Month: December 2022

I have to admit, before this trip I had never heard of the Island of Gozo. I could see it from the cliffs near the resort where we stayed in Malta, but from that vantage point it was hard to tell there was a channel that separated the cliff I was standing on from the striking limestone cliffs across the beautiful stretch of blue water to the northwest. Once we were in Malta, the general consensus of the people I consulted was that Gozo was definitely worth the trip across the channel and that the effort would be rewarded. I am glad we took the time. It was easy and affordable to ferry the rental car across the channel and we could see the smaller islands of Comino and Cominotto from the ferry as we passed by them. If the weather had been warmer, the Blue Lagoon that separates the two would have been worth the time too. But, it likely would have been crowded and we try to avoid crowds as much as possible. It was windy as we passed by and there were very few people from what we could see on that day from the observation deck of the ferry. We didn’t actually climb the historic Saint Mary’s Tower of Comino, or swim the lagoon; but we did see them, albeit from a distance.

The pace on Gozo is much more relaxed and if I had it to do over again I would have planned the trip so that we stayed a night or two. It would have been nice to have had the time to interact with the people a little more. The people call themselves Gozitans. It is clear from the few residents we spoke with, they are proud of that and consider themselves different. I found it interesting that on such a small place, you still have the feeling of rivalry.

One of the things I did on Gozo (while my wife sat in the sun and read her book) was visit Ġgantija, now included within the UNESCO World Heritage site: The Megalithic Temples of Malta. It is believed to be a temple from the Neolithic era which is older than the Egyptian pyramids. According to archaeologists, it is more than 5000 years old; making Ġgantija the world’s second oldest existing man-made religious structures after GöbekliTepe (located in present-day Turkey). To me, it was worth the time to visit the little museum on site and walk the grounds where people thought about paying respect to forces beyond themselves. As you can see from some of the photos available by clicking here, the stones are huge. It makes you wonder how they were able to cut and place the stones (though local legend has it that the stones were placed by a giantess nursing a baby). You can also see from the photo above, that the landscapes are impressive, even though we were too late to see the Azure Window, a Gozitan tourist attraction that collapsed into the sea in 2017. It is worth looking it up on Wikipedia, so for your convenience, I have linked it and you can compare it to some of my photos from the Dwejra Bay area from December 2022.

I didn’t do a lot of research. I knew I needed to take my wife to a place that would likely be warmer and brighter than Paris in December. She stayed there to help with the grandchildren while I was in Madagascar. We had to find someplace to go because my daughter and her family were going to be entertaining friends for a week at their apartment. It would be a good time for my wife to relax and enjoy some downtime. I also knew I had timeshare points that were due to expire. Neither of us wanted to spend a lot of time in the air and the travel budget for the year was already overdrawn. That formula pointed me to Malta. (My wife doesn’t enjoy planning trips. She likes to be pleasantly surprised. Fortunately, she is pretty easy to please, as long as the location isn’t cold and the accommodations have an American-style bathroom.) I was able to find a good deal on Air Malta; December being considered out of season, and there was availability to use our timeshare points at a nice resort. The cherry on top – Malta has many good, affordable restaurants with plenty of seafood options.

What neither of us expected was that there was so much to see and so many interesting things to learn on this little Mediterranean island between Sicily and Africa. I rented a small car, because our accommodations were not centrally located and someone on a review of the place we had booked suggested that it was a good idea. What they didn’t say was that all the affordable small cars came with a manual transmission. Since Malta is a former British colony, driving is on the opposite side of the road from what I am used to. I am fine with manual transmissions, but I am more comfortable with the stick being on the right and the turn signal being on the opposite side. Fortunately, the gas, brake, and clutch pedals are all in the same place relative to the driver as I am familiar with, but trying to scan for traffic using the mirrors and signaling for a turn without turning on the headlights was tricky for me at first. It took a while, but I got used to it. My wife kept going to the driver’s-side door just about every time we went to the car, and I would jokingly ask: “Are you driving today?” even though she hasn’t driven a stick-shift car in more than forty years and she has never driven a car on the left-hand side of the road. It would have been a new experience for her, but it wasn’t one of the interesting things she wanted to learn or do in Malta. One of the nice things about just showing up in a new country is that you find surprises around every corner, and with the roads in Malta there are many corners.

