The length of this post is fairly ridiculous

I tried to upload some pictures, but the internet here is far too slow to allow for any success.

30/10/2010 To those of you who’ve been awaiting news from Madagascar, my sincerest apologies for the delay in posts. We’ve been pretty busy lately, and quite frankly, whenever I’ve had down time for the last week or so I’ve had other things I’d rather do than prepare a blog entry. But now here I am, typing away and trying to remember everything I’ve wanted to write about over the last 20 days.

So to start, our ten day trip was fantastic. We made it pretty hitch free to the beach at Ifaty, we only had to get out of the bus and push it out of a sand dune once; our driver, Duda, was outstanding. The place we stayed was called the Bamboo Club, and was just a scattering of bungalows across the shore. The west coast beach of Madagascar is nothing like any other beach I’ve been to. When we arrived at the beach, we all jumped out of the bus and ran off to check out the bungalows, put on our swim suits, and then dashed towards the ocean (a full 50 meters away from the most distant bungalow). Having just spent around 3 hours in a sweltering hot van with 18 other people I was eagerly expecting to dive into a refreshingly cool expanse of ocean water.

I was, however, surprised. By the time I reached the water 4 of our group was already about 25 meters out, thigh-deep in the almost disconcertingly warm ocean. I went out and inquired as to whether it got deeper further out, and was responded by the return of 2 other students who’d already walked another 50 meters out to sea only to find the depth had reached around waste level. We eventually decided to venture away from the shore and see what there was to see. Mostly, we discovered a ton more warm ocean water, but also came across a massive sea slug that took about 8 attempts by 3 different people to actually pick up (because slugs are gross and no one really wants to touch them). It was pretty neat though, and despite my initial surprise the warm water ended up being fantastic in contrast to the cooler temperature of the hotel pool.

That first night, our English TA Hannah enlightened me to the presence of bioluminescent organisms in the water that will light up if you kick the water around. It was incredible being 5 meters out into the ocean, ankle deep in comfortably warm water, with a clear sky and incredible stars overhead, and a kick of your feet bringing to view spots of light in the surrounding water.

The next 3 days were spent at the beach doing beach things and generally having a great time. Day 1 we all went snorkeling along Madagascar’s west coast barrier reef which was great. We had that afternoon free and all dispersed to try out various activities. It was a tough decision; spear fishing, horseback riding, wind surfing, diving for those who had their license, or another trip out to the reef for more snorkeling. I eventually opted for a second round of snorkeling along the reef.

The second day went to learn about the dry forests of the area and about native tortoises that are being hunted and illegally exported. We managed to fit both stops into the morning and were once again given the afternoon free to do with as we pleased.

The third and final day’s activity was a boat ride to a fishing village about 10 km down the shore, but it took about an hour to get there by boat. We spent most of the day there exploring that stretch of the beach, climbing the awesome mangrove trees – honestly the best climbing tress I’ve seen, maybe ever – and general tomfoolery in the water. They cooked fresh fish and lobster for us for lunch, in addition to a huge pot each of rice, stewed veggies, and a bean mush sauce (which was actually pretty good despite that thoroughly unappealing description).

Each day we also had ample down time, to just hang out around the bungalows, swim, and get persistently harassed by the local people who were trying to sell us various souvenirs. It was fairly entertaining if you weren’t the one getting mobbed by 6 women trying to sell you lambas. “Good price! Good Price! Dix mille ariary!” which, it turns out, is absolutely not a good price.

Side note: Franck, one of our TAs is awesome. He’s hilarious, loves Tupac and rice, and just caught a fly off of the wall with his bare hand and crushed it (they’re present in aggravating abundance). Who knew we had a “Malagasy Jedi” as a TA.

After our fourth night at the beach we regretfully packed up and loaded back onto the bus. Aside from a stop to check out a mangrove forest, a stop to try (but fail) to help out another bus that had gotten stuck in the sand dunes (I failed to mention, the roads in Ifaty are mostly just beaten sand paths which may have been paved of some sort at some time), a stop to push our own bus out of a sand dune, and a stop for a roadside picnic lunch of bread, canned meats and veggies, and cheese we spent the whole day traveling back East to Isalo National Park.

