Home again

For those to whom it escaped notice, I am back at home. I will write a little more about my travels, including the little holiday I took, going the long way to the airport (2 weeks). Thanks to all those who read this while I was away!

Christmas

Christmas was a very welcome break after a hectic scheme. It started well, with lots of hanging out on the beach with Tahina. Then I was struck down with a super high fever. I did a malaria test and thankfully it was negative. It took a couple of days to recover from that, but I wasn't well for all of the rest of the Christmas break. That put a bit of a spanner in the works for some of my plans, but we still had fun. A few of us went to Ambinanibe for the day. This is a village with a cool beach that is good for surfing, just a short taxi ride south of Fort Dauphin. We took some food and bought some fish to cook while we were there.

I also went to Andohahela for the day. This is a few hours drive west of Fort Dauphin and is a park with transitional forest (lots of spiny forest influence, cactus and succulents etc). There was a beautiful river valley (although very dry) and some fantastic pools to swim in. The road was very bumpy but it was a good day.




For the actual Christmas day festivities we went to Sarah B and Rachel's house. We all pitched in with the cooking and the preparations for an amazing feast. Roast potatoes, mango stuffing, BBQd zebu fillet, veg in bechemel sauce, trifle... It was amazing. Washed down with a very rare glass of red wine. It was perfect. We started in the morning and stayed there all day. After all the food we went to sit on the roof to watch the sunset.

It was back to Rachel's for New year. This time it was a smaller gathering. Myself and Tahina, Jojo and Mampy, Dan (Pioneer coordinator) and Rachel. Amazing food yet again. Another rare treat, vegetable lasagna! Containing some (still slightly crunchy) aubergine and courgettes, beans and topped with zebu cheese. Made in a giant saucepan it was nearly a foot deep. Amazing. We ate it all and then had to go and lie down on the floor for a while to digest as we waited for midnight to come round.



Christmas went by all to quickly. It was slightly dampened by my being a bit ill for most of it. But Tahina looked after me and I was surrounded by lovely people in this beautiful place. Not a bad Christmas!

11th November

This was the week we said goodbye to nearly all the volunteers. They left on Wednesday, piled into a 4x4. Only Dan was left. Nessa went back as well because she had been sick for ages. And Hoby left for some days off. it was very quiet in camp. In the conservation club in the afternoon Paula came to speak about Stitch Sainte Luce. Paula is an amazing woman who helps Sarah Brown run the project. By the end of the class everyone wanted to be able to embroider.

Thursday was officially Dan Day. As our only volunteer for a day we let him decide what he wanted to do. So in the morning we just hung out at camp and then he went for a walk with his camera. We worked in the afternoon and in the evening we did a herp sweep where we found 114 individuals!

On Friday morning I stumbled out of my tent and headed for the long drop. Bleary-eyed I got as far as putting one foot in before my brain clicked something was wrong. There was a tree boa streched accross the sanplat! It was the first sighting of what would turn out to be a resident in camp. After lunch Nessa came back with 2 new volunteers. They were lovely. Craig and Vanda, a couple from the UK. They arrived as me and Dan were colouring in our props for Saturday's Conservation Club.

"Endangered Animals of the World" went down a storm with the kids. Followed by a good English class and a fun night walk in the evening. Sunday at the beach where I sat in the sea with Sarah Brown for ages and then got a lovely call from my parents! Inh the afternoon I cut Dan's hair. He is very brave...

Monday came round and it was S7 week again! It was a good week and it didn't rain. I think that may have been a first. We did the usual lemur transects and herp sweeps and also some Phelsuma behaviour. Phelsuma antanosy are the critically endangered day gecko found in S7. The first one we studied fell in love with Craig.

We came back to base camp on Friday and spent the afternoon making our planets to teach the kids about the solar system. It's funny, sometimes, making these classes, especially when we are in S7 and we have no books and have to rely on our knowledge. I think we did quite well. We made a space ship and everything! It was a great lesson. Lots of fun. In the evening we went out to the bar in Sainte Luce, the first time I'd ever been.

