Antipode – Chapter 21

Antipode is a true account of my experiences while doing research in Madagascar from 1993 – 1999; it was published by St. Martin’s Press in 2001. Here is where we started—with the Introduction. And here are all of the chapters posted thus far.

I was tattooing frogs in camp when, fifty yards away, a treefall almost killed Bret. First there was just noise, a thunderous, splintering collapse of a massive old tree, breaking the expectations of daytime rainforest sounds. Chattering lemurs, frogs calling back and forth, and the drone of the nearby waterfall were instantly replaced with a searing, urgent crack.

Sitting on our tent platform, Bret heard it too. Having worked long nights in neotropical forests chasing down bats, he knew well the distinct snap of a treefall. He looked behind him to see improbable movement, a trunk three feet wide bearing down on him. He sprang. Ran full speed off the platform towards the coast, diving onto the shaky wooden dock just as the crashing stopped, as suddenly as it had begun.

The lemurs resumed their conversation, the frogs their vocal competition, and the lazy heat of the rainforest pressed in from all sides. All seemed normal. Except that my husband was lying face down on the dock, bleeding somewhat but not flattened, and a large tree hung, poised, over our tent platform, caught in the arms of another tree. On a horizontal branch, the tree nearest our platform held the fallen giant. The downed tree’s huge root mass was almost perpendicular to the earth where it had once stood, and an immense mass of wood was suspended over our delicate backpacking tent. Those few hollow aluminum poles strung with nylon mesh couldn’t protect us now. At any moment, the tree might complete its path of destruction to the ground, flattening all in its path.

Somehow, despite the excitement, Glenn and I remembered to put newly tattooed frog T4 back into a Ziploc bag before racing to the scene. Augustin, the naturalist guide, was on the island that day with two eastern European tourists, as were Vonjy and Rafidy. Lebon and Fortune rounded out our population. It was a very full house. After Bret picked himself up and assessed his damage—not bad—we turned our attention to the tree. Here we had a problem.

“What we must do,” announced Augustin, “is go into town, acquire a team of ...