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  PlanetArk 26 Jun 06
Malagasy Ecoguides Hold Key to the Forest
Story by Ed Stoddard

MANTADIA NATIONAL PARK, Madagascar - "The chameleon is there, can you see it?" asks an excited Raymond Rabarison, jabbing his finger at the dark green foliage of young trees on the side of the road.

The group of foreign visitors peer at the branches but see nothing out of the ordinary - until Rabarison steps among the trees and puts his hand right next to the 30-cm (12-inch) chameleon gripping a branch. Its presence becomes so obvious that you are astonished you missed it in the first place.

With its bulging eyes, horn-like facial "spikes" and rotund shape it hardly resembles a branch, but set against the dark green of the leaves it is almost impossible to spot.

Spotting concealed wildlife in Madagascar's rainforest is a rare skill that 50-year-old Rabarison has honed through a childhood spent playing in the bush and an adulthood spent as an eco-guide. He works in the Analamazaotra Reserve and the nearby Mantadia National Park, home to several species of Madagascar's famed lemurs - cuddly primates which are distant relations to humanity - as well as colourful frogs and chameleons and perhaps 120 species of birds.

The world's fourth largest island, Madagascar broke away from the rest of Africa around 160 million years ago, leaving its flora and fauna to evolve in splendid isolation. More than 90 percent of the mammals which inhabit it are found nowhere else while all but one of its 217 species of amphibians are endemic.

The Indian Ocean island has more than half of the world's chameleons. It is the uniqueness of this biodiversity that is drawing a growing number of eco-tourists to the country.

FOREST SKILLS

The reserves where Rabarison works attracted 28,000 visitors last year, up from around 7,000 in 1990. The government has committed itself to tripling the amount of protected space to six million hectares as it attempts to establish itself as a destination for eco-tourists.

Partly in response to the growing interest, Rabarison, a lawyer by training, formed a guide association in 1992. It now has 21 guides and Rabarison, who is its president, is training more.

If his own skills are anything to go by, he must be a fine mentor. "I never studied biology, I am self-trained," he said. It clearly takes years of walking and looking to develop his hawk-like eyesight.

On a night walk, Rabarison spots minute chameleons in the beam of his torch and the shining eyes of small mouse lemurs. "The chameleons are easier to spot in the night than in the day because they don't change colour after dark," he says.

A jovial man with a gap-toothed grin, Rabarison seems to take genuine delight in spotting wildlife, from lemurs to tiny birds even though he must have seen it all a thousand times. He moves lithely through the forest, stopping from time to time to emit calls that imitate various animals.

The original guide in the area was the legendary Bedo, known only by his last name, who was said to be able to peer into the forest and see things that others simply could not.

He was murdered in 1989 in mysterious circumstances but his sister Mary has followed in his footsteps to become a top guide. "Other guides take you to the lemurs. But she anticipates and takes you to where they are going to," said South African tourist Len De Beer, as Mary led her charges through the thick bush to where a family of playful sifakas appeared - a striking lemur with orange-ish limbs and a teddy bear face.

"The guides here are really knowledgeable about the flora and fauna. It is really impressive," he said.

AFRICAN SUCCESS STORY

Rabarison and his guides are also an African success story at a time when aid to the world's poorest continent is under scrutiny, with many questioning its effectiveness.

Unlike many aid projects which collapse after western donors depart, the guide association was started by the local community and no foreign expert could match Rabarison's expertise.

It is also a success because of the badly needed cash it brings in, giving local communities an incentive to protect the forest and its rare wildlife, which include the indri, the largest of the lemurs famed for its haunting call.

Guides can make between US$20 and $50 a day during the peak season, good money in a country where many rural dwellers eke out a grim existence on less than a dollar a day.

Rabarison never fails to surprise. Walking along a forest path, he stops and makes a whistling sound. "What animal are you calling?" asks one of his guests. "No animal," he replies, laughing. "That is a signal to the other guides to find out where they are."
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