Nature Diary. Xue Bine

Transcription

1 Nature Diary Xue Bine Hong Kong Antananarivo Suddenly I became very nervous when doing the packing. It s my first time to use backpack, and it looked quite cool when I finished the packing and carried it on my back. There was still some time left before I needed to set off and I could feel my heart beat. So I decided to read to calm myself. I had one Orchids of Asia on my desk. I have borrowed it for some time, but always could not find time to read it. I never tried to learn orchids systematically. There are too many genus and species there and I always felt dizzy when I started trying to get to know them. But this book was quite good, with clear descriptions and nice photos, I began to remember some genera. The acquisition of new knowledge soon calmed me down. Not as excited as I thought when I got on to the flight and arrived at Madagascar. I felt not well prepared and afraided that I could not make the best of this learning opportunity. The excitement seemed much more intense when I prepared the trip by reading books/papers, watching videos/documentaries, downloading plant photos etc Tana We got up early today to watch birds. It was still dark when we went out. But it became brighter little by little. There was a nice yard with some trees in the hotel. Several birds were flying between these trees. I was so excited to catch some birds with my binoculars. There were some egrets flying to the water in the field. On our way to the bus, we saw some local children who were enjoying themselves by blowing small pieces of plastic bags up to the sky. They seemed quite happy with this game. And when they saw us, they smiled sweetly. Later, we saw many more children, and when we waved at them, they would wave and smile to us quite innocently. There was a little girl who followed us and walked for a long distance by our car when we drove through the village slowly. She was not wearing any shoes and had some old and shabby clothes on her body. She was also carrying a little brother or sister on her back. She must be an elder child in a poor family and needed to share her parents duty of looking after the young. A little girl in the city 1

2 All in all, people in this capital city looked quite poor. Their clothes looked shabby. There were only a few tall buildings. People just burnt the rubbish openly and the air was quite dusty. I even saw some people searching through the rubbish on the street. However, even in such a poor city, I saw the advertisement of i phone and L'OREAL. These luxury things also have found their markets even in such a poor country. So both rich and poor can be found in this city and the gap is large. It's not comfortable to witness the poor people s life Tana Tulear Isalo It was cold when we set off from Tana by flight to Tulear in the south but it was quite sunny in Tulear. Tana is in high altitude and that s why it was cooler there. I was excited when we found ourselves in such a sunny places with such a blue sky in Tulear. On the way driving to the Arboretum of Antsokay, there were wide views of dry field with cacti like plants scattered with some trees. I have put my water in the large backpack and they have been put onto the roof of the car. So I have the chance to experience hours of dryness which is just a drop in the ocean compared to the continuous months of drought that the plants and animals need to suffer. It was a long way drive to Isalo after the visit to the Arboretum. There were only miles of miles of dry and yellow grasses against the blue sky. Some baobab trees showed up! So excited to see them and I didn t expect to see them so early. They were so huge and handsome and they were the only large trees standing out in the grassland. They were so tough to tolerate the dry weather here and so smart to store water in the trunk. It s really amazing for these trees to grow that big in such hostile environment! Finally, we arrived at Isalo and needed to get down to walk to our campsite. The very nice moon and stars in the sky relieved my muscle fatigue. The very beautiful flower of Crotalaria grevei added strength and joy to me. Crotalaria grevei in Isalo We had our romantic dinner in candle light under the bright stars and surrounded by mountains. We had group discussion tonight. I found that I am so ignorant in birds today. I needed to be more patient in the coming days. 2

3 Isalo We hiked into the mountain with lots of trees, lots of streams, lots of birds and some special surprise for me several nice plants with flowers! I met the first orchid here, although quite small, it was very delicate. I felt so happy to have our wonderful guides who knew everything from birds, lemurs to plants. When we came back to our campsite for lunch, it was such a big surprise for us that the Ring tail Lemurs were just walking around and jumping around 15m away from our campsite! I took a lot of pictures and didn't expect to get so close to them. We even got many Red fronted Brown Lemurs as well! Quite different from the Ring tail Lemur we came across in the Lenurs Park in Tana, which became very aggressive probably because of its poor experience with human in the pet trade, these lemurs in Isalo were very comfortable with our company. If we be kind to the animals around us, they will trust us and we Red-fronted Brown Lemur in our camp site can stay close to them. We had our productive night walk tonight, and saw some frogs and the Malagasy Scops Owl. I was hoping to see some lemurs resting on the trees. But I didn't see them Isalo Ranomafana We left Isalo in the early morning. I love this campsite very much. On our way, we saw thousands of cattle walking with some farmers. Our guide Desi told us that the farmers walked these cattle to the market in Tana and it would take them 7 weeks to get there. That's a very long journey. Don't know whether the farmers and cattle enjoyed this long walk. Public transport is quite poor in Madagascar. There are roads but they are not fully used. We didn't meet many local cars or trucks. I wonder whether these roads were built just for tourism. There was only one railway from east coast to Tana built by the French for goods transportation. However, it was so slow that it needed about 20 hours to travel for 300 km. Everything in Madagascar is very slow. We finally got close to the forest. I got very excited to see the forests. When Desi told us that we would walk into that forest, my mind was full of expectation. The night walk was also quite exciting with the very cute mouse lemurs and lots of 3