Malta is a tiny country, which made me think I could see it all in a week. I think it is in the top ten in terms of smallest countries in the world and also in the top ten in population density; although it is way below Macau (if you consider it a country), Monaco, Singapore, and Hong Kong (if you consider it a country) in population density. I wasn’t successful in seeing it all, but I did learn a lot of things and both my wife and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

One of the special things was the place we stayed. If all you set out to do was relax, Radisson Blu Golden Sands would be a good choice, especially considering that many hotel chains (apparently including Radisson) have a timeshare component and we were able to stay in a nice room, using points that probably would have expired. It was a good home base for our visit. My wife finished at least one book while poolside; taking in the sunshine with a great view. The outdoor pool looked beautiful, but the whole time we were there I only saw a couple of people get in because the water was a touch chilly and there was an indoor pool too. During December there is no feeling of being in one of the top ten most population-dense countries in the world. I won’t say we had the place to ourselves. We did meet many people from around the world; many of whom were on the staff. They had time to talk, because the resort was only one-third occupied. I like talking to people who have had different experiences from around the world and I enjoy hearing English spoken with so many different accents. We certainly got to do what I enjoy in a clean and well-maintained resort. There were also good hiking opportunities around the resort. On one of those hikes, I saw the island of Gozo and resolved to make it there too.

I knew that Malta had a strategic location, but really I had no understanding of how that figured into western culture. I like history, but mostly when I can actually visit the place and see things for myself. We didn’t travel much when I was growing up. Reading history books didn’t appeal to me then, but I did like geography, and I am sure the whole family looked at National Geographic Magazine. Once I looked at all the pictures and read all the captions, then I would decide which articles to read first. To encourage reading and further our education, my parents had a subscription to it; along with Time, Life, and a few other magazines. My dad appreciated history and encouraged his children to realize the importance of studying it and would say stuff like, Those who don’t study history are destined to repeat the mistakes of the past. The few trips we took usually had a historical underpinning.

So, getting back to Malta; when we arrived at the resort, I knew I wanted to see and learn as much as I could in the time that we had. For me, that meant finding a local guide. I have had good luck with GetYourGuide in the past. I put Malta into the search tab, to see what was available. A walking food and cultural tour showed up for the port city and capital, Valletta. From the tour description, it seemed to be exactly what I was looking for; so I clicked “book now”.

Our host Chris did an excellent job. My wife seemed to have a really good time, not only because Chris had a good itinerary with interesting food and drinks, but also because she enjoyed interacting with the other people on the tour. It took the pressure off of me to know where I was going and what we were doing. Chris was an expert in the history and culture of Malta, who has traced back his family history on the island for many generations. Everywhere we went, people seemed to know him. He was warm and welcoming, with a good sense of humor. You could easily tell he liked his job and was proud of his Maltese heritage. We learned so much on the short tour about ancient civilization, St. Paul and Christianity on the island, medieval history, the Knights of Malta, the invasion by Napoleon, British rule and the strategic position during World War II, Queen Elizabeth’s time on the island, all the way through modern politics in Malta. These were topics of discussion as we ate and met shopkeepers and restaurant folks. Of course in the short time we had we couldn’t go into depth, but Chris was able to answer every question that was asked of him. He was so good that we were eager to book another tour he offered in Mdina and Rabat, where Chris grew up. That walking tour was very good, too. It was similar to the walking tour of Valletta, without the tasting aspect. My wife and I both preferred the tasting tour, not only because the food was good, but also because it gave us an opportunity to sit and talk to other people. Both tours offered excellent value.

