26 May – Leapin’ Lemurs (Tana: pics to follow when I have faster internet)

I had Solof come by today so I could get out of town and see a few of the sights.  We didn’t start early, but our first stop was just in town, the zoo and botanical garden (Tsimbazaza).  This city has many great features that would be world class if they had just a little maintenance, and I’d put this at the top of the list.

I didn’t expect much of the zoo itself since I’ve seen zoos in developing countries before, and I wasn’t far off the mark.  Some of the cages were very well-maintained, but most weren’t.  Custodians were chasing a rat around one of the bird cages, and all the vitrine displays at the herp house badly needed washing.  That notwithstanding, the zoo is probably the only chance I’ll have to see a fosa, and I’m glad I did.  I think I was told that the fosa is the only carnivore on the island, and it’s an interesting creature.  It’s the size of a medium dog but somewhat catlike in shape, long, sleek and muscular.  One fosa was ok in its cage, but another was pacing up and down the side with a worrisome dementia intensity.

The other interesting animal was the mouse lemur.  In a day with a certain amount of cute in it for me, this little creature was near the top of the list.  How did George Lucas miss this when he was coming up with cute little animals for Star Wars?  I saw this little guy in the night house (they’re nocturnal) ambling up a stick.  The mouse lemur is a true lemur, somewhat similar to a monkey…but it would easily fit in the palm of your hand.  It really is the size of a field mouse, but it has four legs, the legs have hands with fingers at the end of them, there’s a tail, and it has the cutest little lemur face with big eyes.  I didn’t take a picture because I didn’t want too blind it, but it has to be one of the neatest little animals going.

From there, I strolled around the other caged lemurs before heading over to a lake with big, open islands in it that had lemur troops on them.  Lemurs can’t swim, so the island lets them wander, climb and play without risk of escape.  It’s a fine alternative to the cages.

Which calls to mind the overall park plan.  I was constantly thinking of the big botanical garden at Entebbe, Uganda while I was here because this park has several large lakes and some constructed habitats that maintain the appropriate animals.  In the center of the park, for example, there’s a heronry that has several species of day and night herons happily roosting.  As you walk through the big area, you see big bamboo stands, big papyrus stands, huge elephant ear plants up to 15’ tall and even a little pine forest.  Tsimbazaza is really a beautiful getaway from the congestion and fumes of Tana.  I wish it could be maintained a bit better – it’s a jewel in the rough.

From here, we drove out of town to visit another site, the Lemurs Park.  And again, my expectations were exceeded.  This is a smallish private park that has an educational function as well as one of rehabilitating rescued lemurs.  The park has ten different types of lemurs, and each lives in an area designed for its needs.  I had a long view of a mongoose lemur, an animal I’m unlikely to see in the wild, and there were lots of views of other types.  Of all these, though, it was the Verreaux’s Sifaka  that got my attention.

One of the distinctive aspects of a sifaka is that it can’t walk – something to do with the hip.  So if a sifaka is on the ground and not jumping from tree to tree, it has to jump instead of walk.  This has given them the name of “dancing lemur,” and that seems very appropriate.  One of the first sifakas I saw leapt to the ground and jumped off to another tree.

The one that got me, though, was a bored one-year-old who was just dying to play with someone, and when I walked up, he decided it was going to be me.  I was taking advantage of the very tired parents to get a good sifaka photo when the little one came jumping at me and almost scared me to death.  I was having flashbacks to monkey assaults in Zambia and India and to gorilla completion in Uganda.  Of course I jumped, and when I did so, we bonded.  Every time I tried to get a picture of the active little guy, he’d run at the camera or he’d run up and grab my pants leg.  The park guide was about to hit the ground laughing.  She was supposed to keep me from playing with the juvenile, but it was just too funny watching him tag me and expect me to chase him and then to watch him do the same thing again.  And he didn’t want to play with Solof or the guide; it was me.  What a cute and funny animal.

  We went on a little way further and came to the turtle enclosure where the park had three of the four endangered Madagascar turtles.  I’d seen the radial turtle at other sites, but the great thing here is that there were some really small babies.  We watched for a while as a baby who’d fallen into tiny basin of water worked to get out.  The poor thing would get about 49.9% out but fall back in every time with its legs waving.  Solof was for an immediate extraction, but the guide told us to wait.  Sure enough, it got out on its own.

We then headed back into Tana, where Solof invited me to stop by his place.  I went, and I had a fine visit with his wife.  They make banana chips when Solof isn’t doing the tour thing, so we had some of their chips and some beer.  DELICIOUS!  I’m bringing a big bag home.

Walked to the Sakamanga afterwards though the Av de la Independence and caved for the night.