“Higher and higher and into the forest we go!� Today was one of the most physically strenuous days of my life. The rain last night fell hard all morning as we hiked the slippery slopes of our transect, mud everywhere. At one point I had a stunning view of the mountains southeast of our transect, all the way to the Bay of Antongil and Nosy Mangabe in the great distance. Could see several villages and the river we traveled to get to our launching point. Also found a gorgeous vista of rain clouds and mist clinging to the forest on adjacent mountains, with the silhouettes of giant Vapaka and Ensine (?) trees framing the peaks. Just like views you see in National Geographic magazine—only I am taking them in first-hand. Have to pinch myself every so often to make sure I’m really here doing this.

I found two leeches on my body today. They are nasty, sneaky little suckers—no pun intended. One made its way up into my shirt and I plucked it off my stomach before it had a chance to start its meal. The other one really freaked me out because I reached up and pulled it off my eyebrow! Noticed something black moving around out of the corner of my eye and started to wipe it away when it clung to my finger and wouldn’t let go. Before coming to Madagascar, I read about Raxworthy and the leeches he got in his eyes doing research in the part of the country. I hope I make it through this mission without learning the joys of that! Leech on eyebrow is bad enough!

Out here, leeches are maybe the least of one’s worries. I saw a millipede that was 9 inches long this afternoon. They’re poisonous and a sting from one of those can cause high fever and all sorts of unpleasantness. Also a hindrance to those traversing this forest are the many species of trees, vines, and lianas that have sharp thorns lining their trunks like armor. Somehow the Malagasy transect group does just fine in the mud, climbing up a 48 degree slope. Me, I slip and slide and grasp for any vegetation that can save me from falling down the mountainside. In that split second when you lose your balance and panic for a stable grip, it’s hard to confirm that what you grasp does not have faty be [big thorns]. The thorns also tear at your clothes and scratch your arms and make you itch.

On a lighter note, we finally reached foret eclaircie today—still not primary forest but better than the savaka and foret degradee we’ve found so far. You only occasionally see giant trees with buttressed roots, and light does penetrate the thin canopy, but the plant biodiversity is remarkable, and it feels like real rainforest. We made camp today right in the heart of the forest and as I write this I am being serenaded by a chorus of tree frogs and other nocturnal creatures, accompanied by the gurgling of a little stream. There are giant bird’s nest ferns crowning the larger trees’ branches above our camp. As I ate dinner with the transect team on a bed of leaves under the tarp at the center of camp, a tiny frog that I think is endemic to this area jumped onto my plate and balanced on the rim for a few moments before hopping onto the plate a few folks down from me.

Also saw a crab about as big as my palm living in the water collected in the knot of a white vapaka tree. I was impressed by the microhabitat he selected and turned into a perfect niche—never would have guessed that there were crabs that live in trees in the rainforest here. Always associated them with bodies of water. Also saw crickets with antennae 5 times the length of their bodies—ridiculously long. And insect-mimic spiders, several species, each having evolved to look like a different non-predatory insect to fool prey. Have seen a few birds but no large fauna. This trip would be heaven for an entomologist. I have seen so many species of ant! I imagine many of them have yet to be described. And this all, not within the boundaries of Makira, but along a transect line in a GCF (transfer de gestion) zone. [i.e., a zone that is between the parkland and inhabited land, presumably]

I hope we at least hear some lemurs in the next few days. Wish everything I own weren’t wet, or at least damp. Also wish I did not have red, raw spots on my heels and toes from my hiking boots. What will my feet look like and feel like on day 12, I wonder? Best not to think about it.

One of these days I’ll get around to writing out the transect procedure to solidify it in my mind and help those at home better understand what I’m doing out here (or at this stage, observing being done).

Dinner was rice with beans; lunch was rice with peanut butter; breakfast was rice with little dried shrimp. Fruit leather is a very good invention and should be given a medal for excellence in the field! Time for bed!