Bonnie's an expert on monkeys. She's fed monkeys in Panama. Played with monkeys on Gibraltar. She couldn't pass up the opportunity to meet lemurs, small monkeys with a pointed snout, large eyes and a long tail. Lemurs are endemic to Madagascar. They are gentle, playful, athletic and love bananas. Bonnie, of course, couldn’t wait to have one jump on her shoulders and feed it banana. I will attempt to provide video proof of this event and more video proof that’s she’s exhibited this behavior before.

We met the monkeys early in our trek up a small hill that was in a jungle setting. We were enclosed by trees and our skin covered with sweat in the hot, humid afternoon air just 15 minutes’ walk from the boat that took us to Nosy Komba, which means Island of Lemurs in the native language. As dozens of monkeys jumped from limb to limb above us, we also saw a big green male chameleon; a bright orange female chameleon; medium, small and baby turtles; vanilla (the biggest export of the island) plants and a large boa constrictor that also managed to hug Bonnie’s shoulders (but not too tightly). What am I going to do with Bonnie? Hug her, I guess.

See photo album Madagascar.