Aye-Aye

Thursday, December 18th, 2008

If Dracula ever had a pet lemur it would have been the aye-aye. Nocturnal, with long teeth and long bony fingers- its most prominent feature, this is one lemur one would be least likely to want to cuddle.

The creature is notoriously hard to see, to the point that some biologists questioned its existence. It is said aye-aye got its name when the Malagasies first saw the captured animal and not having seen one ever before cried “Aye-aye!” in awe. But I know different. If you stood hours on hours in the middle of the night under a tree trying to photograph a mother aye-aye teaching her baby to scrape out the inside of a coconut with one finger through a tiny hole, you’d know too that the name comes from a stabbing pain in the neck and shoulders, and it’s more like an “Aye-yay-yay!”

Not taking any chances about not seeing this animal in the wild, we put our faith in a place called Aye-Aye Island, and it didn’t disappoint. Perhaps in the future, the owner of the island will advertise it as an authentic village setting with a great chance to see the rare creature, and then people like me would shy from it, or maybe even run in the other direction, because every “authentic village” I’ve been dragged to was nothing but a specially-made tourist trap. Aye-Aye Island however was just that – a tiny island with a few families busy with farming, fishing, and tending to the occasional guest who drop by for a few hours or stay for the night. The women and children brought us litchi, the men – a green tree boa. They wanted to accompany us every time we set into the jungle but sometimes we were just too unpredictable for them to follow. We found our own aye-ayes and chameleons anyway.

Aye-Aye Island and Mananara Gallery

Posted in Places»Africa»Madagascar, wildlife | No Comments »

Lemur-a-Day Keeps the Boredom Away

Wednesday, December 17th, 2008

mouse lemur

Posted in Places»Africa»Madagascar, wildlife | No Comments »

Baobab Alley

Tuesday, December 16th, 2008

I expected more from Madagascar’s Baobab Alley – probably the most recognizable place in the whole country. I’ve seen kkaplin’s photographs of this site before and must confess: the pictures are much more impressive than the real thing.

Local children here are noticeably spoiled by tourists. They have figured out a long time ago westerners want to take their picture and are not extremely thrilled to see their own image on the digital screen. Well, at least they are not faking it. “Photo?” they come and ask as I photograph the baobabs. I take their picture, show it to them and keep on walking. They grab me by both hands, on each side, and walk with me singing a rather forced sounding “frère Jaka” until we reach the end of the alley and a stand with selling fruits of the baobab. There they stand in front of me in a line – ready to receive a reward for their trouble. I had three cookies remaining from today’s breakfast and I gave each child a cookie. One boy didn’t want to share and grabbed an extra cookie intended for a little girl. Adults intervened, and the greedy boy reluctantly had to part with half of what he thought was his deserved bounty.

Tags: flora, kids
Posted in Places»Africa»Madagascar | No Comments »

Fosa

Monday, December 15th, 2008

After two shaky days in a taxi-brousse, even sleeping a whole night in one while waiting for it to fill up, I toured Kirindi NR like a zombie – eyelids too heavy to have my eyes open all the time. Nevertheless, I walked British-ready and did wake up when a very curious fosa came out of the bushes.

Fosa is the largest predator in Madagascar. It’s feared and regarded as villain in many folk stories, not to mention the famous western cartoon everybody but us has managed to see. But as this mini-puma nearly sniffed our toes, Shurik fell in love. Even if you ask him now, he will go all puppy-eyed going back to the memory of this fosa’s whiskers.

Kirindi Gallery

Posted in Places»Africa»Madagascar, wildlife | No Comments »

Vazah in Madagascar

Sunday, December 14th, 2008

If you’ve got money you’ll travel Madagascar by plane getting a bird’s eye view of the rectangular patches of rice fields in all possible shades of green. If you wish to see what’s in between the protected areas and beaches that you most likely came here for, you’ll hire a jeep and maybe even ask your driver to slow down as you pass through a village, to take a quick picture of a local woman – her face painted with a special white, yellow, or orange cream to better the skin. But nothing will bring you closer to the real – not as cuddly as might seem from afar, but nevertheless real – Madagascar, as a two (three, four, five) day ride in a taxi-brousse (bush-taxi, Japanese minivan with seating for fourteen passengers, but generally squeezing in twenty or more).

Though in the last three years many Madagascar roads have been paved, locals still only seldom see a vazah – a white person, a stranger – crammed in with the rest of the Malagasies in a taxi-brousse. On one occasion, when a radiator blew in a our taxi-brousse, I passed the time showing a few local children the pictures from our guidebook. I was so enthralled with watching their reaction to images of chameleons and lemurs, I barely noticed that the whole village we just passed gathered to see what the vazah is showing. I looked up and found out that an amphitheater formed around me – smaller, braver by innocence children in the front, giggling teenagers behind them, and in the back, as if supervising but really curious, adults.

The pictures in the book soon became old news when I pulled out the camera. From our days on the Rio Napo, a tributary of the Amazon, I knew children will be entertained by their own photographs much more than those of lemurs or monkeys. I didn’t think the adults will get a kick out of it as well, but women opened their eyes wide and stepped back a bit clasping their hands to their mouths, startled at first, but then also amused. Men tried to remain unfazed, as it is appropriate for adults of their age and stature in the community, but smiles spread across their faces when they saw themselves, their wives or children frozen in some funny expression on the little screen surrounded by silver buttons.

( Madagascar is probably what most third-world countries used to be like before the millionth sunburned tourist demonstrated the locals what fat cash-cows first world travelers can be )

Tags: kids, people
Posted in Places»Africa»Madagascar | No Comments »

Vazah in Madagascar

Sunday, December 14th, 2008

If you’ve got money you’ll travel Madagascar by plane getting a bird’s eye view of the rectangular patches of rice fields in all possible shades of green. If you wish to see what’s in between the protected areas and beaches that you most likely came here for, you’ll hire a jeep and maybe even ask your driver to slow down as you pass through a village, to take a quick picture of a local woman – her face painted with a special white, yellow, or orange cream to better the skin. But nothing will bring you closer to the real – not as cuddly as might seem from afar, but nevertheless real – Madagascar, as a two (three, four, five) day ride in a taxi-brousse (bush-taxi, Japanese minivan with seating for fourteen passengers, but generally squeezing in twenty or more).

Though in the last three years many Madagascar roads have been paved, locals still only seldom see a vazah – a white person, a stranger – crammed in with the rest of the Malagasies in a taxi-brousse. On one occasion, when a radiator blew in a our taxi-brousse, I passed the time showing a few local children the pictures from our guidebook. I was so enthralled with watching their reaction to images of chameleons and lemurs, I barely noticed that the whole village we just passed gathered to see what the vazah is showing. I looked up and found out that an amphitheater formed around me – smaller, braver by innocence children in the front, giggling teenagers behind them, and in the back, as if supervising but really curious, adults.

The pictures in the book soon became old news when I pulled out the camera. From our days on the Rio Napo, a tributary of the Amazon, I knew children will be entertained by their own photographs much more than those of lemurs or monkeys. I didn’t think the adults will get a kick out of it as well, but women opened their eyes wide and stepped back a bit clasping their hands to their mouths, startled at first, but then also amused. Men tried to remain unfazed, as it is appropriate for adults of their age and stature in the community, but smiles spread across their faces when they saw themselves, their wives or children frozen in some funny expression on the little screen surrounded by silver buttons.

( Madagascar is probably what most third-world countries used to be like before the millionth sunburned tourist demonstrated the locals what fat cash-cows first world travelers can be )

Tags: kids, people
Posted in Places»Africa»Madagascar | No Comments »