The Lemurs of Madagascar

Lemurs of Madagascar

Lemurs of Madagascar are some of the most unusual and unique in the entire world.  Those of us who love to travel all have a “bucket list,” and usually we have that list prioritized. Like all such travelers, I have a mental bucket list. But, let me be honest; Madagascar was never on my list anywhere–not even the bottom ten!  There are so many exotic places to

visit that I never even considered Madagascar as an option.  But, in the Fall of 2015, my husband received an invitation to teach in Madagascar for eight days.  An invitation is an invitation; so we happily accepted.

Getting to the island itself is a challenge.  After a long day’s travel from Johannesburg to Nairobi, we arrived in the capital of Antanarivo late at night.  Before we began teaching, our hosts offered to spend a day hosting us around a part of the island—their homeland.  Without a doubt, the high point of that day was our visit to the Lemur Park about an hour’s drive from Antanarivo.

These exotic and fascinating primates are only found on the Island of Madagascar.  Lemurs live in bamboo trees and survive in an extremely tropical environment.  There are 103 lemur species, and 91% of them are listed “endangered.”  In large part this endangerment is caused by the logging of the tropical forests.  A large part of that logging is generated by the extreme poverty of the island as islanders cut the forests to provide wood for heating.  For more information about lemurs, it’s easy to Google them, but for now, please enjoy this little video I’ve created of our personal Day Trip to visit the lemurs.