Week 6:
Ranomafana National Park!

June 30, 2019

This week we had only one workday (Tuesday the 25th) because, after Madagascar Independence Day, no one was rested enough to do proper work. Wednesday the 25th was Independence Day. We got involved in the festivities by walking in a parade through Kianjavato and attended the speeches from town officials. There was noise from parties all night long! It was interesting to see everyone dressed up to celebrate, and it was moving when everyone sang the national anthem.

Thursday, we traveled to the town of Ranomafana, right outside of Ranomafana National Park. We had intended to take a taxi brusse, but we stood on the road for 45 minutes, and none stopped. The graduate students who were traveling to Fianarra were helpful and let us ride with them, as Ranomafana is on the way to Fianarra. It was more expensive than the taxi, but it was faster, and we were squished in a van with people we knew.

We arranged to go into the park on Friday for a hike with a guide that is friends with some Madagascar Biodiversity Project workers. Thursday was beautiful; we all went souvenir shopping in town and ate so much food! Friday was wet from start to finish. I don’t remember the rain letting up at all! I found out the hard way on our 7-hour hike that my “top quality” raincoat is nowhere near waterproof enough for the rain forest! Within 30 minutes, I was soaked to the bone and had no luck wishing the rain away. Because of the storm, we did not see much wildlife. We saw a golden bamboo lemur for the briefest moment, a brown lemur curled in a tree, a leaf-tailed gecko, and tiny chameleon was about as exciting as it got.

When we stopped at a look-out spot for lunch, we could see only dense fog and rain, there was the slightest hint of trees and rocks far away, but it was nothing more than a shadow in the gloom. While we were eating, we were visited by a creature resembling a mongoose with a striped tail. This creature, as one of the other volunteers, informed me, it is not actually a member of the mongoose family but is a prime example of convergent evolution with common though ancient ancestry. Though I love being at KAFS, I must admit a warm shower after a day in the rain was so incredible I don’t have words for my level of appreciation!

We returned to the hotel for dinner before going on a night walk to see mouse lemurs and chameleons. The guide lured the mouse lemurs out with some banana smeared on a few trees. Most of the time, though, we could only see their eyes in the darkness, reflected back at us like tiny iridescent orange/red orbs flitting through the trees.

The chameleons were everywhere once we knew what to look for and where. Tiny green chameleons, the size of my index finger that have yellow feet, medium-sized ones with different shades of green, and various slight color differences, with spots and stripes. An incredibly small one with almost neon green eyes clung to vines and the tips of leaves practically always with their heads facing downward. And the second (and/or) the third-largest chameleon species is the blue-footed chameleon! I spotted the first one of the night; it was up in a tree above our heads, and though the branches were bare of leaves, I at first was sure the shape above me was a dead leaf…. That is until I pointed it out to the guide, and he shouted to the others, “Blue-footed chameleon!” The last chameleon we saw was so amazing, a young male chameleon hunched on a branch at eye level with its tail curled in the classic chameleon pose. He was giving us the evil eye for shining lights and waking him up.

During the day, chameleons stay in the canopy hunting for insects, but at night they come down to sleep on lower branches. None of the chameleons we saw made any move to get away from us or to defend themselves. I expect this is due to a few different variables: 1)they are accustomed to people 2)they thought the best course of action to evade a possible predator was to stay entirely still 3)it was too cold for them to be able to move much at all (I know I was freezing!).

Once back at the hotel, we thanked the guide and paid him and the driver. Then we all eagerly ordered hot chocolate, waiting for our turn in the nice warm shower! Saturday was beautiful again, so the only day we decided to spend all day outside was the bad weather day! We enjoyed the last full day at Ranamofana by sleeping in, eating many crepes at the hotel, then peanut brittle, and mufu from street vendors. We went shopping again for friends and relatives and generally lounged around (or at least I did).

Today we returned to KAFS with the grad students as they passed back after spending the weekend in Fianarra and making a trip to see ring-tailed lemurs. Back at KAFS, things are familiar yet alien, different from the life we are accustomed to but one we have all adapted to and grown to appreciate.

It is back to work tomorrow. This week and the next, we will be training each other for the switch from lemur monitoring to reforestation and from reforestation to lemur monitoring! I had some asthma trouble while hiking in Ranamofana, so I think I will ask to switch with Jonathan on the lemur projects we are intended to go to. The black and white ruffed lemurs tend to move around a lot more and live in harder-to-reach areas than the greater bamboo lemurs.