SALAMA, AKORY!

Another amazing experience coming from the land of smiles, sunshine, spiny forests and baobab trees.

I woke up to crashing thuds and grunts on a hot tin roof this morning, and I thought, "Good heavens! How did all those pigs get up there?"

We arrived last night at dusk, only barely able to make out where we would be calling home for the next few weeks. It was desert-hot, and the ground was covered in red sand. I could make out the shapes of the spiked trees that were complemented by an orchestra of insects I had never heard before. Our bungalows were sweet little houses with screened-in doors and windows, but the heat seemed to double in the night below the mosquito nets. (We had a fan blowing until midnight, then back to the good old South African trick — douse the sheets and sleep soaking!)

The thuds came as a surprise, waking me from a deep Madagascar dream. Oh wait, I am still here! So, I went out to investigate the strange snorting sounds that came from the roof. To my delight, there they were — the very creatures we came to look for — an endangered species that exists only here: lemurs! They sound like pigs. It’s strange, but true, and then again, everything in Madagascar is strange.

Then, from behind a red dirt cloud appeared several more with these with long striped tails! Their faces were a mix of a Jack Russell terrier, a bit of cat and a frightened saucer-eyed monkey complete with long velvety black fingers that curl ever so strongly to whatever they can grasp. The sight was fantastic — troops of lemurs, brown and ringtail, all playing around the little hut I slept in. Amazing to see them and to be surrounded by them, especially after thinking for so long that such an endangered creature would be difficult to find. Sadly, the truth is that their habitat has been reduced to small forest islands, and the troops seem plentiful in that small area. To see such numbers in certain areas is quite common, but then to realize that this very spot is the only place in the world where you can actually see any lemurs is disheartening.

Primates: Monkeys and baboons remind me of each other, but with lemurs, there is something very different about them. Bright-eyed and playful like other primates, lemurs have an innocence about them unlike mischievous monkeys. Their big, yellow eyes darted about me, quickly losing interest. I did not have what they wanted, which of course was food. They went about their business, standing up on their hind legs, clowning about, trying to balance and wobbling upright. I laughed out loud in the early morning light of this most magical place surrounded by memories of ancient evolution and acknowledgment of the uniqueness of this moment.