Madagascar II: Lemuriformes

Here it is!

Note: please do not be daunted by the scientific names, it's not as bad as it looks. It is fine to ignore all of them.

So I stayed in a hut out of my backpack for 8 months. I used a mosquito net the entire time against the mosquitoes that came over from the village behind us (interestingly, the mosquitoes were far more numerous closer to human habitation than the primary forest, which I think says a lot). The huts were on stilts so everything didn't flood every spring tide. This meant that chickens annoyingly came running under the hut in the morning, and sometimes cats fighting under them at night. At the beginning of the wet season (winter/spring in the northern hemisphere, only two seasons because of the proximity to the equator), the frogs behind camp were calling at a deafening level, you'd wake up at night and be confused at what was so loud. Sometimes the village had three day long parties with extremely loud music accompanied by generators, thankfully these were not too often. All this was occasionally accompanied by the screams of lemurs from the forest, especially on full moon nights.

Lemurs are a group of prosimians (before primates) endemic to Madagascar named for their ghostly screams. There are over 108 species of lemur and all of them are very localised in their ranges and habitat types. There are also 19 discovered species of extinct lemurs that were probably hunted to extinction or ran out of forest, all of them bigger than the extant lemurs. There are a few main groups of lemurs, each quite unique: the "normal" widely known lemurs including the Ring-tailed Lemur (Lemur catta), ruffed lemurs (genus Varecia), "true" lemurs (genus Eulemur) and the bamboo lemurs (genera Hapalemur and Prolemur) that feed almost only on bamboo; the (really) tiny mouse lemurs (genus Microcebus); the devilish nocturnal sportive lemurs (genus Lepilemur); the hopping sifakas (genus Propithecus); the large Indri (Indri indri) with a stub-like tails; and the very curious nocturnal Aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis) which fills the role of the woodpecker with their highly unusual middle finger; among others. Lemurs are predated upon by the Fossa (Cryptoprocta ferox), certain mongooses and civet-like animals, and some birds of prey. All lemurs are in high danger of extinction because of deforestation, only around 90% of Madagascar's original forest remains for these highly forest dependent animals.

There are three species of lemurs on Nosy Be, all of them restricted to Lokobe and the areas surrounding it. The Claire's Mouse Lemur (Microcebus mamiratra), the Hawks' Sportive Lemur (Lepilemur tymerlachsoni), and the Black Lemur (Eulemur macaco). The Black Lemur is the only one active during the day as well, which means they are cathemeral. Black Lemurs are also found in the forest near the coast on the mainland.

Two females with a male infant

Only male Black Lemurs are black, the females are red-brown with white ear tufts, they form groups and move through the trees looking for fruit. During the time I was there, it was their birthing season, so I got to see the tiny baby lemurs clinging to their mothers bellies and grow out to scampering through the branches themselves.We got used to spotting and counting them during a project on their group composition by Nicky Stegenga, one of the staff members. It was fun trying to identify whether the infants were male or female from the white tufts of their tiny heads poking out, Nicky was great at this (she'd had earlier practice in Madagascar).They loved the mangoes and jackfruit, among the native fruit growing there. Their home ranges were being heavily constricted by the deforestation near the village and were usually much higher in primary forest. Due to the tourism near the larger village Ampasipohy, the lemurs in the forest near there came much lower to the ground than they normally would, which is not good. Black Lemurs are sometimes quite active at night as well (on brightly moonlit ones), which is unusual for the larger lemurs.

Troop with a female infant

Digging in to jackfruit

On the move

Poor guy was caught out during the day

The sportive lemurs are very screechy, sounding like birds in the forest. They have a very obvious eye-shine when you shine a torch at them. They aren't too shy, probably because they can't go higher in degraded forest, where we saw them more often. In the day they sleep in tree holes, of which there is a shortage away from primary forest. We saw a few low to the ground in the day nearer to camp because of this. They have strong stomachs and mainly eat leaves.

There's the eye shine

Peeking out from his tree hole

Those are the small, palm-sized banana

Mouse lemurs are very cute. They are tiny and have huge eyes, which also shone in torchlight. They were quite a bit rarer than the sportives, and we saw them in degraded more too. Usually they were very skittish and scampered away after a quick look but other times they just stayed in one place for a while, which was great. They eat small animals and plant parts as well, including nectar.

I presume he was there for the nectar, or the insects coming to it

He's got eye-shine too! And really cool feet

On the nearby island of Tanikely, a marine reserve with beautiful coral reefs, there were also Common Brown Lemurs (Eulemur fulvus). Introduced in other locations as well, there was one troop on the tiny island. They are normally residents of both coasts of Northern Madagascar. They are frugivorous, like the Black Lemurs.

