see some of the marine life, away from the mud flats where I was staying. So, the next day, I hired a pirogue with an outboard motor and we motored way, way, way offshore to the barrier reef at the edge of the bay. Surrounded by other, small fishing pirogues, I happily jumped right in the water and floated about for a solid morning. I have to say, they don’t have a whole lot of fish left in the bay and what IS there is pretty small. Regardless, I saw some really gorgeous seastars, a few pipefish (related to seahorses) and several types of puffer fish. After my snorkeling session, we stopped by a sandy peninsula at the south end of the bay. I had been eyeing up this peninsula but figured there would be no way I would be able to see it so I was very happy when we pulled ashore and I had some time to wander around among the dunes. There are several little villages (really just groups of 3 or 4 houses) scattered among the dunes and I was, almost immediately, surrounded by a group of 20 salty and sandy naked little kids. They kept asking me for candy and gifts and they didn’t seem to understand that I had just come from the ocean and had nothing to give them. Eventually, we resorted to trading seashells. This worked for awhile but then they grew bold and started kicking me and grabbing my pockets. I figured this was a good time to leave so I picked them off of me and we pushed off and slowly the kids let go of the boat as we drifted away from shore. Incidentally, during our seashell trading, I came across a few really beautiful bubble and olive shells and one kid even tried to give me a giant cone shell.

The next day, I decided I wanted to visit what looked like a very nice arboretum at the north end of St. Augustin Bay. I had been working on my plants at Beza Mahafaly and I hoped that this would be an opportunity to validate some of what I thought I might know. So, I hopped in a bus going north along the bay and then walked over to the arboretum. It WAS very nice although their plant IDs left a bit to be desired (for example, they had the same plants labeled in different parts of the facility with entirely different family names). Oh well. It was a nice break and is a good place to know about in the future. They even let me wander around on my own and scribble notes to myself for three hours. Two things that really impressed me about the arboretum – their baobabs and their Didieraceae specimens. Didieraceae are what you think of when you think of the typical spiny plants in southwest Madagascar. There are several different genera and species ranging from somewhat soft looking to really angry and spiky. I have some pictures of Alluaudia, one of the spiny genera, at Beza Mahafaly. They kind of resemble octopus trees.  The arboretum also had a big pen of mature radiated tortoises. These are the tortoises you see in my photos.

So, then it was almost time to leave southwest Madagascar and head back to Tana for the end of our adventure. I joined up with my fellow scientists at Melody Beach, on the north end of St. Augustin Bay. I was so happy to see them, I almost cried. Having had no way to communicate since I had left them nearly three weeks earlier in Ranomafana, I had had plenty of time to think of all sorts of situations which would make it impossible for them to come meet me. However, there they were and we had a lovely reunion including a nice swim in the Indian Ocean (unlike at La Mangrove, Melody Beach actually has a beautiful, broad sandy beach).

After Melody Beach, we caught a plane back to Tana. I had expected a rather dilapidated plane (since everything else in Madagascar is falling apart) and I had had some anxiety about this flight. Unbelievably, it was a new plane and the flight even included a snack and beverage service. It almost blew me away. I sat next to an older lady who was part of a huge tour group and thought about how different her and my experiences must have been. I am glad I asked her where she was from first because she was from Vancouver Canada, and, as a general rule, I usually tell people that’s where I am from since, sadly, people generally treat you better if they think you are not from the US. That would have been awkward.

Back in Tana, with time to kill, we visited Lemurs Park. I have been in touch with this park, off and on, for the last two years. I was hoping to conduct some research there but had had very minimal success getting a response from the proprietors. We thought maybe a visit would help them take me seriously.  The park is a reserve for free-ranging lemurs. On the way, we stopped to look at a brickery. At this point, I had already seen plenty of these in Madagascar. However, I am really glad that we stopped because there was a little chameleon we ended up rescuing and taking to the reserve. I have no idea what it was doing at the brickery but I don’t think it would have lasted too long. Hopefully, the shock of the trip in the van didn’t kill it. I last saw it gratefully crawling into a stand of bamboo.

Lemurs Park houses several species of lemur including some little fuzzy bamboo lemurs (Hapalemur griseus), ringtailed lemurs (Lemur catta), two types of sifaka (Propithecus sp.), two types of Eulemur, black and white ruffed lemurs (Varecia variagata), and three little species of mouse lemurs (these are not free-ranging and are kept in little houses).  All of these animals were very active and friendly at the park. One of the young ringtails really took a shining to us and we spent some time watching him play and jump on us. He even licked my toes! Sadly, I did not get to speak with anyone in charge at the park, and the likelihood of my conducting any research projects there seems small. Regardless, I am really glad we got to go because the lemurs were very photogenic and it is a very nice park.

We spent the remainder of our time in Madagascar wandering around the streets of Tana and taking care of a few last things. We ended up staying at a hotel in “upper town,” which is the nice part of town full of banks and embassies and such. There was a beautiful park up on top of one of the hills and on clear days, I could see far into the distance. On normal days, however, the smog was too thick to see much of anything.

So, we ended our trip without a rush, spending a lot of time wandering around, reading email at an internet café that actually had a good connection, and eating some surprisingly great food. Our flight back to France left at 1:30 am and we spent our last day relaxing and preparing for our great journey home. As we headed to the airport in the dark, I looked back through the windows of our car and thought about all of my experiences in Madagascar. What a trip. I believe that I will be ready to return to do my research after some time has passed but I was very glad to be going home that night and I am still very happy to be back home, sleeping in a bed, eating normal food, drinking safe water, and living my “normal” life. So, that’s where I am right now. Still getting back into the swing of things with graduate school, putting together a new lab, learning the ropes for a new department. Hard to believe this year is coming to a close already. At least I can’t say I didn’t do anything this year.  I hope that fall has treated all of you well and that you are looking forward to a nice thanksgiving.

Take care and until next time,

Brooke