Everyone around me seems carefree and so light on their feet. Men and women greet each other on the street with a wave and a “inona vaovao?” We motor on to a newer forest that the community is reestablishing after the clear cut of yesterday. The forest already hosts an array of beautiful botanicals and wildlife though the canopy is very different than an old growth forest it offers hope for the future.

Birds fly high above us. Once in a while a curious one will land on a branch ahead just to peer down at us for a minute.

Up at 4:14

Hiking at 5:15

This is my ideal start to a day while on holiday

A lone brown lemur is busily munching on her breakfast of leaves noticing me but not really concerned. Usually, brown lemurs form social groups but this one must be unusually hungry and stayed back to finish sakafo marina.

fuchsia orchid petals are scattered across our paths in the woods this morning speaking to last night’s elfin soiree, maybe a brides maid’s party? I know the forest fairies attended. Dressed in their iridescent robes made of the Golden Spider’s silk because one straggler flitted around my head for two minutes this morning, ever curious. The sun sparkled against her robe as she flew away into the surrounding canopy.

We heard the Indri call throughout our morning hike. The various families are located deep in the forest and cry out to each other in the mornings. Then, on our fifth hour, there was a series of songs sung just a riverine away. I steadily followed Luc’s steps to the tree beneath the indri, who were now silent.

Impossible to count how many there were. The indri jump from tree to tree silently and quickly. Some share a cozy branch; others are perched in their own tree. The largest lemur from the family of primates that the world lost save for a few protected forests. One little fellow was quite perplexed when his father suddenly moved on, peering down at me as if I would help answer the question of why. Time passed quickly from the forest floor. I am fairly certain we walked under them at least once this morning. They must have looked down on my frizz of a hair style wondering how a bird’s nest could move like that.