In which I reiterate the fact that I'm a graceless bobo

Once again, I'm making a post to cover several days' worth of stuff.  Everyone is out on a night hike right now (except me - you'll read why in a moment) so I have a better shot at getting a post up.  The power went out in the middle of my trying to post this - second time it's gone out this evening - so this is probably a futile effort, but maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.  Sorry about irregular spacing, don't know why it's doing that nor how to fix it.

9/27/13

Well, I clearly jinxed myself with my previous post about how I broke my nose falling down stairs at home, as I have now had an incident on the stairs here, too.  My back spasmed when I was going down the stairs and I nearly fell because of it.  I saved it, but only by landing on my foot in a weird way, leading to a disturbing “snap” sound and a lot of pain.  It swelled and bruised right away, but I gave it a day wrapped up to see if that would help it.  The swelling went down, but the bruising didn’t, and it was getting progressively more painful, so today I made the journey to Fianarantosa to get an x-ray.  It’s about a 2 hour trip, so I missed out on the entire day of lecture and hikes.

The good news: my foot is not badly broken.

The bad news: I tore a ligament off the bone and am in a plaster cast (they don't have fiberglass in Madagascar) and on crutches until we go on our cross country trip in a few weeks.  This means I can’t go on any of the hikes.  I actually wasn’t sure if this meant that I would be going home or not, and we’ll have to see how my back tolerates my being on crutches and not walking normally – it may be beyond what I’m physically capable of at this point, in which case, I’ll have to really think about heading back to New York.  But if I can manage to take it easy for the next 2 weeks, I might be okay for the rest of the trip.  Unfortunately, the majority of our remaining hikes (and camping trips) are during these 2 weeks, so I’m not sure what I will be doing.

Now, the difference between hospitals in America and hospitals in Madagascar:

Both hospitals have a good long wait and a lot of people.  In the US, generally treatment can be provided immediately.  Not so in Madagascar – first we had to walk to a different building for x-ray (not that unusual), but then after that, we had to buy the materials for my cast before it could be put on.  Additionally, they only had one crutch, so that is all I am using, with the result that I am walking on the cast (which hasn’t dried even after about 5 hours – it’s really humid down here).  Not the most comfortable situation.  These two weeks can’t be over soon enough!!

9/30/13

There is nothing quite so sobering as seeing tavy, or slash and burn agriculture, when you’re within a national park.  Tavy is the main cause of habitat loss in Madagascar, in fact, it is responsible for the barren hills that make up the landscape on the drive from Tana to Ranomafana (as well as across much of the country).  A few nights ago, a bunch of us were on our way over to the dining hall for dinner when we saw a fire burning on the hillside across the road.  There was a huge amount of smoke and the glow from the fire immediately captured everyone’s attention.  Although that side of the road is not part of the national park, it is immediately across from it, and to see tavy occurring so close to the margins of the forest (as well as that close to our place of dwelling) was both a bit alarming and very saddening.  I think all of us just stood silently and watched for a significant time.  I was there for probably 20 minutes watching, and I don’t know how to describe the emotion that was washing over me.  It was a numbness, knowing that this destruction is occurring and not knowing how to prevent it from happening without taking measures that would be detrimental to the people who live here.

Madagascar has one of the highest per-capita rice consumption rates in the world, and slash & burn agriculture is done so that people can grow rice to feed their families.  Many people in Madagascar are subsistence farmers – there are very few 9-to-5 jobs here – and what they are able to grow is the vast majority of what they are able to feed their families.  So, again, we come back to the question of how to protect the forest and the amazing biodiversity in this entire country without worsening the economic situation and without making [more] people starve.  There is a lot about this country that makes an outsider like me feel helpless, like I’m just a bystander watching this amazing place being quickly destroyed and I don’t have the tools to make it stop.  I’m not sure that this falls under culture shock or if it is more environmental (or both).  There is so much about Madagascar that is completely heartbreaking to see.  The rainforest cannot regrow once the land has been burned, so all of the land that has already succumbed to tavy will never have primary forest there again.  More than 90% of Madagascar’s primary forest is gone.  Humans have only been on this island for about 2,000 years.  That’s an enormous amount of destruction in a very short period of time…

On a more personal note, I don’t know at this point whether I will be finishing this trip or if I will be sent home.  My foot is still bothering me, despite being in the cast, and being on one crutch/walking strangely is just killing my back.  I had pain in my back before, but now I’ve returned to having radiating pins-and-needles and pain going down my legs, which suggests that the disc fragments are pressing on the spinal cord.  This is a situation that I need to take seriously and I’m really considering my options.  I’m going to give myself until Thursday or Friday in the hope that my back will settle down, but if it doesn’t have a fairly dramatic recovery, I need to strongly consider going home.  I’m risking permanent nerve damage if I screw around with a ruptured disc, and I don’t want to end up disabled because I was too focused on the short-term and stayed down here when I shouldn’t have.  I’m really hoping that I am okay and can stay for the remaining 7 weeks of the trip…

And now for a giant mega-post!