For photos around the resort where we stayed, as well as other places we went to in Malta with Chris, and on our own, click here. As you can see from the photo above, we had a bang of a good time in Malta and it is a very good place to go. I hope to post soon on our tour of Gozo, a sister island to Malta, visible in a few of the photos in the gallery linked above. Gozo is worth a post of its own.

After a short stay in Andasibe, we headed toward our next location on what Devin said was the best road in Madagascar. This road links the largest city and capital, Antananarivo, in the central highlands, to the eastern port town of Toamasina (also called Tamatave), which is just an hour or two past the turnoff to our next destination. The port handles more than 80 percent of the maritime cargo entering the country and therefore it would stand to reason that it should be the best road. A well built and maintained road designed to distribute the goods to the rest of the country should be a priority. Devin also said that because of all the truck traffic, the going can be slow. He was right. The road is two lanes, making it difficult and dangerous to pass. It was also bumpy and narrow in places as it winds its way through the mountains. Despite our driver’s skill, on many occasions we hit painful potholes that were hard on both the bus and the passengers. In some places people were working hard on the road to keep it maintained; but it is a nearly impossible task due to the frequent rains that arrive (mostly from the east) and dump the water as the clouds hit the mountains. This can wash out roads and destroy bridges. Little children, when they saw a busload of tourists coming, would pretend to be fixing the road and then beg/yell for a little money to reward their effort. This practice seemed dangerous to me. I think the point that Devin was making was that the people of Madagascar face many challenges. Traveling anywhere in the country can be difficult and time consuming, and sometimes because of bad weather and washed-out roads, it might even be impossible. We were lucky the day we traveled. We only saw one overturned truck (the driver appeared to be okay), and his vehicle was blocking just one lane of traffic.

Our destination, the last highlight of our tour, was a place called Le Palmariumin Akanin’ny Nofy (which I think translates to “nest of dreams”). It is an ecolodge on one of the largest lakes in a series of coastal lakes known as the Pangalanes. It is a place to relax and see native plants and  lemurs; including one of the strangest nocturnal primates, the Aye-Aye. It was a long journey. Not only did we ride in a bus on the “best road” for several hours, but we also traveled on a dirt road with four-wheel-drive vehicles, followed by a relaxing boat ride through the Pangalanes for more than an hour to get to the Palmarium. The journey was worth it! It was an excellent way to end our visit to Madagascar. It wasn’t better than the trek in Marojejy National Park, just different. The lodge is set up so that it is easy to see the animals–maybe a little too easy. I favor conservation by setting aside large tracts of natural habitats where the wild things remain wild and the primary effort is to maintain intact, healthy ecosystems. This is not an easy thing to do anywhere in the world, let alone in a developing country like Madagascar. I like the challenge and even the possibility that I won’t see what I set out to see. I wish the world could maintain more truly wild spaces like the parts of Marojejy that were beyond my reach. Maybe, some places should be extremely difficult to visit; only accessible to a few determined and responsible visitors. Once you arrive at the Palmarium, you are pretty much guaranteed to see plenty of lemurs, and as you can see from the photo above, chameleons too. For me, the animals are a little too tame. See for yourself by clicking here, to check out some of my images from the area.

Having said that, it still makes me happy when I see joy on the faces of the people I am traveling with as a lemur jumps on their back. It may be a better business model to have reliable animal attractions that bring tourists which generate jobs for the local people. The lodge is well maintained, the staff was fantastic, and the food was way beyond the expectations of anyone in our group. This kind of protected reserve is certainly worth supporting.

As chance would have it, some members of the BBC Studios Natural History Unit were staying at the Palmarium while working on assignment to get Aye-Ayes on video for an upcoming documentary. Though we did see some members briefly, we didn’t get to interact with the BBC team, which would have been awesome; but they had a job to do, and since Aye-Ayes are nocturnal, they had to work the night shift.

