August 4, 2004
"An evening census in a fragment in the Savannah"
by Dorte Newman

I went out with Haley (one of the American students) to do an afternoon and evening lemur census. Haley is doing a thesis on the lemur population in Madagascar.

We left camp at 2.30 and walked through the forest to the Savannah, and then through part of the Savannah to a preselected fragment. Then we did the afternoon census, this entails walking at 1km/hour pace searching all the trees for lemurs. The trail is walked twice to get a better chance of spotting the animals. Unfortunately we did not see any lemurs but we did see a few birds.

The night census had to take place after dark, so we settled down and had a snack. It is an incredible feeling sitting on the edge of a fragment in the Savannah watching the sun go down.

At about 6.30 – 7.00 we put our headlights on and took our searchlights and walked the trail again. We saw three mouse lemurs but it is very hard to spot the lemurs as you can only see their piercing red or orange eyes once you catch them with your searchlight, they are also usually hidden within the treetops.

After the census we thought we saw a bush fire in the Savannah but it turned out to be the rising of the moon.

On our way back through the Savannah we saw a scorpion fighting with a large spider, it was quite fun to watch until the spider ran away. As we were walking through the forest Haley spotted a mouse lemur sitting in a tree about 1 to 1.5 meters from the trail. It was great to see the whole animal, not just the eyes, and the best way to end a great experience.