On Sunday we went to S17 and has a long hike through the forest. We saw some lemurs and a Uroplatus during the day (which is always amazing). Then we walked up the long beach and had a quick swim before heading back home for a late lunch and a nap.

A couple more days of work and we headed back to Fort Dauphin. All the ACP gang went out for a lovely meal. It was goodbye to Dan and Craig and Vanda. A sad day.


For the last 2 weeks of scheme we were joined by the Pioneers who were a lovely bunch, as well as 2 new volunteers, Kelsey and Sindre. I was able to put up my advent calendar that Abi sent me (the chocolate contents long-gone, of course) and it almost felt festive, along with some carols. It felt good having camp full of people and we had a great time.

Whales

I wrote this ages ago and never put it up. better late than never, I suppose!

While I've been back in town I have been very remiss at letting you know what I've been up to. To be honest, mostly it is sitting in the office at a computer. I have been doing a LOT of data entry, but Nessa and I are now completely up to date. I have been organising journals; getting to know all the new people in the office; saying goodbye to lots of people, which has been sad, but is just the way of things here. Yesterday I had a lesson in how to teach English from Valerie and Nick. So useful. I really enjoy the English teaching in Sainte Luce, but it's good to have a bit of training.

Last Friday I took the morning off, along with Nessa, Conor, Valerie (English teaching), Rachel B and Rachel's lovely mum to go whale watching. It was the most beautiful day. The sea barely had a ripple and looked like the sort of sea that the animators at Pixar would create. A fantastic day for being on the sea. Perhaps not the best for spotting whales as they barely made a splash, cruising through the water with the sun on their backs.Hmm, that sentence nearly rhymes. We saw some leaping on the horizon and a couple of flukes above the surface as their owners dived. We saw so many whales and we got so close. Just a few metres away. Twice we found mothers, sitting on the surface, giving their calves a rest from the long migration by supporting them in the water on the end of their nose. As they moved off the mother's back rose out of the water and we could really get the feel of just how big a whale is! It was a wonderful morning.


The weekend turned really hot and I spent a lot of time heading to the beach and swimming in the turquoise water, interspersed with a massage, naps, a delicious pancake brunch at Nessa and Conor's house, a BBQ at Sarah and Sarah's. Life's pretty good.

It has been cold again, though, since Monday. The woolly hat is back out and I've been wandering about with an emergency pair of thick socks in my handbag (to go with my flip flops, of course!). It won't last long so I should enjoy the respite from the heat!

Scheme 2 part one

After a well needed break in town we started all over again with a new set of volunteers. They arrived on Friday and we had welcome drinks at the office with the pioneers. On Saturday morning the four of them, plus Hoby, Tsiraiky and I headed out of town to Nahampoana. That’s the small reserve a few km to the north of Fort Dauphin. I went in June, but this time all the lemurs had babies!

Early on a Sunday morning we gathered at Lanirano, the Azafady campsite in Fort Dauphin, our bags packed and ready to go on the camion. We went up with Valerie who is with Azafady for a few weeks as an English teaching specialist. She was coming to Sainte Luce to help us with our English classes and was a very welcome addition!

It was great to be back in Sainte Luce. The forest is full of its usual wonders. Winter is truly over here (though the rain continues regularly) and all the dwarf lemurs have woken up and are now making regular appearances both during our work in the forest and at camp.

After two weeks we were joined by another volunteer and Lisa also joined us at camp. We also had the pleasure of Nick and Rachel’s company (both from the Project Development department of the office) for the weekend. Evah braided my hair. We had a great night walk where we found a ground boa. It was very chilled and we all had the chance to hold it. On Sunday we went back to S17, the forest fragment along the coast. There are still loads of whales out in the sea and we spent most of the visit sitting on a rock and watching them.