About twenty-five years ago, I was lucky enough to have dinner with another BBC team at a remote hotel in central Costa Rica, while they were there to get film on a specific tree frog that congregates to breed after a heavy rain. Since my family arrived on a sunny day and therefore, the team couldn’t do what they came to do (and we were the only other guests staying in the hotel) they graciously invited us to join them for some conversation. It was one of my fondest memories from that trip! This experience came to mind while at the Palmarium because I really like sharing my passion for nature with family and was very happy to see Devin was able to have some of that same joy with his family as they had a new experience in Madagascar. His daughter was going to be able to share the experience when she returned to school after the Christmas break. Devin’s daughter’s teacher had the brilliant idea of sending a class mascot. It was kind of like a “Flat Stanley,” only this one was a fluffy, black and white, stuffed cow that Devin’s daughter could be photographed with to help her tell her story when she returned. I am sure she will tell a great story!

On our last night, we traveled by boat across the lake from the Palmarium. Just before sunset, we went to a place to see an endemic species of tropical pitcher plant. For the botanists out there, we saw Nepenthes madagascariensis, one of two species of pitcher plant found in Madagascar. N. madagascariensis is only found on the east coast of Madagascar in low-lying, nutrient-poor soils. They are carnivorous. They use the pitcher to trap insects, which they “digest” to make up for the lack of nutrients in the soil where they grow. If you already looked, you may have seen them when you clicked on the gallery above. You may also have seen that our group did get to see not one, but two Aye-Ayes that came to a couple of viewing stations where fresh coconuts had been fastened to trees not too far from the location of the pitcher plants. The coconuts were prepared by drilling small holes through the husk, so that the animals could use their specialized thin fingers to work pieces of the raw coconut out to eat. Though the animals were wild, they had been habituated to people. As soon as it got dark, they showed up and entertained a small crowd from several of the local hotels. The strange looking creatures were difficult to photograph. Even though there was a full moon, there wasn’t much light in the thick jungle. We were not allowed to use flash because it would frighten the animals; so you had to use slow shutter speeds. The Aye-Ayes worked fast and were constantly moving, which meant most of the one hundred or so photographs I took were blurry.  I think a few turned out alright.

After our successful journey, we left the Palmarium happy, but a bit weary. On the return trip to have dinner near the Antananarivo International Airport, which took the better part of the day, we had one more bit of excitement. Somehow, a small hole in the fuel tank of the bus developed. Our driver noticed and tried to do a temporary fix. He decided that it would be possible to finish the journey by partially filling the tank and carefully monitoring the fuel gauge. Unfortunately, the road is hilly for most of the way back to Antananarivo.  A few times, depending on the angle of the tank, the engine sputtered to a stop. Our driver would let the bus coast for a little while, then the fuel tank would be at a better angle, so that fuel made it through the lines and the bus would eventually start. This went on for a few miles; each time the engine taking longer to restart and the battery getting weaker. Until finally, on the outskirts of the city, while on a gentle downhill slope, the engine wouldn’t restart. As we rounded a bend, we saw the lights of a service station and our driver coasted to the pump. He got out to put a little more fuel in the tank to make it to our destination, only to find the station had just closed and the pumps were off. In one more fortunate turn of events, we all noticed there was a guy leaving the building. Our driver noticed too. After some pleading, he was able to convince the man to turn the pumps back on so that we could get a few more liters of fuel. About twenty minutes later we were all sitting at a big table at the restaurant reminiscing about how lucky we were that everything went according to plan…sort of anyway. A good time was had by all and those of us who had a late evening flight to Paris made it to the airport and through security with time to spare. 

Again, many thanks to Mike and Devin. I haven’t seen all of Madagascar in two adventures, but I am willing to say I saw some spectacular things. I am not sure I will ever make it back again…but who knows what the future will bring. I hope all of my companions will keep in touch!

