Baobab Trees In Madagascar
The naturalist in Madagascar, along with the driver, took the Dear Wonderful Hubby and I to see some Baobab Trees.
Due to time restraints, we couldn’t see the HUGE ones. Those were located farther away.
But the Baobab Trees we did see were dang impressive.
The trees, when not chopped down by humans, live for centuries. They’re a source of water for people and animals and they support an entire ecosystem.
We had watched a gazillion documentaries about these amazing trees and it was a bit surreal to finally see them in person. I was grinning from ear to ear during the visit. (grins)
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Enchantment In Madagascar
The Dear Wonderful Hubby arranged for a naturalist to accompany the two of us as we trekked around the wild parts of Madagascar.
This naturalist has appeared in countless documentaries. He has accompanied hundreds of scientists as they completed their missions. He has lived amongst the trees and creatures of Madagascar most of his life.
Yet he still became super excited when he spotted certain frogs or insects or plants.
And I found that utterly enchanting. It added to our own excitement over seeing the wonders of nature.
(I LOVE beetles and Madagascar had SO MANY of them. That made me super happy. – smiles)
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The Hornet And The Grasshopper In Madagascar
Trekking around Madagascar with the Naturalist was like living in a nature documentary. There was life all around us. We witnessed births, deaths, courting rituals and struggles for survival.
For example, we watched as this hornet dragged a stunned grasshopper across a patch of sandy soil.
The hornet, the naturalist explained, had laid its eggs inside the grasshopper.
The hornet then dug a hole and stuffed the grasshopper into the mini tunnel.
The grasshopper would serve as a food source for the hornet’s young.
That’s some circle of life sh*t right there. (grins) I LOVED it.
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Mango Season In Madagascar
The Dear Wonderful Hubby and I last visited Madagascar in December and it was mango season!
The mangoes were falling off the trees and rotting. That was how plentiful they were.
(According to our guide, it was a disastrous year for lychee, however. The guide blamed that on climate change and the huge decrease in the number of bees.)
The Dear Wonderful Hubby absolutely LOVES mangoes. He picked a gazillion off the trees and gobbled them up (you’ll notice the mango juice on his fingers in the photo – grins).
Our guide told him the mangoes he was eating were juicing mangoes, not eating mangoes.
The Dear Wonderful Hubby replied with a grin, “All mangoes are eating mangoes for me.”
The guide shook his head and laughed.
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Chameleons And Other Lizards In Madagascar
The Dear Wonderful Hubby arranged for a world renowned naturalist to show the two of us a bit of Madagascar. This naturalist’s main area of expertise is reptiles.
Which meant, to my delight, we saw SO MANY chameleons and other lizards. (grins)
Look at this little dinosaur going for a very slow, shaky walk! (grins)
This little guy is clinging to his tree.
This one is fully exposed and sunning himself.
This chameleon was challenging to spot.
As was this one!
Look at this chameleon’s tail!
This chameleon was TINY! And look at his nose!
There were other lizards also.
The lizards, like this one, could be as challenging to spot as the chameleons were.
Sometimes they stood out, however. (grins)
Or were upside down.
Or were tiny. This little guy was the width of a dragonfly.
Madagascar is definitely a great place for reptile watching! We had SUCH a great time!
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Lemurs In Madagascar
The Dear Wonderful Hubby arranged for the two of us to go on a private tour with a world renowned naturalist in Madagascar. This naturalist has appeared in many documentaries and often shows scientists and other visitors the land he clearly loves and knows VERY well.
He took us to the Amber Mountain National Park and…we saw lemurs! (And a gazillion other critters and plants)
We saw two large groups of them. They were in the trees but clearly visible. They were cuddling with their babies and chattering. There was much fruit eating and some sh*tting (NEVER look upward with your mouth open. The naturalist told us how some visitors learned that lesson the hard way. – grins).
Very few visitors, unfortunately, saw lemurs even though our naturalist tried to help the other guides find them. But many of those groups could be heard from far away. And those visitors were unable to move off the main paths.
Wild lemurs prefer to avoid humans.
One lady was exhausted and crying because seeing lemurs in the wild was her purpose for the tour she’d taken and it was unlikely she’d do that. I felt bad for her.
But there is never any guarantee of seeing wild animals. Stars. The Dear Wonderful Hubby and I have trekked around countless Northern Ontario (Canada) boreal forests and he has yet to see a moose in the wild. I’ve seen countless numbers of them but only when I’ve been without him. Not seeing any wildlife IS a possibility. (Which is why I love that I love plants and trees also. They are usually stationary.)
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Galileo, An Aldabra Giant Tortoise In Madagascar
The Dear Wonderful Hubby linked up with a naturalist and he showed the two of us around a bit of Madagascar. One of the stops this naturalist arranged for us to have was at Le Domaine de Fontenay Lodge.
This is the home of Galileo, an Aldabra giant tortoise, (the naturalist explained that he toured around with a world renowned reptile expert when that expert first visited Madagascar and that was how he ‘met’ Galileo).
Stars, was Galileo HUGE! He reminded us of the brontosauruses in Jurassic Park. He walked and moved the same way.
We could get into his stone pen with him. We didn’t touch him because we didn’t want to infect or injure him in any way but he touched us. (grins) He wasn’t shy about that, especially when he was looking for bananas!
Every person we talked to assigned Galileo a different age. One person told us he was 300 years old. According to the internet, Aldabra giant tortoises tend to only live to 120 so that IS possible but is unlikely. (laughs) He’s still seen some sh*t, however. We could see that in his eyes.
He’s the only Aldabra giant tortoise at Le Domaine de Fontenay Lodge and I felt a bit bad about that. But there are MUCH smaller tortoises in his pen so he isn’t all alone. He has some company!
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Madagascar, Zebus And Dowries
We saw many zebus as we were being driven around Madagascar. These big humped cows are a huge part of the locals’ culture.
Our awesome guide shared that a zebu was a big part of the traditional dowry (a gift from the groom to the bride’s family). But the zebu had to be female as they are good for milk and babies, in addition to meat, riding, farm work, etc. To give a male zebu was an insult.
If the bride’s family lived too far away to send the animal itself, the equivalent funds to buy a female zebu could often be sent.
The penalty in Madagascar for stealing a chicken was five years in prison. I don’t want to think about what the penalty for stealing a zebu would be!
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