Besides the scenic foliage and relaxing atmosphere of Vakona, the main reason for a visit to the forest to the forest lodge is to experience Lemur Island. After a restful night, Janis, the Fennester and Fernandez were eager to see this legendary place. First stop was breakfast which included the very best cup of tea in all of Madagascar in Janis's opinion and a teenager who sat at another table rocking out to his headphones, chain smoking and playing Half Life on his computer.
wise choice on my part.
Vakona Forest Lodge sits on the edge of a national park which is home to many different kinds of lemurs. There is a series of islands which are managed by the lodge on which six different kinds of lemurs live. A canoe and guide is required to visit the main island – all other islands are not allowed to be visited by humans. Upon the Fennester, Fernandez and Janis’s approach to the canoe launch, they all saw their first lemur in the daylight. He was a black and white lemur, just chilling on a post on the island. The three of them eagerly hopped into their canoe to go the 6 feet over to the island. Lemurs do not like water nor do they like to swim so they are content to stay on their islands.
Vakona Forest Lodge sits on the edge of a national park which is home to many different kinds of lemurs. There is a series of islands which are managed by the lodge on which six different kinds of lemurs live. A canoe and guide is required to visit the main island – all other islands are not allowed to be visited by humans. Upon the Fennester, Fernandez and Janis’s approach to the canoe launch, they all saw their first lemur in the daylight. He was a black and white lemur, just chilling on a post on the island. The three of them eagerly hopped into their canoe to go the 6 feet over to the island. Lemurs do not like water nor do they like to swim so they are content to stay on their islands.
As they alighted from their canoe, the lemurs came to greet them. All three of them were leapt on by the lemurs to welcome them to the island. Janis says it was one of the coolest experiences of her life though she wished her husband was there with her to see it. The guide provided some bananas to feed the lemurs, which they liked but they seemed more interested in bouncing around Janis’s shoulders (and even having a little fight on her shoulders), touching her hair, inspecting her sunglasses, inspecting Fernandez’s hair for baby lemurs (he is a tad hairy at the moment and one could have been in there), pooping and peeing on Noah and running back and forth between the three of them.
They then ventured further onto the island where they saw a giant sifika lemur. He is about 20 years old, likes a pat on the head, and dances across the ground between trees looking for bananas. He seemed a tad lonely as he is the only one of his kind on the island. Janis also saw some bamboo lemurs who were a little shy. Fernandez got close to one for a picture and the little guy just rotated around the bamboo stalk away from him. The black and white lemurs and the brown lemurs (of which there are two kinds on the island) continued to bounce around between the three of them. At one point, Janis had three of them on her shoulders and head.
After the main island, the guide then took them on a very relaxing canoe ride around the different islands where they saw more lemurs running around the trees. They stopped at the island of the ring-tailed lemurs. Apparently, they don’t get along with the other types of lemurs and so they live on a separate island. I understand these types of lemurs are quite famous due to some cartoon movie called Madagascar. Fernandez even broke into song – something about “I like to move it, move it” from the movie which caused the guide to laugh and sing along. Janis loved the ring-tailed lemurs as she thinks they loved her. As soon as she arrived they jumped all over her with their soft little hands, touching her hair and making strange ping-pong noises to each other. The guide brought some more bananas which all three of them feed to the lemurs. These lemurs seemed much smarter as they would take the hand which held a banana and bring it down to their level so they could reach the food. After eating they all ran into the jungle to have a nap and the three humans continued their scenic canoe ride back to the mainland.
Janis tells me that her experience at the Lemur Island was by far the best one she has had in Madagascar. Because she, Fennester and Fernandez took about 500 pictures it is not possible to post them all on her blog. If you would like to more of her lemur photos, please email her at her gmail account - which her full name at gmail and she will give you access. 
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