4 chameleons. Desi and Rhodin had such sharp eyes in spotting them in the dark Ranomafana The walk today was very difficult!. But it's worthwhile. We saw Golden Bamboo Lemur, Greater Bamboo Lemur, Red bellied Lemur, Red fronted Brown lemur as well as the Milne Edward's Sifaka. I loved the Greater Bamboo Lemurs the most. They just sat on a branch 2 metres away from us. Their trust on people worried me a lot. If there are some people trying to hunt them, they will be caught very easily. Hope no people would hurt them. Greater Bamboo Lemur which sit close to us for a long time Our guide Rhodin worked very hard to mimic some bird calls to draw some birds near us. We even saw one Blue Vanga with his help, which made other students quite envious. We continued our night walk and I spotted 4 chameleons! They were so cute just lying on the leaf or branch Ranomafana Miandrivazo (River bank campsite) We had to say goodbye to Ranomafana. I did not want to say goodbye to this rain forest park at all. The mist in the morning reminded me of my first field trip in Lushan Arboretum in my UG year 1 where I enjoyed a lot seeing and learning so many beautiful plants. I thought I was in the wonderland. We were so lucky that we stopped to have a good view of Ranomafana on our way out and we found a flowering orchid growing on the wet rock. This is the first orchid species that I could identify. Sze and I were very happy to found this Cynorkis lowiana. The whole day drive ended by some pleasant surprises. We stopped on the bank of a river and there were some nice tents dotted on the opposite bank. The local people took us across the river with their Cynorkis lowiana in Ranomafana 4

5 long and narrow canoes. It was wonderful sitting on the canoe surrounded by water and feeling the gentle movement of the mountains and trees around us. We had the unforgettable breath taking sunset and a rainbow on the sky. The bright stars came out to accompany us after sunset. The local people helped our guides to make a fire for us on the beach. And they prepared a wonderful dinner with pork soup, beef, chips, carrots, cabbages, tomatoes, bananas and oranges for us. It was such a marvelous evening! Miandrivazo Kirindy The local people prepared nice breakfast for us again and took us across the river by the nice canoes. We waved goodbye to them and continued our whole day drive. We passed the Palm Valley on the way. The local people use the palm leaves for roofing and decorating. Finally, we reached the lovely Baobab Avenue! Actually, before that, some huge baobab trees had already scattered in the field or near the road. They were the only giant in this area. Deducing from the density of the baobab trees in the Baobab Avenue, there should be far more trees before. Desi told us that the trees here were about 1000 years old. There was a tree with the lower part Flower and fruit of Adansonia grandidieri bark peeled in a circle. The local people used it for roofing. And it's so special the trees can still survive and keep on growing after that. I even saw there were some flowers and fruits on the top of the tree. That's out of my expectation. And I was overjoyed to see them Kirindy It was a whole day exploration in this nice dry deciduous forest. We saw the nocturnal Red tailed Sportive Lemur having sun bath on top of a trunk. It was so cute. Desi asked us to be quiet in order not to frighten it as well as to make sure that everyone had the chance to see it. He was quite considerate both to us and to the animals. The forest was really dry with lots of dried leaves covering the forest floor. The withered leaves were large in size. And only the small leaves were still green on the trees. This was my first walk in a dry deciduous forest. It was nice with thick yellow 5

6 leaves on the ground and clean blue sky over the head. There were three species of Baobab trees in this forest. And thanks to Desi and the local guide, we could see Adansonia rubrostipa and super huge Adansonia za besides of most common Adansonia grandidieri, which we also saw in the Baobab Avenue. Fruit of Adansonia rubrostipa We also saw several Couas in close distance including the Giant Coua, Crested Coua and Coquerel's Coua. The blue skin around their eyes was so nice and beautiful. Xoni and Simon arranged a big surprise for us during the dinner. It was Yanny's birthday. And they had planned it considerately. It's so touching Kirindy Antsirabe It was another whole day drive again! I always felt tired on the car. But our driver could always keep awake and concentrated. Thanks to our driver Mark so much. I realized that we had only 4 days left for this precious trip. I felt that I didn't make the best use of this learning opportunity to learn things and get to know the people Antsirabe Nice countryside! Lovely wheat! People enjoyed their quiet and slow life. To me, this village looked like a fairyland described in Tao Yuanmin's article. People just enjoyed their farming. Their life was in peace with self sufficient food and no luxury demands. There were some people putting a stall on the road side to sell their extra farming products: sugarcanes, sweet potatoes etc. But they were never eager to sell their goods out at all. It seems they were enjoying sitting in front of their products, and eating some slices of sugarcanes with the children. When Benny gave her 200 Ai, it seemed she didn't care how much we took. She just kept on nodding her head. It was totally different when we walked in the town in the afternoon. When some of us were exchanging money in the bank, I was waiting outside. Soon, a boy came to me to ask for biscuits. And then, some women came up to sell their Lovely wheats in the sun 6

