More of Eastern Madagascar

 Last weekend was a wonderful weekend relaxing and seeing God’s creation. Good company, boat rides, laying in the shade on a beach, tasty local food…Oh yeah and lemurs in the trees. There is a natural river very close to the east coast of Madagascar. A canal has been dug by hand and with machines to extend the river 10 km to a local port. Many people live along the canal. Some fish, some transport leaves and bamboo and the like up and down the river/canal.

Six of us (one from Netherlands, one from England, One from Australia, One from Canada, and two from United States…me and one from Wisconson) left the ship to find a tuk-tuk to take us to the port. The tuk-tuk three of us were in sounded like it would not make it to the destination. It never drove more than 10 mph. We made it to the port and found our guide. The guide was there early! Amazing. We all plied into the covered boat and got our cameras ready.

Many of the people along the canal wave and smiled as the Vazhas (us) went by. We also saw evidence of an interesting fishing technique. Tops of wooden sticks were in V shapes above the water. Hanging on several of them were basket/square nets that the fish would swim into and get stuck. 2.5 hours later we arrived at the hotel with a beach.

We were greeted warmly and enjoyed soursup juice prior to going to our rooms. We had rooms with decks and hammocks next to the river shore. We could hear the pleasant sounds of the water lapping yet had the privacy of tall trees. After enjoying relaxing in the hammock and on the deck, we decided to go for a swim. When Tracy went into the room to change, we heard a noise come out of her mouth. We then all realized a dancing lemur had come to visit on the window sill.

Although they are used to humans, they are still wild. Tracy thought ahead and brought bananas to feed the lemurs. We quickly grabbed our cameras and a banana. Soon another dancing lemur appeared. We were able to pet the first one. He was very soft! Much softer than a cheetah for those of you wondering. After watching and interacting with the lemurs for quite some time, we made it down to the river beach. We were glad to see there was shade on the beach.

We applied bug spray and grabbed our cameras to attend the Aye-Aye tour. Aye-Ayes are nocturnal lemurs. We went for a brief walk in the woods/jungle to a place where coconuts had been placed in the trees. We waited until the sunset. Not long afterwards, we heard the rustle of aye-ayes jumping in the trees. They sure enjoy coconuts! Aye-ayes have very sharp front teeth and long middle fingers which allow them to bite through the coconut. They scoop/dip their long middle fingers in and out of the coconut quickly to eat/drink the liquid and meat.

Upon return to the resort, children and adults from a nearby village performed songs and dances. They highly recommended audience participation. Dinner was vanilla chicken with vegetables followed by bananas foster.

We left a banana out on the deck. I was awake around 4:30 hoping to see the sunrise, but it was pouring down rain. I did receive another neat surprise. In the half-sleep state, I had heard jumping around. I told myself it was cats like in Guatemala. Then I realized it had to be lemurs. Sure enough, there was a black and white lemur sitting on the banister on the deck enjoying the banana.

After a delicious breakfast of fresh fruit, fresh bread and cheese, we watched lemurs jump around in the trees, jump on our shoulders, jump on the ground. They put on quite the show. We then had a tour that lead us deeper into the jungle with our guide calling the lemurs. After awhile, we found three brothers and sisters high in the trees. With maximal prompting and tempting with bananas, one came down closer to us.

Just prior to lunch, lemur calls could be heard. Kalinda grabbed a banana. Melissa continued to call them with the lemur call she was perfecting. Tracy and I grabbed cameras and hurried into the trees. What treat to call and feed the lemurs ourselves.

After a tasty lunch, we had a lovely boat ride back to the ship after a relaxing weekend.