Of mouse lemurs and men

16^th October

On the plane to Antananarivo tonight I talked at length to Steve Goodman, impossibly eminent Madagascar biologist, gifted linguist, committed conservationist, discoverer and describer of many of Madagascar’s small mammals, and one of a handful of living people after whom a lemur is named: Goodman’s mouse lemur, which I hope we shall see in three weeks’ time in Andasibe.

It was a privilege to talk to this open, friendly, humble man who seemed delighted to answer my naïve, ill-informed questions on taxonomy, conservation, culture and politics in his adopted homeland in the Indian Ocean. Many fascinating things emerged from our discussion, all of which will doubtless colour the Malagasy marshtittery to follow here in the coming weeks.

Immigration to Madagascar and baggage reclaim were, again this year, less of a thrill.