It was fascinating to hear what the local people use these different plants for. The wood of the delicate Mimosa plant is used to make charcoal because its trunks are so dense they burn slowly. Another plant locally named Katrafa has roots which are ground to make an essential oil common in sun cream and for massages. The wood of the Romby tree is used by the local people to carve totems and place on graves, and is remarkable for its beautiful bark and that it has no leaves. Instead it photosynthesises through its bark, which is green and very flaky. The locals call it 'Vazaha', meaning 'foreigner' - almost always referring to a white person as it looks like it has sunburn, just like a tourist!
Again, I took the opportunity while in Ifaty to go on night walks around the hotel grounds. I came across a Madagascar Cat-Eyed Snake. Locals fear all snakes. Again, 'fady' surrounds snakes - they're called 'kakalava', meaning 'long enemy'. Snakes have always received a bad rap, a primordial fear, from the Biblical reference that snakes introduced evil to man. Personally, along with all reptiles, they have fascinated me. Far from being slimy, scaly creatures that are out for the sole intention to make our lives a misery, they move with grace and have some of the most intricate and beautiful patterns and colours found in the natural world. In fact, Madagascar is home to more than 80 species of snakes of which none is dangerous to humans. Nonetheless, the local Malagasy people I was with kept their distance from this Cat-Eyed Snake while I took a few photos of it!
We continued on our itinerary to the fishing village of Anakao on the south-west coast of the island. Ifaty is a particularly poor area of Madagascar and consequently the roads aren't what you'd call in the western world 'roads' more dirt-tracks over rock and sand. As such, the ride was quite an adventure even if my body didn't thank me for it by the end! The only way to travel to Anakao is by boat, which we caught from the port of Toliara. Once boarded, we were fascinated to discover that the boat was actually a local taxi service; delivering food, drink, locals and tourists to various hotels, as well as delivering a huge 12 volt battery!
While the wind had picked up by the afternoon and made the sea rough, we took a boat to the neighbouring island of Nosy Ve to see the Red Billed Tropicbirds. Nosy Ve is the only island in Madagascar where these birds nest, so if you want to see them you have to make the effort to go. The rough boat ride was well worth it, as the birds are beautiful. The adolescent teenagers had gorgeous black and white feathers, quite unlike the parent bird. The adults are either brilliant white or with a hint of pink in their plumage and with an enormously long red tail, as well as their namesake bright red bill. The new born chicks resembled balls of white fluff, like snowballs.
It appeared to be a nesting area that was in constant use, with the parent birds nesting under the few shrubs that existed on the island. We saw roughly 16 nests that afternoon. While it was clear that the earlier protection of the nature reserve to the birds had dropped off, very few people went to visit the island so consequently, and fortunately, the birds are left in peace.