Both Seb and I were quite tired after 10 days of non stop driving, but we still ventured to go for a nocturnal walk in the park and it was really rewarding, as weve seen the smallest in the world (and the cutest) primates – mouse lemurs. The encounter softened our hearts forever. We’ve also seen some chameleons and a very pretty spider.
For the day visit we were surprised to see no guides offering their services at the gate, and so we had to wait, so our visit started a bit late. Walking for half an hour through this beautiful primary rain forest praying to get a chance to see an Indri – the biggest lemur still living. There where bigger species in the past, as big as a gorilla, but all extinct now.
Here is the ugly truth – when you drive through the island you see a lot of smoke here and there. There is not enough efficient farming land in Madagascar to feed it’s own population. So villagers are burning the rainforests full of endemic plants and animals to get some space to grow rice. Such parasites we humans are.
We found a group of Indris playing high up on the trees. They didn’t mind our presence and continued their day to day when suddenly one has launched a looong howl – the others joined in and all of a sudden we were listening to this supernatural, poignant lament, loud and sad song of Indri.. As if they where crying for help, pleading to save their forest. I of course cried again ..