We had an uneventful flight back to Antananarivo from Sambava where we were met at the airport by our bus driver. We spent part of the day getting to the University of Antananarivo to meet Dr. Steven M. Goodman, whom I spoke about briefly in the last post. He was an interesting man and just like all the people on our trip, a person whose fascination for wildlife runs very deep. Devin had made the connection, and a stop that was planned for a short period of time wound up taking the better part of the day. Dr. Goodman is listed on the Princeton University Press website as: the MacArthur Field Biologist at the Field Museum of Natural History, a cofounder of Association Vahatra in Antananarivo, Madagascar, and Professor Honoris Causa at the University of Antananarivo. He has authored or coauthored close to 600 publications concerning different aspects of Madagascar.

We were born the same year, but obviously he has had a career that brought him to a much higher level in academia than I was able to muster. I like meeting people like him and was pleased to have had the opportunity to make his acquaintance. I think I can speak for our whole group when I say, thank you, Devin, for making this meeting possible and thank you, Steven, for spending so much time with us.

When we left the city we headed by bus to the relatively small but important town of Andasibe. It was to be my second time visiting the region, but the last time I didn’t realize that it was important as the place where Sir David Attenborough stayed on one of his first visits to Madagascar. Devin might say the town is important because it was the town where he met his wife, one of the daughters of the local doctor, and where, this time, we were going to pick up his wife and daughter for the next leg of the trip. The photo above is of the combination train station and hotel where David stayed on what I gathered was his first visit (in 1961) and where he revisited when he reminisced about the importance of Andasibe in a more recent documentary which I recall having seen on some streaming service; but can’t seem to find now. I didn’t take many photos on this visit to Andasibe. I was a little off my game with an intestinal illness I had picked up while at Marojejy.

Last time I was in Andasibe, it was my first real exposure to the wilds of Madagascar, a place where another famous British naturalist, Charles Darwin, sailed right past on his epic voyage without stepping foot on land. I am giving credit to Sir David Attenborough here because he has done much in his later years to bring to the global collective conscience the crisis of climate change, and has done so in a way that can give a sense of hope that we can still act with solutions that can improve the outlook. That is a message worth spreading.

The last time I was in Andasibe with this group, I was traveling with my nephew Scott. He is pursuing his doctorate at Yale, and I hope with his degree he will be able to add to the discussion and make a difference by providing leadership and solutions. Part of the solution, at least in my view, is educating the young. We must also take into consideration that if we don’t try to address the problem in the near future, we could cross tipping points. The science is pretty clear on this, so we can’t wait for the next generation to try to solve what Sir David Attenborough and many others say is the most important issue of our time. We all should be worried and should be trying to educate ourselves on the facts. I wound up watching a few hours of nature documentaries and news presentations like 60 Minutes when I returned home in order to try to verify that the picture above was revisited in the 21st century by David; but I was unsuccessful. The extra time I spent was important, because I came away with a stronger feeling that the time to act on behalf of the only planet we know is habitable is now.

For a few more photos of Andasibe from this visit, click here. If you want to see more photos of Andasibe in 2019 click here.

After we acclimated in the capital we hopped a flight to Sambava, a coastal town in northeast Madagascar. It is famous as the World’s Capital of Vanilla. Vanilla is a labor-intensive product that comes from the bean that develops from the pollinated flower of a vanilla orchid. It is native to Mexico, but most of the best quality vanilla comes from Madagascar. The pollinator of the flower is not found in Madagascar and therefore each flower has to be pollinated by hand. We came to Sambava, not to buy vanilla beans (though each of us left town with some) but because Sambava is the gateway to Marojejy National Park. 

Devin Edmonds, who designed the tour, chose this park because of its unique biodiversity. He had previously traveled to Marojejy about ten years ago. Then he didn’t know how much time to allocate. He didn’t get to see all of the things he wanted to see and he didn’t have time to make it to the summit of the Marojejy Massif. We were not sure we would make it this time either. It is an incredibly hard hike to the top, climbing steep cliffs covered with tree roots. I was pretty sure I would not make it to the top when I signed up for this adventure. Even though I trained to get in shape, I have never been a fan of steep cliffs with the very real possibility of falling. At nearly 65 years old, I certainly didn’t want to be a liability to the group. Besides, the main animal I wanted to photograph was the Silky Sifaka on this part of the trip. It is a very rare primate that probably numbers less than a thousand in the wild. Needless to say, it is critically endangered and one of the elite members of the cute and cuddly, furry and fuzzy critters that conservationists refer to as charismatic megafauna. I really wanted to see it in the wild. There was a known family group that could typically be found at Camp 2 in Marojejy, Devin didn’t get to see them on his first trip to Marojejy.

