Maromizaha

In the tropics, the sun often rises and sets relatively early. In Madagascar, it is also technically "winter" right now, so the sun sets around 6 pm every day. Thus, by the time we arrived at Maromizaha and set up camp, it was already getting dark, so I didn't really see anything that day.

Maromizaha (which literally means "a lot to see") is one of Madagascar's newest protected areas. It was established in 2008 as a habitat corridor connecting two other reserves and a national park. It is owned by a nonprofit conservation group known as as GERP, and because GERP is a non-government organization, it does not receive gov't aid and thereby relies heavily on researchers and the local community to keep it alive. It consists of 1800 hectares, and while most of this is protected forest, there are also some areas where logging is allowed.

Right now, the forest is divided into zones for sustainable use, research, reforestation, strict conservation, and eventually there will be an ecotourism zone. There are 13 species of lemur here- the most notable of which are the Diademed Sifaka and the Indri- the world's largest (and possibly the loudest) lemur.

In any case, we had a wonderful campsite and it was here that we would do hikes, camp, and learn about field methods for the next four days.