Hello!!  I'm sorry I haven't been updating - we got to Centre ValBio, which is the research center in Ranomafana, and the internet connection here is unreliable and very slow, so I've been struggling to get online at all, let alone into my blog.  I've been writing posts, though, and I'll copy/paste them all into this one so you can see what I've been up to.  I got up very early in the morning to get onto the network when no one else was on it, so I hope you appreciate this!  ;)

9/18/13

I haven’t been able to update my blog for a few days for a variety of reasons – we were not somewhere with internet access for a while; now we are, but it is so slow that I basically cannot connect.  Rainforest life…

We spent the past 2 days in a small village about 20 km outside of Antsirabe as a way to break up the 10 hour drive to Ranomafana.  I don’t know the name of the village off the top of my head, but when I find out, I will add it to this post.  We were split into groups of 4 or 5 students, and each group stayed with a host family.  (will add picture here when possible).

Now for the more interesting part of this post: I am Emily, hear me roar!!  Ruptured disc aside, I hiked to the summit of the 3^rd highest mountain in all of Madagascar – Mt. Ibity.  The summit is about 2200m up and the hike, from start to finish, took 9 hours!  My back was in a lot of pain by the end, but it was so worth it; I felt so accomplished!  There was so much more to that hike than just the fact that I overcame physical pain (because let’s be honest, horsewomen do that a lot anyway).  I am terrified of heights, and even more terrified of falling, so hiking up to the summit of a mountain and then going back down over a very rocky path is essentially my worst nightmare.  You could make it a little worse if I made it to the top of the mountain and then fell down, I suppose.  But… I did hike up and back successfully!  While we were on the mountain, we got to go spelunking in 2 caves, which was super cool.  This feels more like an adventure/survival semester than like I’m taking 15 credits of classes!  I’m just glad that I’m in such good shape physically; I can’t imagine being able to complete that hike given the state of my back if the rest of me were not really muscled up and fit.

After a quick breakfast this morning, we left and began the remaining 7 hours of our journey to Ranomfana.  The roads in Madagascar are interesting, for lack of a better word, and I’m glad that I had my trusty partner Dramamine with me, as we were all making use of it!  We stopped briefly in a town to have lunch, where I chose to be adventurous and had zebu tongue with fresh peas.  I’ve never eaten tongue before and don’t think I will again – I didn’t mind the taste, but the texture was not for me.  I’ve always been one to try everything once, so now I can say I have tried that.  I also tried fish eyeballs, which were an interesting flavor and texture.  I don’t think I’ll be eating those again either, but they were definitely a new experience.

After what seemed like forever, we arrived at Centre ValBio in Ranomafana National Park.  We’ll be at this research station for the remainder of our trip, with the exception of a 2 week cross country trip that we embark on in 3 weeks.  This center is amazing and I’ll take tons of pictures, but the internet here is not very reliable, so don’t expect updates on a regular basis.  I will try to get posts up when I can, maybe with better luck when we’re going cross country (doubtful); otherwise, I will make a mega-post when we go back to Tana in the few days we’ll be there before heading back to the States!

9/22/13

Physically fit, physically fit, physicallyphysicallyphysicallyfit

I watched the movie “Madagascar” before I came down here, mostly because I love animated movies, but also so I would have a plethora of King Julien quotes to randomly spout off at seemingly appropriate intervals.  I didn’t realize at the time how his rendition of “I Like to Move It” during the end credits was foreshadowing for what this trip would be like…but it definitely was!  We spend at least 3 or 4 hours a day hiking, and hiking in Madagascar means going up and down a lot of hills and mountains.  I thought I was in good shape before, but I’m going to have really toned legs by the time I get back!  Surprisingly, I am not sore from our hike up Mt. Ibity 2 days ago – that’s very encouraging to me, as that is the most physically demanding hike that we do on this trip – but my quads and gluts are tired by the end of each day!