Just sitting in a mango tree, very used to humans

This is a Common Indian Civet (Viverricula indica), an unintentionally introduced small carnivore that has adapted very well all across Madagascar. Animals like these are not good, because they take prey opportunities away from other animals and also prey on the endangered species themselves. I know it isn't a good photo, but I've put it up for the sake of showing it was there. I saw this one in primary forest, away from habitation, which is a bad sign.

That's it for now, I'll get another one up soon!

Crossing the quite gross mangrove river that rises with the tide on the way back from Lokobe in the distance

Madagascar I: Setting

So!

A lovely sunset from the bench just outside camp, those are the village boats

I'm finally doing something with these photos I have. Organising them was a chore, but I got it done. As you may know, I spent Sep. 2014 - Apr. 2015 in the village of Ambalahonko, Nosy Be, Madagascar. It is right outside the buffer zone (not reserve but still semi-protected) of the Lokobe Special Reserve. It is comparatively a tiny reserve, a little over 740 hectares, on the southeastern tip of the island, and the only remaining protected area of Sambirano rainforest. Our village was inaccessible by road, so people who wanted to go into town for snacks and internet took the village boat into town. The camp was literally on the beach, our floor being sand. On really high spring tides, we had to wade through knee high water, our huts were on stilts so no worries there.

My home for the last three months of my stay

Lokobe - untouched

During my first 20 weeks I was a volunteer and helped the staff members with collecting data (reptiles, birds, butterflies, lemurs, and sometimes amphibians) and their personal projects. The days we went close to the edge of Lokobe were usually the most interesting, especially at night. The level of forest degradation was painfully visible as we came back to camp. Reptiles were the main attraction, although I had a special fascination with invertebrates, and especially caterpillars, moths, and spiders. I made it a point to go on (almost)  all the walks, and being tired was worth it. After those 20 weeks I applied to be a staff member and got the position. I could then lead walks and was collecting data myself. I also conducted a personal project on the diversity of soil invertebrates. Some of those tiny things were really interesting, especially the pseudoscorpions (pretty much scorpions without tails). It was great knowing the forest so well after a while, and I became quite good at spotting things. I also assisted in the capture of the first Pseudoxyrhopus quinquelineatus specimen from Nosy Be, and captured an unidentified species of Madascincus skink.

Didn't cut my hair so I looked like a crazy beach bum, not that I mind. Yes, I will be using scientific names for reptiles and amphibians, because I don't know the common names. Not for the birds and lemurs though. 

My last Madagascar sunrise, that is mainland Madagascar in the distance

More to come!

Hi All!

It has been an incredibly long time. I am now in Madagascar and it is absolutely amazing. I have been here since the 29th of August and the first thing I did after I landed was take a 20 hour "taxi brousse" to the place where I had to catch a boat to Hell-ville. The capital of Nosy Be, the largest offshore island on Madagascar. Quite a way to get over culture shock, just get all the hits at once. The taxi/vans are incredibly cramped, especially if you're over 6 feet. A painful ordeal but at least i saved about $300 by not taking a flight. Even French is not spoken here much, so I didn't understand what people were saying. I got by okay though and it was good to get the shock out of the way.

I stayed two nights in a hotel in town and got taken to my camp for the next few months. On the boat that has to be taken to the village next to camp, I passed by Lokobe Strict Reserve, the last remaining protected area of Sambirano rainforest. Beautiful pristine forest with crystal clear water. Camp is simple and doesn't have many luxuries, but the showers are quite nice. Then the rice and beans everyday since then started and I have to say that it does get quite tiring to eat the same thing everyday for that long. Snacks come by occasionally (from the village) to help out with that.

We (the forest team of the project) go into the forest every day to do various surveys on wildlife. We have 9 transects for reptile surveys (200 M), and 4 bird/butterfly transects (400 M). I loved being out in the forest since I firs got here and slowly my standards have gone up from seeing so much, but I still enjoy seeing all the animals. On the reptile surveys we walk very slowly along the transect trying to look for any reptiles (or amphibians). Usually we end up finding the usual species, but occasionally we find something really rare and it's all exciting again. On the bird surveys we stop 5 times along the way for five minutes each and record what we hear or see. A lot of birds here are quite similar to India so learning them was not too hard. Many birds are migratory so it's been interesting seeing species come and go.

