Excerpts from Antipode: Seasons with the Extraordinary Wildlife and Culture ofMadagascar (Heather Heying. 2002. St. Martin’s Press: New York.)Excerpts from Chapter 1: You Are HereMadagascar is an immense island. It is the fourth largest in the world, afterGreenland, New Guinea, and Borneo. All told, it is slightly smaller than Texas. Thisgreat red island lies off the east coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean, not 200 miles fromMozambique, but has less in common with Africa than one might expect, given its closeproximity. Madagascar has been separated from all other landmasses for at least 80million years, and in that time, the biota has become extraordinarily unique. Ninetypercent of its plant and animal species are endemic—found nowhere else on the planet.There are neon spotted frogs, and fully grown chameleons the size of pocket change.Enormous baobab trees looking as if they’ve been planted upside down. Bats with built-in suction cups on their wrists and ankles. Carnivorous pitcher plants. Leaf-tailedgeckos which flatten against and blend in so perfectly with tree trunks that you can lookone in the eye at six inches and think you’re admiring bark. Every time you take a stepin what remains of the wilderness of Madagascar, new surprises meet your eyes. Andthen there are the lemurs.More monkey than ape in character, but not actually either, prosimians are amongthe most primitive primates. All Madagascan prosimians are commonly called lemurs,although some, technically, are not. Living species include the black and white indri,which look like giant teddy bears, and sing duets with their mates at first light, andagain as the sun sets. Their mournful song carries miles across the forest, and oftenacross deforested land where they can no longer live, evoking haunting memories oftheir bygone presence. The island is also still home to the tiniest of primates, the mouselemur, a big-eyed furball that scurries about in the trees with the aid of its opposablethumbs, the whole package smaller than a human fist. And there’s the aye-aye, ascruffy, mangy looking beast with bat ears and a long wispy tail. This otherworldlycreature uses an elongate middle finger to pull sap and insect larvae out of trees, fillingthe woodpecker niche in a place with no woodpeckers. Local legend suggests that ifyou see an aye-aye, you must kill it, else bad luck will fall upon your village. Aye-ayesare, understandably, a bit shy of people nowadays.Aside from the aye-aye, the Malagasy myths that have risen up around the lemursare mostly ones of exaltation. The indri is believed to have saved a man who, havingbroken a critical branch, was stranded high up in a tree. It is fady to hurt an indri. Otherlemurs are hunted for food, but are admired for their dexterity and skill in the trees.Tales are told of their social habits—one Malagasy friend told me that female lemursseek out and eat the leaves of a toxic plant when they want abortions. And they areeven, sometimes, valued for their beauty in this country at the bottom of the world’seconomic ladder, where aesthetic concerns are rarely a priority.It is still a matter of some debate how both the landmass of Madagascar, and thepeople living on it, came to be there. Madagascar probably split from Africa early in thebreak-up of Gondwanaland, but remained attached to what would become the Indiansubcontinent to the north, Australia and the southeast Asian islands to the east, andAntarctica to the south and west. The last landmass with which Madagascar rifted wasAntipode Excerpts2India, which ultimately broke away and moved north towards a collision with Asia thatwould raise the Himalayas.Were the first Malagasy people African, Indian, south east Asians (present dayIndonesians), or south Pacific Islanders? Perhaps Polynesians, with a bit of southeastAsian, and some Arab, picked up during what must have been a long journey by boat.Few anthropologists agree on when people began arriving on Madagascar. But it isclear that neither the people nor the wildlife bear much resemblance to those on theAfrican continent, and a sure way to insult a Malagasy is to refer to him as African.Although Africa and Madagascar are physically quite close, strong water currents in theStrait of Mozambique make it difficult for anything to cross between the two.Madagascar was a stopping point on trade routes throughout the age of colonialEurope—indeed, the oldest map of the region where I work was made by Dutch pirates.There are more than 20 distinct tribal groups, several variations on a theme of animistreligion, and very little industrial or technological development. The French colonizedMadagascar in the late 19th century, but were ousted in a democratic vote in 1959.Lingering French influence explains both the prevalence of the French language acrossthe country, and the surreal appearance of fresh baguettes in even rural markets everymorning. Due to widespread corruption, the new government gradually beganprovoking protests, and in 1975 they were replaced by the socialists. From then until1992, during the socialist era in Madagascar, outsiders were particularly distrusted, andforeigners who hadn’t managed to stay behind when the French left were not often letin during this period. The socialists had come in with grand ideals and plans, but soonfell into disrepute. In 1992, after years of increasingly vocal protests from the people, amulti-party democracy was formed, and Dr. Albert Zafy was elected president. Hisadministration, too, soon lost popularity, and in 1997, in a democratic vote, DidierRatziraka, the former socialist head of state, became the president of Madagascar.✹✹✹Were I telling stories about modern American suburbanites, it might be safe toassume that the time not chronicled is spent watching television, talking on thetelephone, shopping, commuting between home and work. At night, our neighborsretreat to their walled off homes, turn on the lights and make themselves comfortableamong their things.In Madagascar, except in the capital Antananarivo, there are essentially notelevisions or phones in anyone’s private home. Even in Tana—the more manageablename for Antananarivo—these luxuries are rare. When present, phones seldom work.In northeastern Madagascar, where I work, people commute, but it is not a commutemost Americans would recognize. The locals walk daily between their palm-roofedhomes and the outdoor market—the zoma—which reliably has baskets