Tree Planting, Crocodile Meat, and the Andasibe Rainforest

Thursday, November 22, 2007

I planted my first tree in Tana. A few years ago, my mom had started a forest somewhere just outside Tana. We went there to check on its progress and were lucky that the people who maintain the forest while we’re gone carried some small trees to be planted. So we planted them. I guess that’s one of life’s goals achieved. Check.

Later on, we went to the Antananarivo Crocodile Farm where they don’t just keep hundreds of deadly crocodiles of all sizes but also snakes, chameleons, frogs, all kinds of lizards, and even lemurs and ostriches. You can finish your visit by eating crocodile meat dishes which we did. And no, it doesn’t taste like chicken but rather like fish without the smell but with a rather chewy consistency.

Crocodile farm
Crocodile farm

We left Tana once more the next morning.

We stopped in Andasibe (formerly known as “Perinet”) for a two-hour guided walk across the rainforest. The entire national park features several kinds of lemurs (which can be heard almost throughout), thousands of plant species, and hundreds of kinds of birds. About 80% of the flora and fauna is endemic. This rainforest is a little more dry than what you would expect. But it has the distinct advantage of hosting very few insects compared to your average Amazon or what-have-you. So it was fairly comfortable to walk around. The park gives you countless opportunities for photos and I spent quite some time recording the sounds there.

Andasibe rainforest
Andasibe rainforest

After lunch, we headed on to Vatomandry.