Madagascar - 1 September 2023

 After a leisurely start we headed off to the local arboretum, to explore the plant life found in Madagascar.  There is a lot to see but we were surprised by how much has been introduced from South/Central America and Asia.   We did get a few great surprises at the arboretum.

First we found the biggest chameleon species found on Madagascar: Parson’s Chameleon.  We started with a juvenile one, which was bright orange.  They change their colour to green when they reach adulthood, and then don’t change their colours at all when fully grown, unlike other chameleons.  This was followed by a male adult, which was very gentle and allowed us to hold him.  We also treated him to a few crickets, the girls loved how his tongue shot out to grab the crickets.  Lastly we found a female, which was very shy and timid within the leaves. 

There is a large variety of fruits can be found in locally, of which we tried a few.  The ones that really stood out were the “magical berries” that after eating made sour things taste sweet.  We tested this very scientifically by trying a sour lemon first, eating a magical berry and then trying the same lemon again.  It really was SWEET tasting! 

The other interesting fruit was the Jaboticaba.  They looked like small black grapes with thick skin with very sweet white flesh on the inside.  What is interesting about them is that the fruit all grows directly on the main truck or branches.  Additionally we also learnt that figs are actually flowers (inflorescence) rather than fruits. 

The arboretum took up the morning, and in the afternoon we headed to the thermal spring/pool.  It was not exactly what we expected…  We had to find somebody to unlock the little hut which held the source of the thermal spring before it went into the individual baths (actual baths for people to wash in).  The girls tested the water and it was hot.   The pool was also fed by the thermal spring and also very warm.  As the girls said, it was like swimming in wee.  Needless to say, we only stayed in the the wee-water pool for a short duration before heading back to our resort.

As yesterday’s night walk was so interesting, we decided to do it again.  This time we got to see more mouse lemurs, and Robyn managed to get some better picutures of it.  And we also got to see a lot more chameleons this time, baby/tiny ones, and some bigger ones as well.  Robyn also showed off her supernatural talent of finding these very well camouflaged creatures!  Our guide said she could become a spotter soon, all she has to do is learn all their names - English and scientific of course!