We were up quite early. Coffee was delivered at 4:30am and we left the camp at 5am. The camp manager was in the peace core here in Madagascar and one of his fellow peace core volunteers is visiting him. Her name is Leah and she joined us on our early morning drive. The sun was just starting to rise when we left camp. We drove to the spiny forest that we had visited the previous night so we knew where most of the lemurs were. We saw sifaka lemurs waking up. They sit in a sort of meditation pose towards the sun to warm up and dry off any condensation from the night before. Once warm they start eating.
We also saw a numbers of birds including a local parrot and some local vangas. We saw a lot of very interesting Sakalava weavers. In this species the male builds a nest and even decorates it with green branches. Then he courts the females. He starts by quivering to get her attention. Once she expresses an interest he takes her to see the nest he has built. If she likes the nest everything is good, but if she decides to reject him she knocks the nest out of the tree and he has to start all over again.
At the end of our walk we saw two nocturnal sportive lemurs, resting in the crook of a tree.
We returned to camp to have breakfast and then went out to the market which is held every Thursday. On our early morning drive we saw lots of people (many more than normal) walking, riding in a zebu pulled carts, and riding bicycles, all to get to the market. Of course the market is an opportunity to buy things, but it seems it’s most important role is to give the locals a place to connect. It was quite large and they had everything from clothes (some new and some used), pharmacueticals (including prescription antibiotics), to fruits and vegetables, wagon wheels and prepared foods. There was also a section for live stock, zebu, goats and chickens. Ther was moonshine where the men went after they sold most of their livestock.
We didn’t see a lot of people buying things, but there were a lot of people visiting with each other. This is also marrying age adolescentes look for partners. Both the girls and boys dress up in brightly colored clothes. Also the boys put a comb in their hair and the girls were their hair in a bun or flaunt a colorful formal-looking hat. We joked with Ernest that we were going to buy him a weapon and a zebu so he could attract a wife. It was VERY hot so after one circuit around the market we were ready to go back to camp. Back at camp we napped and relaxed before and after lunch.
Later that day we left the camp at 5:15 and went to the avenue of baobabs. There we met the other camp guests and had sundowners and watched the sunset. After the sunset they demonstrated how to start a fire by rubbing the sticks of the octopus tree together. Once they had a nice bonfire going, some locals came and performed traditional dances while singing.
We returned to camp, had dinner, and went to bed.