The wet season is slowly arriving and the reptiles are loving it. So am I, rain is wonderful. It's hot, humid, and nice now. Pretty soon I'm going to never have dry clothes and all that fun, the best thing is that the hut i'm staying in does not leak.

I am in town right now, but usually I only come in every few weeks to restock on snacks and use internet. Usually time is tight, which explains my invisibility. I wish I could upload some photos but I honestly don't have time, I hope you all are having a great winter and christmas season. I have you all on my mind and I shall try my hardest to get some photos on next time.

Seasons greetings from the tropics,
Arjun

Busy, Busy

Hi Everyone,

So last Friday I woke up and realised I had to be at my mom's school to take pictures of the kids in 20 minutes and I managed that while Priyanka stayed at home to have breakfast that I didn't have the oppurtunity to have. After the 10 O'clock break, Priyanka showed up and we finished the photos for the rest of the kids.

After the photos

 On Saturday, I met up with some very old friends from the first school I went to. We went to the mall in town and hug out at a park. That was cool meeting up with them again. Also eating the Indian McAloo Tikki Burger at the mall.

On Sunday after doing nothing for the first half of the day (I think) Priyanka, Manish, and I went to the other side of the river to hang out. As usual, I swam and they took a boat. While we were on the other side a group of boys who quite obviously could not swim let go of their huge truck inner tube and I tried to go retrieve it for my own purposes. I had almost gotten to the tube (and also the ghat side again) when a boat with a group of girls picked it up. I was annoyed but I didn't really care about getting it too much so I had to swim all the way back to the boat on the sandy side and then we left on the boat. After we got back we started walking down the main street in search of a restaurant and Priyanka ended up buying flip flops on the way. We decided to eat at I:ba, a Japanese place, which cost us a pretty penny. I think that's the last I'll eat there for a while.

Next day, we (Mama, Priyanka, Manish, and I) got up early and gathered our stuff and took an auto to the bus stop across the river and took a bus to Lakhania Dari (waterfall). After the hour and a half bus ride next to a police officer and a goat which peed on the bus floor twice (probably out of fright) we arrived at our destination. There wasn't a huge amount of water (which I like better, probably not many others) but it was decent. the walk through the canyon to the falls is always nice. Lots of trees and animals. Also some really cool scenery. When we got to the falls we went to our normal rock and immediately dumped our stuff and changed to get into the water to cool off. No one was there, which was great. So we swam to the falls and started shouting like crazy people, which is great. Sitting under the biggest falls is a little painful at first but it certainly is a nice free massage. We went in and out of the water a bunch of times and Indian college boys started coming in (which is annoying because they keep edging closer). We did see a snake living in its cave and also a monitor lizard. That was a nice, cool time and we headed back and got to the entrance at the perfect time to catch the bus back. We were all hungry by the time we got back to the city so we ate at a garden restaurant with Siddarth Sir. Then we went back home tired and crashed. It was a good day.

Hanuman Langur with baby (Langurs are the awesomer monkeys)

Leaping Langur

Those are awesome roots

At least they spelled God right

Pan-

O-

Rama

Leaving after a great time

Langur family

The rock is actually crooked, it was on a hill

Chill Langur

Happy Priyanka

Clingy Tree

Caterpillar Wasp: stuns caterpillar and puts it in hole so that when the eggs hatch, they have food

Cleaned up hole entrance

Caterpillar eating a lot

Inchworm

Grasshopper

On Tuesday I went to Mama's school after breakfast and used the internet and waited for Priyanka. She finally came at 3 and went roaming. We hung out on a ghat down a ways. She and I moved to Papa's apartment at Assi Ghat. It's cooler there and he has awesome speakers.

