Tulear, Mozambique
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After a dry zodiac landing at a jetty our first stop was Antsokay Arboretum. We had a good guide here |
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| David saw a mouse lemur- these only up to 11 inches long- high in a tree, but my eyes were not good enough to detect it! . |
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| There were a variety of lizards and birds. |
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The Arboretum was opened around 1980 by a Swiss botanist . Endangered plants are preserved & multiplied here. |
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A curiosity was an Elephant Bird egg in their small museum. Elephant birds were once a common sight on Madagascar. They weighed at least half a tonne, stood at around 3m tall and laid giant eggs, which were bigger even than those of the dinosaurs. The elephant birds, Aepyornis and Mullerornis, lived among other remarkable species on the island, including giant lemurs, which also died out. There are a number of theories about why and when this happened, and how much humans were involved. The birds had massive legs, taloned claws and a long, powerful neck
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The Elephant Bird was much bigger than an ostrich, and its eggs was the size of 100 hen's eggs
There were still many bullock carts to be seen
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Then we continued to the 'Reniala Dry Forest' and saw the Reniala Lemur Rehabilitation : for ex pets & injured lemurs |
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Not such a good guide here but interesting trees , lizards & even tortoises |
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| Lots of tree roots on the so called good paths! Local women paint their face with a tobacco paste in order to keep their skin paler |
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A long wet ride back in a zodiac to the ship |
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Nuestra primera parada, el 22 de diciembre, fue a Tulear, una ciudad pequena en el sur oeste de Madagascar. No necesitamos utilizar zodiacs porque habia un muelle. Visitamos dos lugares : el Antsokay Arboreto y el 'Reiwala Dry Forest'. El primer fue fundado en 1980 por un botanico de la Suiza. Vimos un raton lemur y muchos lagartos, muy buen disfrazados. Tuvimos una guia buena. En el otro lugar no habia una guia buena pero nos gustaron los baobabs de todas formas. Tambien vimos lemurs en un complejo para lemurs maltratados. Este dia habia otra expedicion por la tarde hasta una playa, Nosy Ve, para ver aves y para nadar - pero solo para personas valientes y saludables, debido a las olas y el viento .