Monday meant a move to S7, where our satellite camp is. The sun was shining and everything was going far too smoothly. We studied some Phelsuma antanosy, an endangered day gecko and set out to monitor the populations of palms. It did rain, but only after Abi texted us! Abi and rain in S7 are inseparable! It didn’t dampen our spirits, though, and even in the pouring rain we still managed to enjoy ourselves.

And then, before we knew it we were back in Sainte Luce and at the beach again for another Sunday of watching whales. And they were being very playful, splashing about in the water just off shore. We went back to Fort Dauphin on Wednesday for a couple of days of replenishing snack stocks, seeing friends (and boyfriends) and drying out all our soaking wet gear. I also took the opportunity to visit my landlord’s new bar on Thursday night and have a few drinks. It was great fun, although Friday was quite unproductive. But seeing as it was a public holiday I don’t think it mattered very much.

After making a full recovery it was time to go back to Sainte Luce. I had barely said hello to everyone before we were off again! We returned with two new volunteers, bringing our total up to 7.
Last night we had a bush party, both for Dan’s birthday and because they are all leaving on Wednesday (except Dan). It was a long (but great) day because Dan and I decided to head to Manafiafy (the hamlet by the sea) for dawn. We left camp at 4am, in the dark. The walk to Manafiafy takes about half an hour. By the time we got to the shore it was getting light and half the fishing boats had already set off. It was a beautiful morning. We saw some of the English class as we took photos of the sun rising. We were back home for breakfast and then we had Conservation Club with the kids. Just before which, Amy found a really tiny baby chameleon in her tent. it's one of the largest growing species in the world, but they start off this size. In the afternoon we had an English class. Tsiraiky was in Fort Dauphin having some time off so it was just me teaching. I think it went OK. I’m getting to know the students better and we’re getting along alright! We had masses of food for dinner. The volunteers went all-out in ordering stuff from town, which our lovely Evah went to get. We had chips and salad and bread and brochettes (=steak sandwich), along with the usual spaghetti and followed by banoffee pie – bush-style. The band came and we danced as much as we could after such a large and wonderful meal. Yes, I was still dancing as the last song played.

Today I have had a lovely, relaxed time. All the others have gone off on a day trip and I am sitting in the research centre doing a bunch of stuff I haven’t had time for in the last few weeks. Fuelled by banoffee pie I have been sorting my photos and writing this. I have had plenty of interruptions from some of the local kids. The girls have all wanted to watch the videos I took of them during Conservation Club and see photos of each other and the animals. They’re a great (if slightly bossy) bunch.

Scheme One - The Second Half

Week Six
The planting begins! Carrying 300 plants into a forest is hard work! But we did it. It was a busy week with all the pioneers around. Really good to have Sarah at camp too. We had to say a very sad goodbye to volunteers Jessica and Johanna on Tuesday. There were tears.
On Wednesday we had environmental education. We did a lesson on humpback whales, as they are migrating past at the moment, off to a bay in the north to have their babies, away from chilly Antarctic waters. At the end of the lesson we lined all the kids up outside in the yard to make up 19 metres (the length of a whale). We were going to ask them to travel as one entity around Nessa and I (their migration route) but something got lost in translation and the result was amazing. Over 50 children each pretended to be whales, swimming through the sea and singing whale song, up to the two of us and back again. It was fantastic. I was almost crying with laughter. Such a great sight.
The changes in camp this week were: Thursday brought a new volunteer, Adam, from London, and took Merel away. Then on Saturday the Pioneers left.
We were now down to 3 volunteers: Melissa from south Africa, who has been here since the start, Eric from Norway and Adam, newly arrived from the UK. Abi (RA) left with the Pioneers, too.
On Sunday we headed to the beach after a stroll through the hamlets of Sainte Luce. Hoby and Tsiraiky played the guitar and Nessa and I sang along. A couple of Malagasy songs we know and a lot of Bob Marley. A fantastic beach day. In the evening we watched half of the Bob Marley documentary, just to continue the theme!

