The buck stops here

My travel companions and I will be cutting these adventures short. Some people already know, yet are probably feigning shock, “Hark, doth our ears deceive us?” style. For the others, here are the reasons:

Ducky, whilst bathing in the river, caught bilharzia… as a rubber ducky originating from the UK, it is very distraught about this.

Edgar, pulling his, “I’m Thai, I know about malaria” bullshit has contracted malaria because he forwent his doxy. Silly wooden elephant.

Bruce is doing fine, but because is a bit disappointed on his welcome here. The whole mainland Africa versus Madagascar rivalry.

So that leaves me 3 to 1. Some of you may say that those 3 are inanimate objects… but you know I’m right. I will provide more information on it for those who desire, but no need to bore you here.

Anyhoo, back to Europe I fly, with my 3 sick/whiney caballeros in 10 days. Thus ends chapter one Madagascar - oh, there will definitely be other parts...

The Wonderful Wacky World of Vatovavy

Last time I left you, I was finally going to discover the other site we work on… Vatovavy. After 3 weeks at Sangasanga, it came as a blessing. Little did I know…

The good:

The forest is more interesting – we heard a lot more birds, saw a lot of creepy crawlies – think big spiders, millipedes, and some really funky fluffy bugs. But the forest – it takes a half hour of uphill to get to the site which is, you guessed it, a small mountain. There are ravines, and hills, and gullies, and mahoosive trees with huge roots, sheer rocks to scramble up – Mountain Goat Helene’s dream. Especially if you count the lack of vines on the ground snagging me at my every step.

Top lemur moments:

1. Hanging out on a rock for an hour, at quasi same height as 4 Variecia and a group of fulves. Seriously love the fulves – they make piggie noises, and constantly are swinging their tails. Furthermore, they act like little tough guys, trying to intimidate you by cocking their heads, and running up and down vines while grunting at you. At times it creates a bit of a strange atmosphere, ominous almost, like little gremlins waiting for something bad to happen.
2. Having one of the said fulves bound by at less than a meter off the ground. Very kangaroo like.
3. Watching 3 lemurs chase each other around like little kids, going 3 times round the same circle of treetops… leading to two of them falling to the ground. The cutest was when the first one fell, it didn’t get up, which prompted its buddy to see if it was ok.
4. Absolute favorite – whilst I was GPSing a tree, I hear some scuffling along the ground, and lo and behold, one of the Varicia comes bounding along the ground. Seeing me, he stops, jumps onto a tree trunk, stares at me a few more seconds, then resumes this bounding, though this time along the trunks (though only a foot from the ground), in a more lemur appropriate way.

The bad:
See the above. 10 hours of running around on cliffs whilst it is roasting and having only peanuts and 2 liters of water to survive... Dehydration salts all the way. But really, not that bad.

Three little lemurs, sitting in a tree, G-R-O-O-MI-N-G...

This is a two parter : Lemur rant and taxi brousse.

Let’s start with the taxi brousse adventure. Now, taxi brousses are ‘dalla dalla’ for people familiar with Tanzania, or mini buses for the others… they should hold about 12 people decently, maybe 15 if your comfortable sharing your personal space. But, in my experience, people tend to be creative and fit up to 20 people…

So we flag one down and get in… all’s fine and dandy. Bit crammed but what’s new? Some 15 minutes in, the man next to megan starts retching out of the window. Lovely… but wait, so is somebody behind me… and in front of me… and 3 other people…

Half of the bus is spitting up either into flimsy plastic bags or out the window. While it made us feel slightly uneasy, my main reaction was just fits of laughter. It was so absurd… especially considering that this is a rice eating country – not really the food that makes you queasy, actually one given to people in times of stomach problems… and you'd think they'd know their roads.

What made it all so much better is that the one right next to Megan got out at a town that seemed to be known for its hospital... is there something they weren't telling us?

But fear not; the intrepid duo managed to get here without hurling our rice into a pink plastic bag.

Lemurs. I hate Mangakely. Who is Mangakely you ask?

One of the 3 males we follow at Sangasanga (not going there for two weeks, you have NO idea how happy my knees are) is such a loser. Think either Johnny Bravo/Jock who has no reason to be arrogant. He always tries to hang out with Blue and Yellow, but they just don't care... and wander off.

He then tails them, and yesterday actually watched them eat. Then he alarm calls for no god damn reason, and then, and this is the kicker, runs up to the top of the mountain, to promptly go back down. WHY?
Seriously, schizo little bugger.

So yes, off to Vatovavy next week and the week after... then hopefully an internet break, and then with November come the winds of change...

P.S. I saw an Aye aye... oh yes, I did.

And it was cool. Nay, beyond cool...

"Would you like some more beans? Yes? Here are some chips... to go with your rice."

Ah, the rice. I feel like I could just tell you stories about the rice. But nay, she shall restrain herself.
Instead, I will debut with my birthday story, which was epic and absurd as ever.

I get up and put on my disgustingly manky field clothes which only get washed once a week (oh it's beautiful, it really is) thinking, "ok, lemur time."
After my breakfast of ... rice... and a confused rendition of happy birthday from Christophe thanks to Megan's bullying, we head off to Sangasanga.
Having bought lunch (bread), we are then brought to the side by Shulu and told that, "uhhhhhh... I think... uhhhhhhhh.... you don't work in the forest today...mmmmmmmm"
Basically the head of the plantation where the lemurs like to hang below the forest was irked by the fact that apparently Megan and I didn't sufficiently acknowledge his greatness the other day when he walked by and he was having a (alcohol induced) hissy fit bout it. Ahhh, how I do love grown men tantrums.

Megan, in her brilliance, suggests that we head off to Manakara then instead of today. So we head back to camp, change out of our dirt sweat and blood covered clothes, and leave to Ubonto to get a "taxi brousse". Three hours of conversation with a 17 year old Malgash, we get offered a ride by a military man harbouring the biggest set of speakers in the back of his van ever. And no, that is no euphemism.

Noon - enter the seaside town of Manakara. Well African version of one. But oh, how it is refreshing to be outside of camp, to drink some beers, walk around, EAT PIZZA, and play cards in the dead of the night (way past 9, so cool!) in a room with disappearing cockroaches. This is why I travel.

Quick fact on lemurs: a. They sleep. A lot. I don't really like the whole sitting and waiting for mosquitoes to devour my hands 4 to 6 hours in a row.
b. We might have a preggers one... bring on the babies! She does a lot of sleeping.
c. They like going over to the dark side of the moon, or the cliff side of Sangasanga where no humans can venture... And they especially love doing it after making you scale the mountain when the day feels like a sauna. Strangely, I enjoy that more than a.
d. They squabble upside down... will get a picture up.
e. Purple is a poser.
f. Got a fleeting picture of a L. fulves with its baby on its back, and heard it being flung from tree to tree... doesn't sound like it really likes it frankly. Oh, lemurs throw their babies from tree to tree when they move around cuz the babies don't grip well. At least I'm told.
g. I have got some snazzy pictures...
h. Fulves sounds like a guinea pig. I love it.
i. Goslings kick ass. I love poultry.