Today is what I thought observing lemurs was going to be like. This week, we were at the Valohoaka site (Meaning “eight windows”, where I previously worked as an assistant), so I felt a lot of nostalgia this week. Although we didn’t reach the Sifaka before they woke up, they were still fairly close by and spent most of the morning leisurely feeding, and they kept traveling to a bare minimum. It was great observing them resting and grooming in the sunlight. We were taking it easy, sometimes resting our feet because they were in the same place for so long. It was great being able to take a break from sprinting through the forest, watching them stay in one place for a bit.

We even saw a flat-tailed gecko, completely camouflaged to match a stick, patterns and stripes matching with the coloration of the bark and uneven edges to prevent sticking out. The only signs of life were two eyes, not even perfect circles, and 2 nostril slits. It was hard to see where the gecko stopped and the stick started.
We also saw a very large, hairy caterpillar that was very annoyed about being moved, so he raised his head high and appeared angry.

After Alicia scared them (as part of her experiment on stress), they were moving very quickly and traveled far, but we managed to catch up with them feeding after a bit. From then on, we followed them down steep tracks and climbed back up, but most of the time we were able to observe them feeding. It was a beautiful, sunny day, and though the lemurs were silhouetted, it was cool to see them climbing up the tall trees and hanging vines on the steep cliff. It seemed very much like classic rainforest. At some points when they were along the ridge, we were eye level with them as they leaped gracefully from tree to tree.

A bunch of noisy Varecia came through, strutting their black and white fur and creating trouble with the sifaka. The varecia do not jump gracefully. We watched the turf wars, and the varecia chased them away. So we climbed up the steep cliffs after them until they finally settled down after a bit more feeding. a bunch of red bellied lemurs came through as well, leaping wildly from branch to branch, following the leader, with their tails swinging like pendulums. It was wonderful seeing three types of lemurs all in the same place. After they went to sleep, we went back and watched the varecia a bit longer, but they were not happy to see us, and they growled and pooped on us to assert their dominance.

Back at the camp, we saw a bunch of red bellied lemurs pass over the treetops. It was incredible watching them as the sun set over the canopy as their sillhoutes went out of sight.
And to top it off, we had French fries and pasta for dinner!