MADAGASCAR
I ask Angeluc about the noise and his
smirk becomes a grin. “What do you think it is?” he replies evasively. I’m tempted to suggest lemurs but it just seems too absurd. “Parrots…?” I venture, after some hesitation. Having seen huge flocks of macaws on TV shows about South America, I know they can be pretty noisy. He explodes into giggles, and that’s when I realize I’m wide of the mark. We pause to admire a screwpine, which is
A ring-tailed lemur in the Anja Community reserve
Right: Hanging screwpine fruits
essentially a giant version of the leafy part of a pineapple. Continuing along the trail, I breathe in lungfuls of the fresh forest air. Here and there, a sunbeam breaks through the canopy, spotlighting a colorful butterfly at rest on a leaf. We’re getting really close to the source of the sound when — in a sudden flurry of red, white and blue — a spectacular bird alights on a branch right in front of us. “Madagascar paradise flycatcher!”
Angeluc proudly announces. This creature is unequivocally befitting of its sobriquet, with superbly long, elegant tail feathers and a shining blue eye-ring. Exhibiting no
shyness, it’s almost as if it’s dancing for me — swooping back and forth while swishing its tail in the air. I snap some photos before wondering: how could this little bird be creating such a commotion? Angeluc reads the question on my face before I open my mouth to say it, and shakes his head with another guffaw. The flycatcher vanishes as abruptly as it
had appeared, leaving me looking about in a daze and wondering if it had been an apparition. That’s when I notice Angeluc is already several paces ahead of me and excitedly indicating something on a tree trunk. I hurry closer and peer in the direction he’s pointing, but nothing is there. He insists it’s a gecko but all I can see is gray bark patched with moss and lichen. He finds a stick with which to point out its head, eyes, legs and tail. We go through a few repetitions of this
charade and eventually I say that I think, yes, maybe I can see it now — but the truth is far from it, and I still can’t see a thing. In fact, I’m starting to wonder if he’s pranking me, when the lizard makes a
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