Today was our first time hiking in Ranomafana National Park.  We left CVB around 8 am and walked up the road a bit to the entrance of the park.  Dr. Patricia Wright, who oversees the study abroad program and essentially developed this park (not to mention discovered a species of lemur, Hapalemur aureus), hiked with us today and lectured us as we walked.  She told us about the difficult process of starting the park, hiring people, and protecting it.  Additionally, we learned a lot about the three species of lemur we saw today: the red-fronted brown lemur, the Edward’s sifaka (Propithecus edwardis), and the golden bamboo lemur (H. aureus), which is the one she discovered when she was originally doing research looking for the greater bamboo lemur (Prolemur simus).  We were so close to the sifaka, by my estimate we weren’t more than 4 or 5 meters away from the male of the group.  I took lots of pictures, but I’m using a little point-and-shoot camera so the quality isn’t terrific.  I have a high quality DSLR camera, but I didn’t want to bring it down here because I am too accident-prone and with my luck, I would break it falling down.  My legs are a perfect example of why that camera didn’t come with me; I am covered in bruises from the various times I’ve slipped and fallen in the forest, banged off of rocks, slid into things, or otherwise suffered bodily harm.  I’m good at riding horses, but graceful on my own two feet?  Not so much.  I never have been – when I was in middle school, I broke my nose falling down 3 stairs.  Not three flights of stairs.  3 stairs.  Granted, it was April and chilly so I had my hands in my pockets, and I was rushing to make it to the bus, and there was black ice on the aforementioned stairs which were wooden, and because I couldn’t catch myself with my hands, I faceplanted into asphalt…but still.  I broke my nose falling down 3 stairs.  That takes some serious skill.

9/23/13

Today was not all that different from the previous day here.  After breakfast, we had a brief tour of the CVB facilities that we did not see upon arrival, including the laboratories and the recording studio.  I’m not sure what the general group did after that; I, along with 2 of my fellow students, got to go out into the forest with 2 guides and started collecting data for my independent study project.  Although I was originally planning on studying lemur behavior, I have to acknowledge that my back is not getting any better while I’m down here – it’s actually getting worse as the trip goes on – and behavioral studies require more physical exertion and dexterity than I am capable of at this point.

During one of our hikes recently, Dr. Wright discussed a project where trees that were selectively logged in the 1980s (before the park was formed) were monitored.  In 1992, researchers found that 57% of the logged trees grew sprouts again.  There are some exceptions, of course – rosewood trees do not resprout – but I found that overall, it was quite encouraging for the prospect of conserving the rainforest.  So, inspired by that study, today I went out with the guides to see if we could relocate some of the trees from that 1992 study and see how they are doing today.  The results so far are very interesting and make me so hopeful for this forest.  I’m not going to say more on this, as I still need to collect more data and write it up for the end of this semester and I don’t want to divulge my results before then, but it is safe to say that I will have an interesting report as long as I can get enough data.  It’s also safe to say that I will not be dropping my plans to go into cancer research to become a botanist.  I’m finding this study interesting and encouraging, but trees are not my passion the way medicine is.

We got back from that hike in time for lunch, after which we went back out for another hike.  This time, we hiked for about an hour to get to a beautiful waterfall.  Along the way, we saw a boa, several birds, and a golden bamboo lemur.  The waterfall itself was stunning and had lots of little frogs on the rocks around it.  We stayed at the waterfall for about half an hour before hiking back.  As we came back, we saw a leaf-tailed gecko, courtesy of our guide, Valo.  Leaf-tails are really difficult to spot; they have camouflage down pat, but he saw this one!

I don't know when I'll next be successful at getting into this blog to update it, so I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for my next post.  It will probably be another huge one like this one!  We have a little less than 3 weeks left at CVB before we head out on a 10-day cross-country trip to see the other ecosystems in Madagascar, like the spiny thicket (which I'm super excited for), a coral reef (where we go snorkeling, yippee!!), and more.  If anything interesting happens between now and then, I'll have another morning where I'm up at 3 working on my blog!  Until then, readers!

By the way, sorry that the spacing in this post is different from paragraph to paragraph...it did that automatically when I copied and pasted my entries from Word and I can't figure out how to fix it.

Fahasalamana?

We just got back from 5 days in the new protected area of Maromizaha, which is about 3 hours outside of Tana.  The rainforest is BEAUTIFUL.  There are no words to describe it - I tried to think of how I was going to write this post while I was on the bus coming back, but I really could not come up with a good way to talk about how incredibly amazing the rainforest is.