I was woken up at 9 by Priyanka to go out and roam, so we had chai at the ghat and continued on to a South Indian (and cheap) breakfast down the ghats. Then we went into the small alleys along the river and looked at cool clothes and other things they sell in there. We got to the alley that goes to the temple that lies at the center of Hindu pilgrimages, Vishwanath Temple (complete with a gold top). Here we got harassed by some sleazy salesmen who thought we were complete foreigners. They said they could get me the same shirt I was wearing for only Rs 100, I kindly explained that I wouldn't require two of the exact same shirt. I don't think he got the idea. We (Priyanka) got some clothes for her friends that we almost had the money for. We said we would pay him back, I don't know. We then got money from and ATM on the way back home and I got myself some nice flip flops. Then we got some Indian sweets and then headed back to Assi. We planned out our trip and decided we'd go to Manali, a foothill city, and see where we'd go from there. So we went to the travel agent and we realised we weren't prepared when he asked for our passports. We told him we'd be back and met up with an old friend who ran a restaurant and provided us with a fabulous free Indian meal. Then we went back to Mama's house to get what we needed and then saw Mama at school and to give her some sweets. Then we went back and actually got our train tickets for the 20th. I'm excited to see something new. After that we went around and bought the necessary snacks and drinks for Priyanka and I to hang out. Then we went back to the place at Assi Ghat and we did hang out and listen to music and eat and drink lavishly (Lays and Coke) till 9:30. We biked to the cinema to meet Manish to see this movie we'd wanted to see for a while only to find that it had been cancelled. Annoyed that we came there specially that late and that we'd already paid for parking, we decided to get ice cream. That was good, I got chocolate. After that, we decided not to waste a nice night and walked along the ghats to find a dark enough spot (there was no electricity) to take a nice cool dip in the Ganga. We found one isolated enough from the boys and light. It was nice and cool and peaceful and the electricity came back just as we got out. Then we went back  the place and went to bed.

Ghats at night

Moonrise over Ganga

Today we got up pretty late and I found out it had rained that morning. We ate a nice Indian breakfast at a wifi place and made it to an earlier showing of that movie we wanted to go to and bought three tickets but apparently Manish misunderstood and never showed up there (wasted Rs 120). So it was Priyanka and I that watched the movie, which didn't even turn out to be that great. After we got out it was just really humid and I went to see Mama at school and Priyanka showed up and all three of us went to visit our old landlords and after a nice visit, here I am.

Tiny, tiny spider on my hand

Grasshopper Nymph (no wings yet)

It's at times like these with muddy, cowdung splattered streets that I'm very glad I have a bike.
Even though you might not think hanging out and roaming are very busy things, they were.

Remember to Pry to God for Peas,
Arjun

Lovin' It

Hey guys and gals, this is my second installment.
(I apologise for the fact that you might have to scroll a bunch to actually read it, I just like the photos)

So on the day of the last one, Priyanka, my mom, Manish, and I went to the other side of the river to have kind of a birthday celebration, they took the boat across and I swam there. Which was nice beacuase I haven't really swam in a while. We got samosas and some Indian street chowmein and a surprise cake that Priyanka got for me. We had to tightly huddle around it to eat some because the sand was blowing. But it was fun and the sunset on the ghats was really pretty. A huge storm cloud started coming over the river so we decided we should leave (sadly, it didn't really rain after all). I swam back and they took the boat. We had chai when we crossed back and that was a fun day.

On the Other Side

Windy Manish

 The rest of the week my sister and I went out when the weather was decent and roamed around for wifi and just kind of generally wandered. We walked along the ghats and tried to get phone numbers and get our bikes fixed. We did get the bikes fixed and it's much nicer not having to walk everywhere in the sun. I've been hanging out in our veranda waiting for the birds to come by and I've been taking close up pictures of any cool bug I find.

Priyanka and blurry Manish

Precarious Chipmunk

Indian Robin (weird that I haven't seen a male yet)

There's the red

Snacktime

Tailorbird

So pretty

Brahminy Myna

Magpie-Robin

Bee-eater

Bee-eaters

Little Brown Dove (actual name)

What?! No way!

Purple Sunbird Female (males are much more flashy)

Ring Dove

Hawk Moth

Longhorn Beetle (very long)

He was annoyed by the light

Jumping Spider (hope you aren't creeped out by him. He's so cute)

Awesome Jewel Beetle

He has a chest spike

That green is beautiful

The Ganga feels great after a long sweaty day, even though I know it's really dirty. I'ts something that's part of me, I would probably always go back. I need to start getting up early, at least a few times to catch the dawn birds and the sunrise over the river. Also maybe for a morning swim in the morning. 

There it is

 A monkey freaked me out while I was sitting on the stairs and I made eye contact for a moment which i quickly averted for the fear of getting ripped apart by lone male macaque anger. Anyway, he sat a little ways up the stairs for about a half hour so I didn't really go away. I did get used to him being and kind of moved around. It was kinda cool just hanging out there, but that doesn't change the fact that I'll get freaked out every time I see a monkey such as that.

Chill Monkey (not the same one as above)

Elvish Macaque


I went for a dusk bird photo shoot today in B.H.U. (Banaras Hindu University), got some nice photos, even though they're a little grainy.

Whitebreasted Waterhen

Barred Jungle Owlet

Lookin' at Me

Tree Pie

I've been having a great time hanging out here, even through the heat. Thanks for reading.

Till next week,
Arjun