Mayotte, French Comores
At first light this morning, the National Geographic Explorer approached the entrance to the magnificent lagoon of Mayotte, an overseas collective of France. This is the oldest of the four Comoros islands, and it provides a textbook example of a barrier reef that has grown around a sinking volcanic structure. They are a group of closely associated islands, which form Mayotte are actually peaks of a compound volcano which formed more than 10,000,000 years ago. The peaks will eventually sink below the surface and then only the coral reef will remain…like what we encountered yesterday at Geyser Reef.
We had a lot going on this morning. Most of us went on an island tour that covered part of the main island of Mahoré, or Grand-Terre. An early morning rain had cooled things down and we all appreciated the cloud cover as we saw the lush, forested countryside. Everyone was impressed by the fact that almost all the trees seen growing around houses offered something good to eat…mangoes, coconut palms, papaya, breadfruit, etc., and most homesteads also contained small plots of manioc, sugarcane, and maize to add to the daily meals. We stopped at a roadside still that has been in operation for more than 30 years producing the valuable essential oil from ylang-ylang flowers that were once the mainstay of the economy here. Our guide explained it is still used in some of the most expensive French perfumes, including Chanel No. 5 and Estee Lauder Ylang-Ylang Amber. Another focal point of the tour was the botanical garden, where we were able to admire a nice collection of tropical flowering plants from around the world. The star was a gigantic mimosa tree that towered over everything else in the garden. Some of us spent more time in the garden bird-watching than we did flower-watching. In the meantime, another group transited to Pamánzi Island, or Petite-Terre, in order to enjoy a hike up to the rim of Dzani Crater and walk on a trail around it. This provided some nice views over the surrounding waters of the lagoon as well as inside the crater looking down at the blue-green lake in the center.
The highlight of the day, however, must surely have been our visit to M'Bouzi Island, a sanctuary for the endemic Mayotte lemur. This species of lemur was once found throughout the Mayotte group, but is now only seen on Mahoré and M'Bouzi islands. More than 500 lemurs live on M'Bouzi, so it was pretty easy to find them. Being a sanctuary, injured and orphaned are often brought in to add to the natural population. They are also well habituated to humans. This is a good thing for the lemurs, because there are now so many on the island, it is sometimes helpful to supplement their natural food with bananas, papayas, and apples from the local market. It also was good for us, because we were able to interact with them while offering food and take some truly remarkable photographs. They have a very sociable and gentle demeanor; this was demonstrated in their behavior around us. Alright, maybe there were a few minor altercations over the bananas that were being given out. No one confused them with monkeys, there was no doubt about that as we watched them leap about in the trees and calmly climb about on the horizontal branches. For all intensive purposes, these are perfectly good primates, but they look more like dogs or foxes with hands and feet than bona fide monkeys. As such, they must certainly rank near the top of the list of most-appealing animals.
At first light this morning, the National Geographic Explorer approached the entrance to the magnificent lagoon of Mayotte, an overseas collective of France. This is the oldest of the four Comoros islands, and it provides a textbook example of a barrier reef that has grown around a sinking volcanic structure. They are a group of closely associated islands, which form Mayotte are actually peaks of a compound volcano which formed more than 10,000,000 years ago. The peaks will eventually sink below the surface and then only the coral reef will remain…like what we encountered yesterday at Geyser Reef.
We had a lot going on this morning. Most of us went on an island tour that covered part of the main island of Mahoré, or Grand-Terre. An early morning rain had cooled things down and we all appreciated the cloud cover as we saw the lush, forested countryside. Everyone was impressed by the fact that almost all the trees seen growing around houses offered something good to eat…mangoes, coconut palms, papaya, breadfruit, etc., and most homesteads also contained small plots of manioc, sugarcane, and maize to add to the daily meals. We stopped at a roadside still that has been in operation for more than 30 years producing the valuable essential oil from ylang-ylang flowers that were once the mainstay of the economy here. Our guide explained it is still used in some of the most expensive French perfumes, including Chanel No. 5 and Estee Lauder Ylang-Ylang Amber. Another focal point of the tour was the botanical garden, where we were able to admire a nice collection of tropical flowering plants from around the world. The star was a gigantic mimosa tree that towered over everything else in the garden. Some of us spent more time in the garden bird-watching than we did flower-watching. In the meantime, another group transited to Pamánzi Island, or Petite-Terre, in order to enjoy a hike up to the rim of Dzani Crater and walk on a trail around it. This provided some nice views over the surrounding waters of the lagoon as well as inside the crater looking down at the blue-green lake in the center.
The highlight of the day, however, must surely have been our visit to M'Bouzi Island, a sanctuary for the endemic Mayotte lemur. This species of lemur was once found throughout the Mayotte group, but is now only seen on Mahoré and M'Bouzi islands. More than 500 lemurs live on M'Bouzi, so it was pretty easy to find them. Being a sanctuary, injured and orphaned are often brought in to add to the natural population. They are also well habituated to humans. This is a good thing for the lemurs, because there are now so many on the island, it is sometimes helpful to supplement their natural food with bananas, papayas, and apples from the local market. It also was good for us, because we were able to interact with them while offering food and take some truly remarkable photographs. They have a very sociable and gentle demeanor; this was demonstrated in their behavior around us. Alright, maybe there were a few minor altercations over the bananas that were being given out. No one confused them with monkeys, there was no doubt about that as we watched them leap about in the trees and calmly climb about on the horizontal branches. For all intensive purposes, these are perfectly good primates, but they look more like dogs or foxes with hands and feet than bona fide monkeys. As such, they must certainly rank near the top of the list of most-appealing animals.