We spent 3 nights at our hotel in Isalo. Each day we hiked into the park and learned about the biodiversity and culture, and were generally awestruck by the incredible canyons and massifs. No words are adequate to describe the majesty of Isalo park, but as we rounded a particularly memorable corner and were faced with a view of kilometers of rock formations and flame-resistant trees I was overcome by an urge to just run off and explore the park forever (a bit of a hyperbole, but it was awesome in the most literal definition of the word).

The first day we were taken into two canyons and over a few expanses of desert. The contrast between the desert and the gallery forests (oases) along the streams was astounding. The second day took us over some really incredible rock formations and to a natural pool oasis where we went swimming there (it was so refreshing after hiking over an hour up and down giant granite and sandstone massifs) and had a picnic lunch in the park.

That evening we went to “the window” which is a huge tourist destination, but understandably, because it’s absolutely beautiful. The main attraction there is a natural rock formation that has a hole in rock face which frames the sun as it sets, so we watched the sunset there – though not through the window, there were so many vahaza (Malagasy for “visitors” – as a white person in Madagascar you get used to hearing this word as you pass, especially as you pass children) taking pictures. Instead we all scattered and climbed various rock outcrops to watch - and it was spectacular.

While the window and hikes were incredible, the first two nights in Isalo I found to have been the most memorable of our time there.

The first night – the night we arrived – was unreal. The whole situation was simply absurd. We were standing in the middle of the desert in Madagascar, on the side of The road where there was no artificial light within 500 meters of us. The skies overhead were clear and the stars were unbelievable but kilometers in the distance we could see the lightening and dark foreboding clouds of a thunderstorm blowing in across the desert. The wind was doing its best to blow us over and while it failed on that front, it did manage to blow a massive tumble weed right past us where it got lodged in a roadside shrubbery. Following some investigation I discovered that the branches of tumble weed are entirely covered in thorns and not good to grab with your bare hands in the dark.

The second night the storm arrived. According to Dede, our Malagasy trip coordinator, it rains in Isalo once every three months, – it’s a desert, right – that’s four times a year. The whole evening prior we watched as the clouds rolled in and the sky darkened. There were two storm fronts that seemed to be converging on our hotel, around 6:20 the horizon was obscured by the approaching storm and the skies were periodically ignited with cracks and flashes of lightening. And then the rain began. Within 30 seconds it was literally a torrential downpour. We all darted inside to grab our raincoats and close the windows and then returned to stand in awe of the storm which raged on around us.

A few of us put our rain gear to the test and stood out in the storm, simply loving the experience and fully engrossed in the power of the rain storm as it pelted down all around us and against our rain coats. Thunder and lightning threatened to tear apart the sky with their ferocity, but my favorite part was hearing each fresh torrent of rain before it arrived. The sound of pounding raindrops would suddenly grow louder and we’d look out into the darkness, expecting to see it approaching like a herd of zebu (I don’t know if zebu travel in herds in the wild, but oh well), and a few moments later we’d feel it, the drops would grow larger and fall harder, it was like Zeus had turned up the water pressure.

The truly spectacular thing was the duration of the storm. In temperate Pittsburgh we certainly have our fair share of thunderstorms, but they never last. After half an hour of standing in the rain it was time for dinner, hail had made a presence mingled in with the raindrops, and it didn’t seem likely that the rain would let up any time soon. We headed into the dining room (our rain gear had been mostly successful) and truly appreciated the electricity and roof over head. For at least an hour during dinner we heard the rain pummeling the roof above us, saw lightning flashing out the windows, and heard claps of thunder as the storm raged on. By around 9:00 when we had finished dinner the rain had receded to a persistent drizzle and the previously hard dirt ground had transformed to mud. Storms in the desert are fantastic.

The third night in Isalo was overcast with lightning illuminating the sky with startling frequency, however the rains didn’t return. It was fantastic to watch, and despite several attempts of long exposure photos it was just not something that could be captured on film (by an amateur such as myself, at least).

The final day of our 10 day trip was spent traveling. We stopped back in Fianar for a meal and to briefly use the internet, and then made our way back to Ranomafana and ValBio. It was great to be back at our rainforest home, though the cool air was a bit shocking, as we’d been graced with 80+ degree weather for our entire trip. The contrast between the East and West coast of Madagascar is astounding; the mountain range which runs North-South down the island creates a distinct rainshadow which was fantastically apparent as we traveled across the country.

