Lemur Park

Friday night, after our fireside in Moramonga, we drove to a large game Park called Vakuna, near a town called Andisebe.   The road to this Park reminded me a lot of the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland, lots of twists and turns and kind of crazy!  We stayed in a lodge in the rain forest and it was an incredible experience.  When we drove up to the gates at the lodge it was kind of like going into Jurassic Park.  It had that 'other world' feeling.  We stayed in a little bungalow in the jungle, there was a mosquito net all around our king size bed.  The food in the restaurant was great.  How can you go wrong. 

When we got up the next morning, it was raining a slow steady rain.  After all we were in the rain forest.  I thought that the 4 hour ride, on the windiest road you have ever seen, was going to be wasted because we were going to get rained out.    At 7:00 am, it was off to see the Lemurs.  What an experience!  Not long after we got to the game park the rain slowed down to a drizzle and after about 30 minutes it stopped raining .  We crossed a little river in canoes and started walking.  We soon got to a little thatched  rain shelter, where a forest guard waited for the tourists. 

 As soon as we got there, the lemurs started coming out of the trees and the rest was an incredible amount of laughing and giggling as these incredible gentle little animals climbed all over you, looking for a hand out.  I thought Jane was going to giggle herself silly.  The Forest Guard had a bunch of bananas to give to us and the Lemurs soon became the best buddy of any one with a piece of banana.  They had very soft little hands and were very gentle with there teeth as they ate the pieces of banana from between your fingers.  There were four varieties of lemurs in that came to see us at this point in our hike through the rain forest.  They were the brown faced common Lemur, the black faced common Lemur, the Black and white Lemur and the tiny little Bamboo Lemur.  Interacting with these incredible little animals was an experience of a life time. 

 

At first you are not quite certain what to expect, so when they jump on you from 10 feet away, your first reaction is to jump back or turn away.  You soon get so that you hope they will jump on you.  There little hands are very soft and appear to have no nails or claws.  They grab your finger and hold on just like a baby would.