July 20, 2004
"Majunga outing"
by Laurel Redding

On our off day between dropping off and picking up Earthwatch teams, the fossa team staff treated itself to an outing of spelunking in caves about 60 km away from Majunga (see Sean's dispatch for more info). I think, however, for most people, the highlight of the day was our lunch spot. Since it was fady to bring food in or near the caves, Pierrot announced that we would go somewhere near the nearest village to eat.

The spot was quite a find! The scenery was absolutely gorgeous - right out of a romanticized Disney movie - a beautiful swimming hole surrounded by smaller pools, palm trees, and bunches of rocks to sit and eat on, with a breath-taking waterfall about 100 m away.

Our makeshift lunch - purchased from various epiceries around Majunga - was quickly devoured to take advantage of the warm weather for swimming (and washing off the mounds of dust and dirt we had accumulated from the ride over!) and sunning. Someone even had the intelligence to bring along an inflatable tube! In addition, we had the good fortune see a troupe of relatively tame sifakas who were quite used to eager tourists.

We were able to get very near them, watch them play, see a mother with its baby, feed them bananas, even pet them! It was very special, despite the fact that these were conspicuously not wild animals behaving in their natural way or habitat. It was nevertheless a treat and hopefully willl have made all those involved more appreciative of their wild counterparts and more devoted to their conservation.