7 necklaces. Some of us bought it. But they didn't leave. In the contrary, they kept on following us, hoping us to buy more. Some even just wanted to ask for money. These people were struggling to live in the town without farm land or a job Antsirabe Andasibe We were very excited when we arrived at Andasibe. Our hotel's name is Feon'ny Ala, which means the sound of the forest. It was because the hotel was so close to the forest that the unique call of the indri can be heard clearly. Our hut is quite nice with wooden stairs leading to the door which is facing the forest. The roof is made from the leaves of Traveler's Palm, which were stacking very tightly. When sitting on the stairs, we could see many birds flying around and jumping in the trees. Suddenly, some loud calls echoed in the forest. It was the Indri! Just the same as what I heard from the BBC documentary. The call came nearer and nearer. I tried hard to search for them in the trees, but still could not see them. Anyway, we would see them tomorrow. I felt that I was living in a paradise in front of the forest where the Indri was living happily. Delicate thatch made from the leaves of Traveller's Palm The night walk turned out to be a little bit disappointing with few lemurs, chameleons and frogs. But I was excited to see the shining eyes deep in the forest. I saw these bright eyes three times that night Andasibe I was very happy walking in the forest with so many trees. It was the last day to walk to see wildlife in Madagascar. And it turned out the happiest day for me. We saw the Indri and the Diademed Sifaka in the forest. We even saw the Blue Coua, which was so nice and stayed not far from us for a long time. Thanks to Desi, I saw the flowering Bulbophyllum sp. and the fruits of Tambourissa sp in Andasibe 7

8 Tambourissa sp. in Monimiaceae. This family is very unique in its hollowed floral receptacle which forms a cup to hold the stigmas, stamens or fruits inside. One night in Antsirabe, I even saw fruits of this family in my dreams. It's so cool that I finally saw it in the last day. I enjoyed walking in the forest so much that I even didn t want to go back to the hotel for lunch. In the end of the morning hike, Desi took us to see the nightjar. The camouflage was perfect! I could not see them using my naked eyes and only can tell from the photo where their eyes reflected the flash lights. After lunch time, I was so disappointed when Billy announced that the afternoon walk was canceled because of short of time. How I wish I could seize the last afternoon to see more plants here! However, it was not good time to see plants since few have flowers in this time of the year. So I decided to stay in the hotel and just watched the wildlife there. Quite surprised to me, one Indri was feeding in a big tree just in front of our hotel about 20m away from us with nothing blocking the view in between. It was so relaxing and picking leaves here and there on the tree. It was a great joy just watching them eating happily. Desi was very considerate. Seeing us disappointed last night with few wildlife to see, he decided to "put more wildlife in the An Indri feeding happily in a tree near our hotel forest for us". He bought tickets in one forest and took us into the forest in the last night safari. I was much happier walking in the forest than on the road side. And we saw more things than yesterday. After dinner and our group meeting, we went to search for frogs for the last time. There were so many lovely frogs rested in the ginger leaves. It was nice to meet them in the last night Andasibe Tana Hong Kong It was time to say goodbye. I always could not learn to value the people around me until the time to say goodbye. We all were keen to have photos with Desi and Rhodin when departing the hotel in the morning, and have photos with each other in the airport. The happiness of a trip can always last from the expectation and preparation before the trip, to the experience during the trip, and it carries on after the trip. For this trip, the purest joy was in the first stage, when I was full of expectation for this island of 8

9 unique biodiversity. Moreover, all my expectation was on the good aspects including beautiful natural scenery, lots of various vegetation with all kinds of plants and lemurs enjoying their life inside. I didn't expect to see the people there living in such a poor condition. I didn't expect to see such severe deforestation. In the days when we had our long drives in Madagascar, 90% of the scenery we saw were just miles of miles of grasslands. Forests occur only in national parks. I knew from the Internet that since the arrival of humans 2000 years ago, it has lost more than 90% of its original forest. But when I was in Madagascar and saw the extent of deforestation by myself, I still felt shocked and heavy in heart. There were always conflicts between conservation and people's livelihood especially in poor countries. In order to make a living, people practice slash and burn agriculture. I think eco tourism is a good way to balance these two, not only bringing income to the local people, but also make them to treasure the natural resources they have. I hope the fate of the elephant bird and the giant lemur won't happen to the still surviving wildlife in Madagascar now. Finally, thanks Billy and K11 for this precious learning opportunity very much. It was such a great thrill to see the giant Baobab trees, all kinds of lovely lemurs, birds and chameleons. Thanks our guides Desi and Rhodin and so many local guides to share us so many things about the wildlife as well as people s life in Madagascar. And thanks all the friends for all kinds of sharing during the trip. 9