Madagascar - Pt 1
October-November 2023
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Lemurs, tsingys, and baobab trees...I just had to go see them in Madagascar. So, I went to see all three with my granddaughter, Olivia. We were not disappointed.
Madagascar, off the east coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean, is the fourth largest island in the world. It was formed 180 million years ago when it split off from supercontinent Gonwana, leaving Africa a bit smaller. It is 226,658 square miles, much bigger than Wisconsin at 45,496 square miles. It has 29 million residents to Wisconsin's 5.9 million, giving both the same population density of 128 people per square mile. However, Madagascar is growing at almost two percent per year, which lead to 70 percent of its forest cover being replaced by farmland---and the decimation of its legendary lemur population and other animals.
Black lemur, one of 110 species in Madagascar
 Unknown lemur species |  Ringed tail lemur |
With granddaughter and the boat we were on for four days
Temporary villages are built on flooded sandbars, then abandoned with a flood.
Countless dugout canoes ply the rivers of Madagascar.
Washing clothes...and bodies...at a village riverbank
Olivia made fast friends in a river village.
A typical village hut....with no AC.and only solar power for rare lights
Charcoal is made (by cutting down Madagascar's forests) and sold to riverbank traders.
An iguana climbing a river shrub.
This man cut tall grass for sale as roof thatch at a local market.
Our vehicle boarded this barge to cross the river (scaring Olivia).
The man is building his house.
A tsingy forest, filled with karst formations of limestone that are extremely sharp
In the indigenous Malagasy language, tsingy means "that which one cannot walk on," as the rocks are extremely sharp.
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