Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
and taken on a tour of the forest (now sadly very degraded) where you are bound to see a
grey-backed sportive lemur that often spends its day dozing in the fork of a favourite tree
ortangleofvines,andyoushouldalsoseeblacklemurs,groundboasandchameleons.The
villagers grow vanilla and peppers, and a wide range of handicrafts can be bought direct
from the makers.
If you want to come to the area for more than a day trip, there are a few options to suit
a range of budgets: see
Paradisa Kely, Jardin Lokobe
and
Domaine de Lokobe
in the
previous section.
ISLANDS AROUND NOSY BE
No visit to Nosy Be is complete without an excursion to Nosy Tanikely and Nosy Komba.
Most Nosy Be hotels do excursions to these islands and will let you do the sensible thing
of taking an overnight break on Nosy Komba.
Both Nosy Komba and Nosy Sakatia now have decent accommodation and offer tranquil
alternatives to the increasingly crowded Nosy Be. Or for the ultimate isolation stay on the
tiny Nosy Vorona.
LEMUR BEHAVIOUR
Alison Jolly
Female lemurs tend to be dominant over males. This is drastically different from our
nearerrelatives,themonkeysandapes,wheremalesdominatefemalesinthevastma-
jority of species. In some lemur species, like the ring-tails and the white sifakas of
Berenty, males virtually never challenge females. In others, like brown lemurs, it is
nearer fifty-fifty, depending on the individual's character. The black lemurs of Nosy
Komba are intermediate. Their females are likely to dominate males but are not cer-
tain to. If you are feeding them, the blond females are apt to be in the forefront of
the scrimmage with only a few of the black males. Watch to see who grabs food from
whom and - even more telling - who does not dare grab.
Female dominance also applies to sex. An unwilling female chases off a male, or
even bites him. Or she may just sit down with her tail over her genitals - a perfect
chastity belt. A lemur's hands can't hold another's tail, so if she puts it down, or just
sits down, he is flummoxed. And in most lemur species, he would never dream of
challenging her desires.
