Sure Travel Journey Vol 4.4 Spring 2018 | Page 43

© EWART-SMITH
© WATER/ADOBESTOCK.COM
Left: A crowned lemur leaps across the Tsingy landscape in northern Madagascar. Lemurs
evolved in isolation here over the last 50 to 60 million years and are distantly related to
the bush babies of Africa. Above and below: Tsingy is a natural wonderland dominated by
limestone that has been deeply eroded into giant caverns and razor-sharp rocky outcrops.
© CHRISTIAN/ADOBESTOCK.COM
“
It’s so sharp it’s
nearly impossible
to sit anywhere – or
balance your weight
on both feet. One slip
and you’d be cut like
a loaf passing through
a bread slicer.
drops below 100 per cent, and you have
an environment that stretches mortals to
the limits.
Crowned lemurs, on the other hand,
feel right at home here and make
relatively predictable migrations between
the patches of forest that intersperse
these fields of razors – you just have to
be prepared to wait. My crew and I were,
although nothing could prepare us for
the heat blast that reflected off the dark
stones as we uncomfortably shifted our
weight from one knife edge to another.
Ceramic gnomes being fired in a blast
furnace have it better, I assure you.
Just before our breaking point, a family
of crowned lemurs arrived, leaping about
with the arrogance of knife-juggling
buskers. The world’s entire population
lives here in the forests of northern
Madagascar. Relatively comfortable
with people, they passed close to
our position. Shutters chattered, TV
cameras purred. Pain and discomfort was
forgotten in a few wondrous moments
on the island of magic.
MAKE MEMORIES FOR LIFE // 43
“