We camped in Maromizaha for 4 nights, spending the mornings hiking and the afternoons in lectures before going on night hikes. Now, I thought I had gone on some pretty intense hikes at home, but... hiking in Madagascar is a whole new ballgame!  Going up and down mountains like that is no joke!  I'm in pretty good shape and enjoyed myself a lot, but I was one tired girl by the end of the day.  My group was the first group to hike out and see the singing indri, which is one of the largest species of lemur and is critically endangered.  I took lots of photos and videos of the indri, but I don't have enough bandwidth to upload them, so you will have to wait to see those until I'm back in the States in November.  The indri (Indri indri) are monogamous and live in family groups of usually 4.  They are truly awe-inspiring to see.

On our night hike, we went up the mountain again and saw several chameleons, a giant spider, a sleeping bird that really looked more like a ball of fluff, and a sportive lemur (Lepilemur mustelinus), who was watching us from a tree.  I'm not very comfortable at night because I have terrible night vision, but it was pretty cool to be out seeing all of the nocturnal creatures.  I just wish we'd seen some snakes!

I was supposed to go out and see the diadema sifaka the second day, but I was unable to go.  2 weeks prior to coming down to Madagascar, I ruptured a disc in my back (L5/6, for those who are wondering), and I was actually not sure I would be able to go.  I spent a lot of time lying on my back on the couch with a heating pad and had only just gotten back into riding right before I came down here.  So.. hiking for approximately 6 hours a day on really tough terrain MIGHT have been overdoing it.  A lot.  And I was in a whole lot of pain by the end of the night.  I was actually in tears - which says something, as I am definitely not a crier - and was afraid that I would be told to go home if I couldn't hike.  That's not the case and I'm still here, but it was tough to stay behind while everyone else went out.

On the third day, I was able to go out and do the morning hike, where we did some crazy tough terrain (as in, I slipped and fell and was hanging onto a tree to keep from falling down the side of the mountain!), but we saw a whole group of the sifaka (Propithecus diadema)!  As a bonus, we saw some of the indri on our way back down the mountain.  Our final activity of the day was one that made me feel like we really did something useful, even if it was a small gesture.  We each got to plant a tree sapling in the rainforest.  Even if it was only one tree, we got to do SOMETHING.

Today, we returned to Tana, and as we drove back, I looked out at all of the mountains and had a lot of thoughts about Madagascar.  This country is so incredibly beautiful, but when you realize that it used to be all rainforest and now there is hardly any left, it's very disheartening.  When you're surrounded by mountains like this, it makes you realize how small we are...yet the amount of environmental devastation that humans have inflicted is incredible.  Madagascar is now in the difficult situation of needing to conserve what rainforest is left, but also needing to feed its people.  Most of the rainforest has been destroyed by slash and burn agriculture, called "tavy" down here, which is how people grow rice.  Rice is the staple crop down here, but the country doesn't grow enough to feed its people and has to import rice from Pakistan and India.  I don't know what the solution is.

To end, I can't believe that I've been here for a week already!  Only 9 more weeks in my stay before I head back to New York.  Time just flies...it's unbelievable.

Lessons in car kinetics and some sobering thoughts

Well, today ended up not being as exciting as it sounded like it would be from this morning's post.  We had breakfast at the hotel - bread, an egg, and some delicious juice - before heading out for the morning's activities.  We stopped at the offices of MICET, the Madagascar Institute for the Conservation of Tropical Ecosystems (the real name is in French, but I can neither speak nor spell in French at the moment), and learned a bit more about the geology of Madagascar.  We will be learning much more as the semester goes on and we begin classes.

Traffic in Tana is an apparent free-for-all; there isn't even a clearly defined side of the road for each direction to be going.  Not surprisingly, it doesn't always go very well because of random cars, bikes, pedestrians, and chickens that wander into the road.  On our way to the Queen's Palace, our bus collided with a car.  No one was hurt, but it did cause a significant delay and we didn't end up going to our destination!  After a lengthy wait, during which we learned some Malagasy words, we got lunch before heading to the bank to exchange some of our dollars for ariary.  This took forever!  We hung out in the bank and had some quality bonding time while we waited, after which a few of us took our new money to go buy phones.  We rounded out the day by visiting a chocolate shop.  I bought a little bird's nest of chocolate: picture coming later.

Onto the more serious stuff.

