DH (where the 'D' stands for Don't Put Us In Danger) was already a bit antsy about this leg of our journey so the Zebra Campervan Rental folks weren't helping me persuade DH that a magical adventure lay ahead by giving us the saddest looking 4 wheeled campervan (hereafter known as the Wounded Zebra) one might ever see. We had such a good time touring New Zealand and Australia in a campervan that when the opportunity to do the same thing in South A...

You could probably spend months/years wandering the wilds of Madagascar and not see all of the unique species on offer here (90 percent of all plant and animal species found in Madagascar are endemic). As part of the world's loudest bus tour, we never did get to see the Giraffe Weevil, the Comet Moth (largest in the world), the Tomato Frog, Aye-Aye Lemurs, Flat-Tailed Geckos (impossible to spot since they look like a dead leaf), Streaked or Aquatic Tenrecs, M...

If lemurs are the stars of Madagascar, then Ring Tails are the stars of the lemur family. Part of that is very likely due to their staring role in the Madagascar cartoon movie series (not having had the pleasure of a tantrum that persists until a tiny human is allowed to watch their cartoon for the 70th time, we haven't seen this movie yet), but a bigger part is their patience with the Lemur Paparazzi that visit from all corners of the planet. Unlike most oth...

We're still cleaning the Lemur footprints off of our clothing and getting ready for our next encounters, but, as a form of personal stress relief, I need to address the trials and tribulations of bus touring. As with most of these off-the-beaten path trips, many of our fellow travelers are hardcore- there's The Gang Of Six (far flung friends who frequently get together for trips like this in order to sing Top 10 songs from the seventies and pose for jumpi...

The country of Madagascar (or as Deb P might say "why are they mad at Gascar?"), is another of those countries that remains somewhat off the beaten path. This is something of a surprise given the success of the cartoon Madagascar movies and the latest IMAX Island of Lemurs release- things like that normally provide a jolt to any countries tourism. Just the opposite has happened in Madagascar as the French Government has put in place a travel ban because a vigilan...