Mangevo is love, Mangevo is life
With the trauma of the hike behind us, me and Mariah were excited to finally start some data collection. Amanda, a friend and researcher who frequents Mangevo for the black and white ruffed lemurs (Varecia variegata), had gone out a few days before Mariah and I, and we were glad to see a familiar face waiting for us after that hectic hike.
On day 1, the morning after we arrived, Mariah and I could barely move. Me and Mariah's tents were pitched so close they were touching (which became a basic camp site rule for the rest of the trip), which meant we could spend all day chatting from the comfort of our sleeping bags. We spent a good part of the day drifting in and out of sleep. By 4pm we had recovered enough to attempt some preliminary data collection. Mariah was able to find her black and white ruffed lemurs relatively quickly since there are so many groups in Mangevo. I went out for a trail walk and managed to gather 20 leeches in the half hour I hiked. I was glad to do a trial run as sort of a pilot on collection and preservation before a full day of data sampling.
My sampling plan involved hiking transects perpendicular to trails, which meant hours of extensive bushwhacking and mountain climbing through relentless rain. On any given day of data collection, I climbed an average of 5 mountains. It didn't take long to learn how easily leeches can find their way into places you'd least expect. I returned to camp with an impressive array of leeches plastered all across my body after my first full day of collection. There is no shortage of terrestrial leeches in Ranomafana.
Leeches are segmented worms (belonging to the phylum Annelida) and are harmless inhabitants of the rainforest. They are not vectors of disease and feed completely painlessly on their unknowing hosts. They drop off once they've had their fill, and the bite itches only slightly as it heals on its own. They are much more active under moist conditions, and the hardest part of data collection was getting them to stay inside the ziploc bags I was using. They move like inchworms, using their anterior ends to detect their hosts using an array of sensory organs. They are adorable and truly nothing to fear while out in the forest. Close-ups of the little guys to follow in my next post.
Campsite bedtime is always very early, and I'm going to miss the 11 hours of sleep once I'm back in the US, down to my average of 6 hours a night. Around 6:30 - 7pm, me and Mariah (and Amanda, the few nights we overlapped) would head back to our tents for "tent time" - our nightly narration of newly discovered bruises and peeling off wet clothes to change into slightly less wet clothing. We typically dozed off while reading and chatting, reminiscing and exchanging field stories as the rain tapped away against our tarps. It was unreal to me that this routine would have to come to an end, and I reluctantly left Mangevo after 8 nights, growing nostalgic before I had even left.
On day 1, the morning after we arrived, Mariah and I could barely move. Me and Mariah's tents were pitched so close they were touching (which became a basic camp site rule for the rest of the trip), which meant we could spend all day chatting from the comfort of our sleeping bags. We spent a good part of the day drifting in and out of sleep. By 4pm we had recovered enough to attempt some preliminary data collection. Mariah was able to find her black and white ruffed lemurs relatively quickly since there are so many groups in Mangevo. I went out for a trail walk and managed to gather 20 leeches in the half hour I hiked. I was glad to do a trial run as sort of a pilot on collection and preservation before a full day of data sampling.
Our cook, Heri, cleaning our rice
Me and Mariah's tents (always touching)
Mariah from the tent next door (check her blog for more on the tent next door)
My house
The other half of my house
My sampling plan involved hiking transects perpendicular to trails, which meant hours of extensive bushwhacking and mountain climbing through relentless rain. On any given day of data collection, I climbed an average of 5 mountains. It didn't take long to learn how easily leeches can find their way into places you'd least expect. I returned to camp with an impressive array of leeches plastered all across my body after my first full day of collection. There is no shortage of terrestrial leeches in Ranomafana.
Leeches are segmented worms (belonging to the phylum Annelida) and are harmless inhabitants of the rainforest. They are not vectors of disease and feed completely painlessly on their unknowing hosts. They drop off once they've had their fill, and the bite itches only slightly as it heals on its own. They are much more active under moist conditions, and the hardest part of data collection was getting them to stay inside the ziploc bags I was using. They move like inchworms, using their anterior ends to detect their hosts using an array of sensory organs. They are adorable and truly nothing to fear while out in the forest. Close-ups of the little guys to follow in my next post.
GIANT SNAIL
Me and snail
See the butterfly?
Chameleon of genus Brookesia, endemic to Madagascar
Leeches got me good
#trampstamp
Our kitchen was at the edge of a cliff
This is our swamp
Having a closer look at the leeches with my student, Fifi
Heri and my local guide, Safi
Mutual grooming; tending to our bug bites
Giant isopod
Stick insect!
Life in Mangevo is not easy, but it's exciting and always hilarious (and always wet). A typical day in Mangevo goes something like this:
- Wake up between 6-8am, call out to Mariah to see if she's awake next door
- If she is awake, we complain for a bit about getting out of our comfortable sleeping bags, then race each other to see who'll be dressed and out first
- Hike over to the camp "kitchen" (firewood under a tarp and buckets of water retrieved from the stream) and nibble at breakfast, which is usually petsai, a Malagasy dish of sauteed greens, with a side of rice
- Head out at different times everyday - sometimes before Mariah's awake, sometimes immediately after breakfast, sometimes after lunch
- Eat lunch around 12pm, which is always rice and beans (or lentils, my favorite). I supplied seasoning and a seed mix for added nutrition. I became known at CVB for my insistent offering of seeds
- After lunch, we part ways, although sometimes I join Mariah in following Varecia, which are some of the most charming lemurs around
- Reconvene around 6pm for dinner, with a full day of stories to share and injuries to compare. Dinner is always vegetables and rice
Hangin out around the fire after dinner with Amanda (right)
Campsite bedtime is always very early, and I'm going to miss the 11 hours of sleep once I'm back in the US, down to my average of 6 hours a night. Around 6:30 - 7pm, me and Mariah (and Amanda, the few nights we overlapped) would head back to our tents for "tent time" - our nightly narration of newly discovered bruises and peeling off wet clothes to change into slightly less wet clothing. We typically dozed off while reading and chatting, reminiscing and exchanging field stories as the rain tapped away against our tarps. It was unreal to me that this routine would have to come to an end, and I reluctantly left Mangevo after 8 nights, growing nostalgic before I had even left.
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