Tana is, in a lot of ways, a very depressing place.  This city has so many buildings in it that they are practically on top of each other, and the poverty throughout the city is undeniable.  Earlier this morning, when there weren't as many people out and about, it was easier to focus on the destruction of habitat that has resulted from the city's growth.  That alone is disheartening; to see the people is as well.  There were children walking barefoot in the street, a homeless family sitting in a corner with only a little food, kids running up to our bus and begging for money...

We are so privileged in the US and we don't focus on that, choosing instead to think about the latest first-world problem.  New iPhones, horse shows, whatever.  I think everyone knows that there are starving people in the world, but it's a whole new ballgame to be in a city in the 4th-poorest country in the world and seeing it firsthand.  It makes you really think about what's important.

With that, I leave you for the night.  We'll be camping for the next 5 days, so don't expect any posts for a while.

Of long flights and shrieking, time-confused chickens

Well, we made it!  After a 6 1/2 hour flight from New York's JFK airport to Paris, and then an 11 hour flight from Paris to Antanananarivo, I'm one tired puppy.  We left New York at a little after 7 on September 11th, arrived in Paris on the morning of September 12th, and finally (finally) reached Madagascar at around 11 pm local time on the 12th.  It was a long and fairly uninteresting trip, just a lot of sitting and waiting!

The Paris airport really puts any of our nice airports in the US to shame.  It hardly even felt like an airport, it was so fancy!  My pathetic lack of French-speaking-ability became pretty clear while there, but I got around all right, aside from buying far too many sweets at La Duree!  As much as I would like to blame that on a miscommunication between me and the vendor, I really can't....I just like macaroons and had never had them before.

I shamelessly had the pink one for breakfast.  Raspberries, lychee, and rose petal cream.  Yum!!

There are 16 of us in this study abroad group, with most of the students not being from Stony Brook University, which surprised me.  Because there are so few study abroad programs that really focus on science - or go to Madagascar - this one draws many applicants from all around the United States.  We have people in this group ranging from a few Stony Brook students to people from the University of Washington!  It is nice, though, that all of us are getting to know each other at the same time.

We spent a lot of time getting to know one another while we were waiting at the baggage claim at the airport in Tana.  I was very fortunate in that both of my checked bags were unscathed and here; others in our group were not so lucky.  Hopefully they will show up soon...

We stayed in a hotel in Tana last night with 3 of us to a room.  With the luxury of a hot shower available, I think many of us didn't go to bed until quite late!  I went to bed around 2:30, but didn't fall asleep until after 5 (to then get up at 7:15).  I was almost asleep around 4:30, but some roosters next door decided it was time to get up, even though it was still pitch black out!  It's going to be a long day, but we have a big day ahead of us: exchanging money (US dollars to Malagasy ariary), buying phones, going to the zoo, and seeing the Queen's Palace, among other things!  I don't know where we're staying tonight, but if it is somewhere with internet, I will write up another post.

Veloma!

Rooftop view of Tana from our hotel.

Manao ahoana!

Hello there, and welcome to "I want to meet King Julien."  In one week, I will be on my way to Madagascar, and will be able to give you much more interesting posts than I can give right now!  I also, hopefully, will be providing some more snippets and phrases in Malagasy.  As an example, the title of this post means "hello."  I know about 100 words in Malagasy at this point (although whether I can spell them correctly or not is a whole new matter), but I hope to pick up much more during the 3 months I am in Madagascar.

I haven't blogged before, so I feel like I should introduce myself.  This is me:

I am 22, recently graduated from the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities with a B.S. in animal science, and I'm blessed with the most wonderful mare in the world, Nikki (alias Wondermare), or Seize The Moment.  WM and I have been partners for a long time, from the 3'6'' junior hunters in 2006 all the way up to the 1.50m Grand Prix classes for the past few years.  I could go on and on about Nikki, but I will save gushing about her for posts on the Chronicle of the Horse forum, where I have the ever-elegant username of supershorty628.  I also got married over the summer to my high school sweetheart and best friend, Steve, who is unfortunately not joining me on this voyage to Madagascar.

As an aside, I am really short.  Nikki is 15.3 7/8 hands high (for those of you who are not equine-inclined, she is 5'3 7/8'' at her withers, which are at the base of her neck.  You can guess at my height from there - it's not very substantial.

I can't wait to go on this adventure throughout the country of Madagascar, an experience that I am fortunate to get through Stony Brook University under the supervision of Dr. Pat Wright.  I'll be posting when I can from down there and I'll be sure to include lots of pictures!  Expect another post in about a week or so.

Cheers,

Emily / supershorty

P.S.  Since I introduced myself, any readers who want to comment and introduce yourselves, feel free!  :)