Making it to camp 1 was a challenge for many in our group because the first part, before actually getting to the park entrance, isn’t well shaded. There was a lot of up and down, but the elevation change wasn’t drastic. My training served me well. I was pleased to see young local school children coming from the opposite direction, apparently returning from a school field trip, as we got into the forest. I figured, If a bunch of 8–10-year-old children could make it up and back to camp 1, then our group could make it to camp 1, where our bags were left by our porters. Our park guides, Lex and Guy, pointed out a few things as we made our way to camp 1, but the first day was mostly covering ground. 

Day 2 was a lot harder, but the forest was much better. It is some of the best primary forest in all of Madagascar. I made it to Camp 2 with energy to spare, but after we arrived we were told that the trackers had located a Silky Sifaka family group and we were encouraged to see if we could get to them. It was a bit late in the day and the lighting was not going to be great for photography. Shortly after we got started, we left the established trail and got into some dicey scrambling along the forested ravine. The sifakas weren’t having any trouble jumping from tree to tree, but I was struggling to stay on my feet carrying a camera with a big lens. It was more difficult than the Mountain Gorilla trek that my wife and I did in Rwanda a few years ago, but at least in Madagascar you don’t have to worry about charging forest elephants or venomous snakes. Lex could see I wasn’t comfortable and he started looking out for me. The park guides and the community that surrounds the park rely on tourism. They did their best to look out for all of us. I was grateful for his concern and his assistance. Lex and Guy were both outstanding at their jobs and I am sure they were happy (because they told us) to see a return of the tourists to the park. 

I asked Guy if the hike to Camp 3 would be more difficult than what we had experienced to get to see the sifakas and he said it would be steeper and more grabbing roots to climb the trail. It was then that I decided that Camp 3 was probably going to be out of the question for me. I wasn’t the only one to make that decision; three of us stayed at Camp 2. The other eight headed up to Camp 3 after breakfast the next morning. When they got to Camp 3, three of the eight decided that was as high as they were going to go and only 5 attempted the summit. They had to get up very early and hike in the steepest terrain using headlamps. They all made it, and told stories of how difficult it was when they returned to Camp 2. Meanwhile, the three of us who remained at Camp 2 were able to relax a little and have a second chance to see the Silky Sifakas. This time the lighting was better and the sifakas really put on a show. The photo above is from the second day with the sifakas. 

For other photos of this part of the trip that I took click here. I am not sure I can make it happen but I am hoping to get photos from others to add later. I am sure the group as a whole took several thousand photos. I got some pretty good shots, but I am sure others got better ones. There was a young couple, Stephanie and Daniel, from Flagstaff, Arizona, traveling for their first time in Madagascar, that were a delight to travel with, and they both made it to the summit. It would certainly be interesting to hear them re-tell some of their experiences. Daniel was quite knowledgeable about the amphibians and reptiles of Madagascar. I am told that Stephanie was the best climber in the group, navigating the trails almost as well as the guides. Keith, also a first-timer in Madagascar, had some of the best camera gear in the group and had a passion for wildlife photography. I would love to feature some of his best shots. He made it to camp 3 and saw things I didn’t get to see. I was the only retired person in the group, and therefore, I probably was the only one who has had a chance to go through all the photos I took.

