Microcebus margaretei

Haha, unfortunately there isn't a new species of mouse lemur, but this is a picture of Peggy the Microcebus rufus.
Somehow I’ve found my way back to Ranomafana, and it sounds a bit weird to say it but it sure feels like home. I spent the last week traveling, all the way to Tana, then cross-country to the east. We stopped in a place called Andasibe (also know as Perinet) and spent two days in the forest with the Indri. The Indri is the largest of the living lemurs, and by far the most wonderful in my opinion. They greet neighboring groups as the sun rises with the mot haunting of calls, a cross between the song of a whale and the howl of a wolf. Needless to say I could never replicate it but will comparably never forget it. Day walks and night walks were crippled by the impending sensation that I was growing increasingly ill, and after about 2 bites of my dinner the fireworks started…I’ll save you the details but it was an interesting 48 hours after that. Given my surroundings I was unwilling to slow my pace so sans appetite I joined my eager tourists for more excitement the next day. We saw four different species of lemur within the hour, Indri overhead jockeying for position in the preferred trees with the obnoxious brown lemurs. About 50 yards down the trail our guide spotted a pair of Diademed Sifakas, and we watched them kissing and playing for the time we had left. We said goodbye to the gentle bamboo lemur as we walked to the car. A bumpy five-hour ride brought us to Tamatave, and offered my first step into the Indian Ocean; hopefully this opportunity was the first of many.
The next day we met Karen Freeman, the director of park Ivoloina and toured the park with her. This is a nature preserve of sorts, but also serves to educate local farmers the benefits of diversifying their crops. Here is someone doing her part to change the world. I was happy to have had the opportunity to meet her. After our jaunt to Ivoloina I let a successful shopping excursion into the heart of Tamatave to a lovely spot called Bazaar Be. Literal mountains of vanilla were piled up everywhere and the smells and excitement combined for an awesome adventure. I was a bartering coach of sorts (even though I spoke no languages in common with the vendors) and I think everyone walked away quite satisfied. The next two days were outrageous, 10hours+ on the bus. As you could imagine traveling with a large group of middle-aged tourists stops were frequent but welcome. Just before arriving back in Tana, one of those stops was at a place called Peyria’s garden. This “zoo” of sorts offered me a great opportunity to see some wonderful creatures I might not normally have been able to see. One such creature was the panther chameleon, hurling its outstretched tongue nearly the length of its body to hit a grasshopper not so nearby. There is however, a major drawback to this place. Suspicions began arising when the routine question of where are your breeding facilities returned the answer: “They are raised somewhere else”. We think that the animals are wild-caught, then brought to the zoo in huge numbers. Suddenly my pose with the chameleon carries a certain amount of guilt. But I’m back in Ranomafana now, enjoying “home-cooked” meals and a comfy sleeping bag. Wednesday we leave again for the great unknown…well, not so unknown, to me, that is, er um. We will be headed for the other coast, Fianarantsoa, Ambalavao, Isalo, Tulear and Ifaty. Then sometime around Halloween I should be near internet again. As always I love you all very much and cannot wait to see you. Veloma