One group of animals I was really hoping to see while in Madagascar (I seem to be saying that a lot in these blog posts) was the Day Geckos. They come in a whole range of different colours and sizes, but unusually for the gecko world they're active during the day, hence their name.
In Centrest they were everywhere, sunning themselves at every available opportunity. They seemed little bothered by people so as long as you kept your distance they would go about their usual business. Most of the time that meant yet more sunbathing and generally soaking up the sun to show off their amazing green colour. On one occasion during lunch something I wasn't expecting happened...
I was packing up my camera kit having spent some time photographing the geckos around the garden when a huntsman spider came shooting across the restaurant floor. For some strange reason this spider wanted to seek shelter in my bag, probably away from the prying eyes of the geckos. I'm all for supporting animals but I have to admit I draw the line at spiders climbing into my bag. I managed to fend it off for long enough to safely close my bag spider-free, at which point it found another safe-house in the form of a pipe in the restaurant wall (I'm guessing to allow water to drain away during flooding, it is a rainforest after all).
Once the spider had just about reached the pipe a small Lined Day Gecko came out of nowhere and landed right next to it. A Mexican stand-off ensued with each sizing each other up. The gecko was longer but very slender while the spider was, considering the legs, much wider. Eventually the gecko made up his (I'm calling it a 'he' for the purpose of this blog, really I've no idea!) mind that he could take the spider he jumped at it grabbing the abdomen in his jaws.
The spider writhed around trying to free itself to no avail, with the gecko violently shook the spider often smashing it against the restaurant wall. Eventually the spider gave in and the gecko no longer had to fight. I didn't actually see the gecko finish eating the spider as he disappeared from view but if he succeeded I've no idea how. As you can see from the photos below the spider was huge compared to him...