January 29-31th: The Littoral Forests

Life off the littoral forests and sea (hebergements-villageois.com)

We got a nice early start and drove down the coast, over some sand dunes, and into the littoral forests. It was hot and dry, and I was worried about finding Marasmius here. I was starting to wonder if this leg of the journey was worth it, sure it was beautiful and the fish was delicious, but did we come here just to be disappointed? We were warned of the wasps and vipers that live in these parts just before walking into the brush. “Awesome...” I mumbled to myself. The mosquitoes were the worst here, I was getting eaten alive and it was driving me a little crazy. I kept looking and looking, and no Marasmius, tons of fungi, but nothing I needed. I just announced to everyone that we should leave when I tuck under a little dark patch of trees, and there in all it’s little parasol glory was some Marasmius sect.  haematocephaly, lots of it! I found another species just next to that. Yes, thank you! I was happy, it was the best collection I’ve had so far, and I was still amazed that they are here in this dry, sandy forest. We kept finding specimen, but they were a bit dry since it had not rained here in a week. :\

We kept going, it was so hot, miserably hot, and the bugs just kept coming. Some Marasmiellus here, another Marasmius there. Just as we left the forest, Danny spotted a viper! Yikes! We headed to another spot and collected some more that day.

Day two was a little more sparse. It was so dry and everything was looking a little sad, but in the end we had collected a nice amount of specimen, and we had even more mosquito bites. Danny made an attempt to visit one more spot on our way out. He jumped out of the car and dashed into a clearing in the forest, and then he ran back to the car, a little red in the face, and told us he walked right near a big wasps nest with 50 wasps! These wasps are no joke. Tahina was stung a few times, and she had big lumps on her neck. When Danny asked if it was painful she said “Ya!”. No wasps for me please!

After the second day, we decided our third day we would pack up the car, head to one more spot for a half day of searching, and head back to Tana. A long day indeed. We went to what we thought would be a wetter location in the littoral forests, but no one could have predicted how dry it was here. It has just been a warmer year.

The Ambila-Lemaitso mushroom team!!! WOO! In the back from left to right is Joes (the guard), hotel helper and frisbee player, Arthur (hotel manager), Danny, Rocky (with the famous invisable drink), front from left to right is Nirina (local guide and brother of Jose), Emile, me (sunburned), and Tahina.

We were finished looking with only four good collections by early afternoon. We said our goodbyes over some rum and beer, and thanked everyone for their amazing help. Two sons of the president had been helping us in the field (Nirina and Jose), identifying plants, and guarding the car, just like in Andasibe. They were a big help, and very fun.

Danny cuddles with kittens

The team was incredible, I want to give a very big special thanks to Danny Newman for all of his amazing work, which you will get the pleasure of seeing later ;). I could not have done any of this without him. He is not only my mushroom teammate, extremely gifted parataxonomist, and photographer, he is a dear friend and I am so happy to have shared this experience with him.

Thank you for all the late night hours of working, for all the laughs, and spontaneous moments. Thank you for making this trip even more unforgettable. It has been a pleasure and more. <3

We started driving back to Tana late in the afternoon, even though we had been warned of a major storm over the highlands. The drive was hands down the scariest road trip I have ever been on, and I have been on a good number of sketchy roads. The climb into the highlands was long, the visibility was 2% due to the pouring rain, and don't forget the massive trucks racing down the mountains! My nerves were totally shot by the time we got back to Tana. We would hit a little bump in the road and my eyes would well up with water from the stress of it. all. Danny managed to "sleep" through the whole trip while I sat in the front pinching the skin between my thumb and index finger trying to calm myself down. Rocky on the other hand was singing to his playlist and having a grand old time, this was not his first rodeo on these crazy roads in the middle of a cyclone. Piece of cake! Needless to say, by the time we got home, I was shaking and my anxiety was through the roof. I managed to take a hot shower and crawl into bed. We had some work to do in the morning, but for now my body and my mind needed some TLC, and that's what I was going to give it.