Lemur Shenanigans

I never thought I would ever see lemurs in real life, let alone have them scramble all over me. I giggled like a little child with a playful new kitten as the lemurs of Madagascar climbed and frolicked while accompanying my friends and me on a hike during a journey to this island a few years ago. The country is a bit on the wild side when it comes to nature. Over 70 species of lemurs live in the rainforests, chameleons are everywhere, and any number of other animals exist only on the fourth largest island in the world.

Its history is colorful and diverse. Queens once ruled Madagascar before French colonization, and pirates rested on its beautiful beaches before continuing on raids. Rainforests covered most of its land, and baobab trees, the glorious tree of life, populated the dense forests.

Sadly, and over some time, this pure yet impoverished land fell victim to greed and resource rapers.

Deforestation from slash and burn agriculture, logging, coffee farms, and many other factors has reduced the forests by 80%.

Only a smattering of baobabs remains in a famous tourist site called the Avenue of the Baobabs. Spectacular, but the thought of dense forests once filled with the trees is eye-opening as to what has happened to Madagascar over a century or two of outside influences.

And now the people are suffering from the worse drought this island nation has experienced in decades. The UN World Food Program has pushed the country to level 5, the highest, famine. And, as reported by Al Jazeera, the drought was. “. . . brought on by one of the world’s first famines to be caused by climate change”.

Is it too late to save this once unique and isolated land? Maybe not. Reforestation has begun, and if the pillagers can leave this country to heal itself, perhaps there is hope for future visitors to experience the wonder of Madagascar.

https://www.reforestaction.com/en/reforestation-madagascar

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/9/3/madagascar-is-on-brink-of-first-climate-induced-famine-un-warns

#madagascarnotthemovie #baobabtrees #lemurs #personalessays #writingmemoirs #slashandburn #colonization #famine #mylastmonthsinafrica #savetherainforests #deforestation #reforestation #climatechange #carefortheworld

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