August 18, continued
That evening, there was a big farewell party for us thrown by the people of Andranofasika. It involved local folklore dances composed especially for the occasion. This year's theme was "Save the humans", as previous years had covered "Save the fossas" and "Save the forest". The idea was that the dancers would be commemorating the theme that by preserving the fossas and their local ecosystem, they would be preserving their own way of life, and the quality thereof.
In exchange for the lovely dance and tribute to our work, we were expected to give the dancers some money, not unlike a tip. This was fine with us, as it helped underscore the other reason to preserve fossas and the ecosystem: it keeps the rich foreigners coming back.
After the formal performance, a general dance broke out, with the music evenly divided between stuff Americans were known to like (i.e. stuff Luke liked) and stuff that was popular in the region. I danced for a while, then got tired and started walking back to camp.
I didn't have a light with me and I was alone, so the walk was made solely by starlight. The stars were exceptionally bright and clear, and I wished like hell I could photograph them properly, but nonetheless I could barely make out the road at all. It was a memorable walk, unlike any other I've ever taken. Eventually, I found the camp, located my tent largely by memory, and went to sleep. I was beginning to be troubled by the unpleasant dreams that I understand are a side effect of Lariam, the antimalarial medication I was on. Supposedly the dreams kick in after two or three weeks on the stuff, and go away when you stop taking it. Being persecuted, hunted, or chased seems to be a popular though not universal theme.
August 19
On waking in the morning, I filled in my journal entry for the previous night and got packed. We all took a group photo and headed off towards Mahajunga in a taxi-bousse. On the way, however, we stopped to visit a fossil site Luke knew about, and in the distance I could see this:
Slash-and-burn in action. One last bit of interesting Madagascar trivia: for much of the trip, Luke was studying satellite imagery of Malagasy forests. He'd gotten two sets of images, one from 1990 and one from 2000, if I recall rightly. He was trying to work out how much the forests were being depleted, particularly the protected forests. There are two levels of governmental protection for forests in Madagascar, which we'll call level A and level B. Level B protection restricts what a forest may be used for. These, like Ankarafantsika, tend to be thick with biologists like Luke or the Germans up the road, studying some of Madagascar's unique lifeforms. Level A protection prohibits anyone from entering or using the forest: it is an inviolate preserve of undisturbed nature. Over the ten years Luke was looking at, the level B forests had an average area loss of 13%, which isn't good. The level A forests had an average loss of 25%. With nobody allowed in the forest, there was nobody on the ground to prevent local farmers from doing what they've done for centuries: destroying their own land for a few short weeks of grazing. Draw what lessons you will, but I will say this: if you want to see Madagascar for yourself, go soon. I wouldn't want to guess how much longer there will be much there to see.