OF THINGS STRANGE BUT TRUE, SUPERSTITION, (FADY- FAHDY) AND TABOO! 6-12 March, 2012

There are many fauna & flora species endemic to Madagascar. We have encountered but a few so far. Be that as it may, if you are used to enjoying a cup of tea whilst reading the updates, you might want to skip the tea this time round. If you add a biscuit to the mix, this is not the time to indulge!

I'll start with the strange but true: There is a little "ground cover" plant called the "blushing/bashful bride." So called because on touching the little branches of leaves, they close! We thought they were peculiar to a particular area, but this is not so. We've discovered they grow all over the show. They were hiding away in a grassy pathway at the Hotel Talinjoo.

The Bashful Bride

The other plant/tree is called a spiny plant (alluaudia). This plant resembles some form of cacti, but unlike cacti they produce small deciduous leaves which are protected by menacing thorns & spines that grow directly out of the plant's branches! Fascinating! These photos were taken at the Lemur Park, not too faraway from where we stay.

The Spiny Plant at the Lemur Park, just outside Taolagnaro (Ft Daupin)

Then we have a beautiful palm tree called the Traveller's Palm (ravenala madagascariensis). The Traveller's Palm, endemic to the eastern rain forests, is highly iconic of Madagascar and is featured in the National Emblem as well as the Air Madagascan logo, and on the money notes. It is so called because the branches of the leaves collect water and so travellers can quench their thirst during droughts. The one in the photo is growing outside our back door which we never use. Ha!ha! Quench one's thirst, when the palm is endemic to the eastern rain forests! Classic! However, one can plant this palm in any suitable climate and then the laugh is on me!

Moving on to the fauna:
Thanks to that wonderful movie, Madagascar, with the "I like to move it, move it" lemur, everyone knows everything about lemurs? What I bet you don't know is where the name "lemur" comes from.....we now start progressing towards the, "let's not have tea & biscuits now" part of the update!

Lemurs are named after "lemures" (ghosts or spirits) of Roman mythology due to the ghostly vocalizations, reflective eyes, and the nocturnal habits of some species! (Yes, it makes for informative ghost stories round the camp fire!) But lemurs are far from ghostly animals. There are well over 100 species and most eat a wide variety of fruits and leaves. The lemurs in the movie are based on the Sifaka lemurs because they are especially adapted to vertical clinging and leaping, so they must hop sideways to move on the ground. (They gave us a fantastic display of their movement on the ground when we visited the Berenty Forest Reserve......they are my favourite lemur.)

Lemurs, when eating small pieces of banana out of your open palm, often clasp your hand with their fingers while eating and I was very surprised at how soft their little hands are to the touch. The ring-tail lemurs are the inquisitive, cheeky, noisy ones, while the Sifakas we encountered on this trip were laid back, lazy, having their siesta in the top branches of the trees. I'm sure they're not always like that.
The Sanford's Brown Ring Collared lemurs came to eat with their babies clutching onto them and understandably rushed off as soon as they had eaten.

Moving on..........
Across the way from the "Purple Shop" in town (by the way, this is where I purchase my toiletries, such as shampoo, hair conditioner, body lotion, deo, nail varnish remover etc. One can purchase grocery items, chocolates, biscuits, long life milk as well as underwear, shoes, clothing, sewing thread, handkerchiefs....) but wait, I digress...amongst the buildings there are the most spectacular spiders' webs I've ever seen in my whole life!

Humungus (nice word!), massive spiders have taken up residence,

it seems, on a permanent basis. The documented superstition has parents feeding the stomach of this spider to their little ones to make them as strong and hardy as the spider. To protect them, the children, that is. I leave that for you to digest!

The Lanirano river was the place of our first attempted "rubber duckie" excursion. Hilton's first trip with the boat he and his mate Andre have bought. (We thought good idea to practice on the river before heading out to sea!) I will share this particular outing with you and the spectacular photos we took, in a later update.
What I do want to tell you...the name of the river comes from a story about a sorcerer. Legend or myth has it that many, many, many, many years ago, this person was travelling in the area and asked the locals for a drink of water. Locals being locals thought better of it and refused. So this person cursed them by sending so much water that they all drowned, all the villages were destroyed. The name of the river means "under water." To this day, the belief is that the villages are still "under the water." What is amazing, there are very shallow areas in this river, suddenly dropping off to great depth. Suffice to say, there are stories of crocodiles or a crocodile and while doing some research about the river after Kiki told me the story, I discovered this superstition, told to a tourist whilst visiting and talking to an elderly man, now living in one of the river side villages. It is customary, after babies are born to toss their umbilical cords into the river for the crocodile. Thus protecting them from the crocodile and making them strong.
Blissfully unaware of legends, myths and crocodiles, Hilton and I spent the most amazing day boating and swimming on this Lanirano river!!

Taboo - primarily associated with primitive superstition, means to prohibit by common disapproval and by social custom. Known locally as a fady.
Here in Ft Dauphin (French), Taolagnaro (g is silent) Malagasy, it is fady to: point, to pat someone on the head and to buy salt after dark.....and I've just heard it is also, according to some locals, a fady to cut hair after dark! Don't ask me why? There are many more.

Class distinction is very apparent on the island. One class does not intermingle/intermarry with another class. Some classes are allowed to intermarry.

Ancestors are revered and annually, amongst some, their bones are removed from the tombs, re-wrapped and re-buried with a big celebration called: Famadihana (reburial ceremony.) Those who belong to a church sometimes have the priest or minister invited along to "bless" the ceremony. Why am I telling you this?
Because of bad sanitation. Some believe it is fady to defaecate on one's ancestors therefore no toilets are dug in certain areas. Not even the primitive "long drop" toilets. Of course, poverty also plays a role in bad sanitation. Because of this all produce that is produced from the earth has to be thoroughly soaked in a water purifier solution or bleach before it can be used. There are however, some organisations that are attempting to address the poor sanitation problems evident on this Mad Magical Island.
Such a juxtaposition exists on the island. Many mobile phones are evident as is the ever present television, yet many, many have neither and have therefore no contact whatsoever with the "outside" world. Can you imagine their fascination or dislike of a camera?...

By the way, who instituted a Monday as wash day? How do women, the world over, instinctively know that washing is done on a Monday? And I must correct an observation I made a while back in one of the updates. I have seen one elderly gentleman doing his own washing down by the water on our walking route.

I end this update with a quote from Keren Hannah Pryor - The Centre for Judaic-Christian Studies:
"While interaction with and learning from other cultures can be creative and productive, it is wise first to have a clear and solid grounding and a dynamic understanding of one's own Bible-based values and beliefs."

Ready for the tea and biscuits now?