One last thing to mention before I end this post is the mystery of the swimming (and biting) floating blades of grass. While waiting at Camp 2, after seeing the Silky Sifakas for the second time, Mike and I decided to go for a swim in the pool below the waterfall next to camp. Mike was relaxing in the splash zone below the falls. I was across the pool. I noticed floating on the surface of the water some things that looked like freshly clipped pieces of grass floating with the current. Nothing special about that…until the clipping changed direction and moved across the current, towards me. That was odd, but not too concerning. Then, a few seemed to dip below the surface and swim toward my legs. The blades actually had the ability to work their way through the hair on my legs and to my surprise, it felt as if I was getting pinched or bitten by the mandibles of a small insect. At that point I described what happened to Mike across the pool, questioning whether he was having anything like that happen around him. He said he was not, but when I flicked one of the blades towards him, he saw what I was talking about and we both decided to get out of the pool.  As we were returning to camp, we saw Anna, the third member of our group who remained at Camp 2 and as passionate as anyone about all things great and small. She offered to get some small collection containers that she had with her gear. After some searching, I saw some of the critters again and we collected them. Anna got a pretty good video on her cell phone of the little guys moving around in the collection containers. I got some (not so great) still photos which are at the end of the photo gallery. I speculated that they could be caddis fly larvae; though I had never witnessed one behave in the aggressive manner I described.  When we flew back from Sambava to Antananarivo the next day, Devin had already made plans to go to the university there to meet Dr. Steven M. Goodman, a scientist and book editor of many books on the creatures of Madagascar. After he sold a couple dozen books to members of our travel group, Steven graciously looked at the video Anna was able to show him on her iPhone and confirmed that it was a member of the order Trichoptera, also known as Caddisflies.  I was happy to be right about the little critters, but it still didn’t solve the mystery of why they tried having me for lunch.

When I started this website, I had in mind an around-the-world adventure, kicking off in Madagascar. It was high on my list because of all the endemic wildlife found there and because it was relatively affordable. I had such a good time traveling with the group in January 2019, and the feeling seemed to be mutual among the others. We agreed that we should try to do it again. Then Covid shut things down. It was postponed and then postponed again. Mike Wallitis, owner of Black Jungle Exotics, a terrarium supply company that I had done business with when I kept terrariums in my biology classroom and who has a small tour company specializing in taking people like me on no-frills rainforest adventures, kept the group informed. Devin Edmonds, an expert in Madagascar wildlife and current doctoral candidate doing field research in Madagascar, worked hard to make it possible this year. Seven of the eleven people on this year’s trip had gone the last time. This trip was slated to be a bit more challenging, especially considering everyone was three years older, and the early part of the trip was a trek through mountainous, thick forest, in hot and humid weather, with a considerable change in elevation, and camp accommodations that had not been used much (at least by foreign travelers and scientists) since the pandemic limited access. We were encouraged to get in shape before showing up in Madagascar!

We flew into the capital city of Antananarivo and took a few days there to get acclimated to the time change. I had already been in France which is only a two hour time difference, but some on the trip had to contend with an eleven hour time change. We visited a park with plenty of wild birds in the center of the city; a lemur park, where they had rescued animals from around the country; and a crocodile farm where they had native plants and animals, along with huge crocodiles which were being raised for leather and for meat.  

It was a good chance to practice our photography skills. Most of the people on the trip were interested in photography. Some were quite skilled and came prepared to get good photos. On this kind of trip there is always a chance that you will get to photograph a creature that has not yet been described by science. Certainly, you will see the rare and unusual.  Getting a really good image can be a challenge. 

Above is a photo of a Golden Mantella. It is a tiny frog about an inch long that has become rare in the wild due to habitat destruction. Devin has worked with local people to establish a captive breeding program which has been pretty effective in Madagascar. But, even Devin will admit that habitat destruction is still a major problem. Golden Mantellas are listed as critically endangered in the wild, with a population that is decreasing; like so many amphibians throughout the world. The individual above was photographed at the Crocodile Farm. For other photos from the first few days in Antananarivo, click here. 

Yes, we did take the opportunity to have lunch at the Crocodile Farm. Everyone from our group had some version of a crocodile dish offered by the onsite restaurant. It was surprisingly tender and as they say, it tastes a lot like chicken. The dish is the last one in the gallery if you clicked the link above.