A beautiful plain, that used to be a beautiful forest.
Now scrubby grass and a few stunted trees are all that will grow there.
The view from our camp every morning, when the sun cleared
the horizon enough to get the tops of the trees.
The sun setting behind our radio telemetry tower. Again,
everything you see used to be forest.
An alligator tree, the unfriendliest bit of flora I've
ever met. The thorns that cover every inch of the trunk are both strong
and sharp.
The Malagasy word for this is lavaka (LAHvuhka), which
means "hole". Groundwater depletion and erosion at work.
Again, though, the environmental devastation has beautiful
effects. Reality is never post-ironic.
The rock formations in the lavaka were like nothing
I've ever seen. Crinkled stone blades, crags, and hollows giving home
to falcons.
A closer look at some of those formations.
Lake Ravelobe at close of day. There is a caveat to
this scenery, though.
The lake is quite thoroughly infested with crocodiles,
which have eaten local children from time to time.
Madagascar was once home to even more species than now,
including this dinosaur. Note size-13 boot for comparison.
Finally, a good look at exactly what's wrong in Madagascar.
Slash-and-burn in action.