A few days later we were to start our Independent Projects, so we spent the time winding down from our trip and getting our methods ready and guides sorted out for our research exploits into the forest. That Friday 3 students and one of the TA’s left for Valo, the primary forest where they would be following a group of Propithecus edwardsi (Sifaka lemurs) for their research projects. Two days later 2 of the people who’d been at ValBio researching mouse lemurs headed home (to Finland) and suddenly ValBio seemed very empty.

It was incredibly different from the rest of the time we’ve spent in Ranomafana; in fact it was the first time since we all met at the airport on September 10th that we haven’t all been in the same general vicinity. In addition to our decreased numbers people always seemed to be missing since everyone’s independent work had us on different schedules and in different places around Ranomafana. The general atmosphere and ambiance was certainly different, things were far quieter than I’d ever experienced in ValBio, but it was an enjoyable change of pace.

Another side note: Writing this blog is taking all morning, so I’ll inform y’all of entertaining happenings. Primarily that Tiff (another student here) and I recently decided that y’all is actually an extremely useful contraction, and it’s a shame that it’s not more widely used and is generally looked down upon.

On Tuesday Pat Wright, the founder of Ranomafana National Park and Centre Valbio, arrived. She is fantastic. With her, she brought several copies of a book “Madagascar, The Forest of Our Ancestors” which she, someone named Cryil Girard (who illustrated the text), and photographer Frédéric Larrey just recently completed creating. It’s a really incredible book, and I’m terribly eager to purchase one for myself.

Anyway, 2 nights ago (Friday, the 28th) we had a party at ValBio to celebrate the completion of her book, the news of several large grants coming through for Ranomafana, and a successful reproductive year for the critically endangered Prolemur simus (Greater bamboo lemurs) in Ivato – a nearby and worrisomely fragmented forest. We ate dinner by candle light – though only because the power went out for the beginning of the meal– had a brief intermission whilst everyone present was proved themselves science geeks and crowded around a parasitic worm that had just emerged from a cricket, and then had live music performed by the ValBio chef Solo. I intend to spread his music around when I get home, it’s pretty awesome.

The music eventually changed to Malagasy dance music played from someone’s computer, and we all got up to be sufficiently shown up by the Malagasy’s incredible dancing skills. It was tons of fun. I personally had to be a party-pooper and go to bed early because I had a sunrise transect to do the next morning which required that I wake up at 3 am in order to get to the stream before the sun rose. Ouch.

Yesterday the students who’d been doing their research in Valo returned, they were all tired and pretty disgusting (they hadn’t showered since they left a week prior), but it was great to have everyone back again. Today most of us have the day off from research, and tonight there’s a huge ball/party in town. It’s apparently the yearly big party in Ranomafana and so tonight we’re all getting dressed up in our “smart outfits” as Hannah, our English TA, put it and heading down to town for the ball.

Tomorrow we’re having another party here at ValBio because it’s Halloween (so many parties!). We’re all really excited and have been brainstorming feasible costume ideas for weeks. Pat Wright invited around 70 Malagasy locals to the party, which is fantastic, I’m really eager to see what costume ideas they come up with. Apparently they were fairly baffled by the concept of Halloween, which from an objective perspective is a completely sensible reaction to a holiday which the purpose is to dress up like a fool and give candy to children lest they try and trick you.

Monday is the Day of the Dead, a national holiday in Madagascar, so we’ve got the day off to catch up on data entry and whatever else we may need to do. Come Tuesday we’re to get back to work on our independent research projects. We have another week to collect data, then a week to work out our statistics and prepare the presentations of our results. This week I’m headed out to Valo with 5 other students and will be doing a transect of a different stream out in the primary forest. I’m hoping to see some really cool things while we’re there, in addition to getting some really good data, of course.

On the 15th we leave Ranomafana for the last time, drive 14 hours through and beyond the capital city Antananarivo (where the airport is) for a couple days exploring a national park in Northern Madagascar. The plan is to return to Tana on the 18th, present our research presentations on the 19th, have a day and a half to be Vahaza in the capital city, and the night of the 21st we’re headed back to the airport to catch our flight that leaves at 1am. But I’m not thinking about any of that now. Madagascar’s great. I’m never leaving. . .