More Photos from Mahabo

Here's a few more photos from the Mahabo research center. If you want to see them larger, just double-click them.

This isn't exactly Niagra Falls and this isn't exactly our Honeymoon, but it is a great big waterfall nonetheless. In Malagasy, it's called Chute Andriamamovoka (say that three times fast).
Some children stopped by after school one day and we played a few games. This is a rousing round of hot potato. We had no music, so one of us would count to ten instead. If it was one of us counting, we had to use French or Malagasy. If one of them was counting, they had to use English. Then we had to count backwards too. The teacher in me couldn't help it. I also used a lot of feverish hand motions and drawing in the sand to try and explain the game "Duck, Duck, Goose." It turns out they already knew the game. It was just called "Red Duck, Blue Duck."

Wading through a long, long stretch of flooded forest and wondering if all the warnings about leeches are true.

All I had to worry about was my camera getting wet. This family had a baby to keep dry. That's the pink lump on the woman's back.
They also had a dog, but he took care of himself. 

Earlier in the week, we ordered two baskets from these local weavers in the village. They made these gorgeous baskets in a matter of days. The wraps they are wearing are called lambas. 

One giant grasshopper.
And an even bigger spider. He lived in our bungalow and we were sure to make sure where he was before we crawled under the mosquito net for the night. He didn't move for days. When his legs stretched out, he was about as round as a softball.

The Indian ocean and a large dugout fishing boat used by the local villagers. It is made from a single tree, but they are now a thing of the past. There are no trees left that are even nearly big enough to make a boat from. The forest's have been damaged due to overuse and and an increase in needed farmland. You can't grow rice or taro roots in a forest, so the forests are cut and burned. It seems bad, but then again, if you were poor and needed to feed your family, I bet you might be willing to cut down a few trees.
A very big and very shiny beetle. Possibly a kind of click beetle, but I'm not sure.

A lizard of some kind that loved to hang out near our bungalow. That was fine with us. It just meant there would be less insects. We were just afraid the spider might eat her. Seriously.

Speaking of spiders, here's a hundred or so baby spiders emerging from a nest.

Chameleon or stick? Pretty good camouflage wouldn't you say? Look at the pointy nose.