Day 9

Getting up at 4am and start off with a cup of chocolate served by Simon, as usual. A very nice start to an early morning hour. Off for some trap control. Simon finds two Rondo Dwarf Galagos in his section, one is a re-capture. I find one Zanzibar galago, unfortunately also a re-capture so it is released on the spot, and one female Garnett's galago. In one of the tube traps that has been set off the net is blown open at the rear end. Yet another escapee! This will be sorted and secured during the day today. I also find a creature rarely caught in these traps and it's a first for me - a Palm Civet (Nandinia binotata). This cat-like creature (family Viverridae) is a very beautiful animal but we are not going to try and handle it! A bite from a Garnett's galago would be like a stroke of a feather compared to a bite from this one. Instead We take series of photographs and open the trap. Off it goes back to the forest!

Palm Civet returns to the night after a drink of palm wine and a bite of banana in a somewhat constricted restaurant.

Good news this afternoon! TFCG will let us use one of their vehicles for our trip to Mtai Forest Reserve in Usumbaras. Much thanks to hard work on Nike's (Andy's partner) behalf. One less problem checked off the list. The evening surveys are very quiet this full moon evening. Trapping frequency has slowed down somewhat. We get two Rondo Dwarf Galagos, whereof one is a re-trap, one Garnett's galago and our friend the Palm Civet is back - but in a new trap this time. We've now reached a good sample size for the Rondo's and the Zanzibar galagos though, in a perfect world, one or two more Zanzibar galagos would make it perfect.

Bye bye! A Garnett's galago sets off after being in our care for a short while.

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