We like to move it move it!

This weekend we traveled up to the National Park of Andasibe to see the lemurs. The park is 3-4hrs east of Tana so on Saturday we loaded up the vans and drove north to the capital. We stopped at several small markets along the way to pick up souvenirs. We ate lunch at the mall in Tana before continuing east to the national park. It was a total of 6-7hrs of travel (290km) that included lots of CME learning, Disney singing, and sleeping. 

On our way there, we saw a 3 car train on the tracks and all the Malagasy interpreters got very excited! I had noticed earlier in the week how the train tracks always had a lot of people walking on them but didn't really put two and two together. Eleanor explained to me that the government built a lot of train tracks across the country but the trains aren't used very much so now people use the tracks as pedestrian walkways. 

We arrived at Hôtel Feon'ny Ala around dinnertime and got settled into our thatched bungalows. There were 4 twin beds nestled in the loft and 1 full bed on the main level of the bungalow. JillRae, Yolanda, Meg and I took residence in the loft while Chesley was able to enjoy the main area without our craziness bothering her! The hotel is appropriately named to mean "Song of the Forest" bc the bungalows literally sit on the edge of the Réserve Spéciale d'Analamazaotra and we woke up to the roar of the lemurs calling out to each other. 

The next morning we packed up our things and headed to Vakôna Lemur Forest. The lemurs live on an island separated from the mainland by a small strip of river. We had to get on a canoe to cross and then we were surrounding my fun-loving lemurs eager for bananas! The most surprising part of the lemurs was how light they are! They would gently jump onto your shoulders and begin climbing all over you for fun!! We got some great pictures and videos and JillRae had a lemur friend follow her back to the boats, clearly asking to go home with her to America. 

Our group was so large that the Malagasy guides couldn't take us all out on the canoe adventure to the other lemur islands at the same time. But several of us who have been canoeing before volunteered to paddle so the whole group could go together! We found several other pods of lemur families and even a couple babies hanging onto their mamas! 

The ring tailed lemurs were the last ones we saw bc they are secluded from the rest of the lemurs. Apparently they can get a little feisty and don't play well with others...

After the lemur park we drove west to Moramanga for a birthday surprise! Today is Ebony's 29th bday and yesterday was Pastor Honey's bday so we ate lunch at a French bakery where they had custom cakes made for them!! Both were so surprised and the cakes were delicious!

We continued on to the chameleon and reptile reserve to see some of the native reptiles. We saw geckos, snakes, chameleons, and more! The chameleons were beautiful colors and ranged in size from a few cm to over a foot.

This was our last stop as a group before heading to the airport so naturally we had to take a group picture and video everyone dancing to "I like to move it move it". Definitely going to miss this amazing group of people!!