|  | | Lemurs yes, Ayes Ayes no | | | | | Madagascar
We were really looking forward to seeing the ayes ayes and lemurs but decided to spend a few days to see Antananarivo (Tana for short). Now Madagascar is technically Africa, people look East Indian and speak French but almost every name in the country is unpronounceable.
Tana seems to share in the beehive activity of many African cities with some good French restaurants and a few good bars. Met up with some travelers at a pub met some interesting people that we joining the Peace Corp for 2 years and were stationed in Madagascar.
It is a shame that so much of the island is deforested and you can really see that from the air. So with that the lemur population is dwindling and the ayes ayes are on the brink of extinction. The locals see them as a harbinger of death and kill them when they see them.
So with a long bus ride we were off to see the lemurs. As we were walking to the place we were staying a local truck drive picked us up and we jumped on the back with the locals. We did not know if he was going to stop so we had to jump out of the moving truck. We landed on our feet so it was not moving that fast but fun none the less.
We were supposed to go for a night walk with a guide but he left without us. We stared out on our own in the pitch dark with the comfort of knowing that there were no carnivores, snakes or spiders that would put the beat down on us. We did not see any lemurs or anything for that matter. I could barely see Ed.
We lined up a guide for the next day and would try again. The next day we hike for a bit with some other tourists that we really loud so I didn’t like out chances of seeing them. Our guide picked up on this and headed off in another direction. Lemurs are as loud as a police siren so they are easy to find. They are amazingly quick and athletic and bounce around the trees with amazing agility. We watched them for about an hour and it was another great experience.
We did not however get to see the ayes ayes. I ended up getting sick and was not the keen for a 2 day bus ride to go further north to see them. I think the woods in Alberta are full of them so I will see them the next time that I go hiking.
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