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July 27, 2003

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This morning we visited a 'private reserve,' land set aside by local entrepreneurs to showcase local flora and fauna. The most famous of these is Berenty, but it's too expense - over $100 per day for a visit - so we go to a cheaper option on the other end of town - same animals, no fancy verandas or restaurants.
Lemurs are great leapers. They fly from branch to branch. On the ground they can hop, crawl on all fours, or stand upright and dance-walk.
If a lemur could talk he would ask one question: "Do you have a banana?"
To leave Tolagnaro by land takes a minimum of 45 continuous hours on a crowded bus until you reach the main roads and towns. Rather than take that endurance test, we jumped on another Air Mad flight which hopped us a few hundred kilometers up the coast, to Tolear. From here we caught a taxi brousse, or bush taxi, which is a large flatbed with picnic bench seats in the back. The taxi brousse struggled along the sand until we reached a small beach town, Ifaty, where we spent the night.