Our arrival at camp in the southern parcel is something I will never forget. The majority of Madagascar’s forests have been lost due to logging for trade and burning for agriculture. Experts estimate 70-90% of the island’s original forest cover has been destroyed, taking with it the home and habitats of some of the world’s most unique and critically endangered species. While hiking up to the southern parcel of The Lost Forest, I witnessed first-hand what this might look like. For three hours we hiked a steep and steady incline. The landscape was barren from frequent burning, leaving behind the charred remains of a rainforest trying to grow. No wildlife as far as the eye could see. In the distance, smoke plumes rose where new fires raged on. We climbed this emptiness for three hours.
As we made our way up the highest peak, we suddenly began to hear the forest before we saw it. Vasa parrots, cuckoo rollers, and paradise flycatchers chatted, squawked and sang as they fluttered from one small forested patch to the next. At the peak, the forest spread beneath us with its long arms outstretched, winding along the creeks that flowed within. As fires burned for decades around this forest, the tall cliffs we had just hiked had protected this last patch by what felt like some miracle. This forest was the last thing you’d expect to see while hiking up what otherwise looked like the surface of Mars.