Week Seven
Back to S7. This time in the sunshine. This was probably the fastest week yet, and one of the best. It was loads of fun. Three great volunteers, sunshine and Bananagrams. What more could you ask for? I have been stepping up my Malagasy learning (have been a bit lax) but still have a lot of studying to do. This was one of this weeks where I can't really believe I'm here. I kept getting up before 6 to watch the sunrise from S7. I have been getting up early anyway, to get at least 45 minutes of yoga in before 7am breakfast. When an acceptable bedtime is any time from 7.30 pm I might as well! Again we came back on Friday and spent the afternoon making everything for the Conservation Club lesson on Saturday morning. Such a good week!

On Saturday it was Adam's birthday (we're doing well for birthdays this scheme). We had Conservation Club and English Class in the afternoon. I am really enjoying English Class. Tsiraiky has done a lot of English teaching and is helping me to plan classes (and then he teaches 80% of it!)
We had another party in the evening with the band and most of the local village, it seemed like. Maybe all of the children! I spent a lot of time dancing with Natasa and Natasa. Two girls who hang around by the research centre. Little Natasa is one of the cutest kids in the world. She out-danced all of us, although I was worried she might fall asleep on her feet at one point. The band continued past 11pm, under the light of the full moon. A fantastic party. My legs were so sore from dancing but worth every twinge. We saw out the last few minutes of Adams birthday back in the longhouse at camp over birthday banana bread (ie. smothered in chocolate).
On Sunday we headed back over to S17 for a very windy walk up to the rocks at the North end of the beach. We took binoculars to try and find whales. I spotted one leaping out of the sea. I live here! It's amazing!
I napped away the chilly afternoon, making a full recovery from all the dancing the previous evening and mentally preparing for a Bananagramathon! We Bananagrammed until I was so tired I could barely speak. I think I may have the best job in the world. Seriously.

Week Eight
The last couple of days of work were awesome! We saw a tree boa and a couple of fat-tailed dwarf lemurs, just waking up from their winter snooze. Solo (local guide) found a dwarf chameleon that was SO SMALL. Bananagramming until midnight. Fantastic. The camion arrived at 7.30 am yesterday, pulling into camp with a toot on its musical horn. I frantically disassembled my tent, tried to remember what it was we needed to take and put everything we didn't need away. A group photo (of the small group under roof) and we were off. We got as far as Belevenoky without incident and then something on the camion broke. It was one of the most pleasant break-downs ever. We sat by the river, I played with Razeva's (local guide) baby, the kids played football and we ate a lot of mofo (pronounced moofoo and they're like deep-fried bread-balls. Yum!) with coffee. I practiced some more Malagasy with Hoby and finally, 3 hours later, we were back on the road. It was good to be back in Fort Dauphin and see all the lovely people who are based in the office. I'm already missing Sainte Luce, though.

This morning we met for breakfast to say goodbye to Melissa. I'm missing you lots Melly-sah! It was very sad. She was a fantastic volunteer. Future volunteers have a lot to live up to!
So I'm trying to relax a bit while in town. I'm getting my room sorted (looks like a bomb has hit it at the moment) and catching up with everyone. We're heading back up on Saturday, where the adventure will continue!

Week Nine
We went back up to Sainte Luce by 4x4. There were 2 of us in the front passenger seat and 5 in the back seat and everything else we needed in the boot. We made it there in record time. It's so much faster than the camion. We went straight into an English class, present simple tense practice. Sunday was wonderfully relaxed. We went to the beach and then Nessa and I headed back to camp to cook some aubergines for lunch. They were more popular with us than the Malagasy contingent... On Monday we went back to work with a vengeance! Mapping Beccariophoenix palms, Following lemurs, herp searches, the lot! It was a great week.
Only one thing happened that was bad, but it was pretty major! We were having dinner and working out the schedule on Sunday night when we heard reports of a fire to one side of the forest. Nessa, Hoby and I went to see it. It was massive! It was really close to one of the fragments of forest that we work in a lot, but thankfully the wind was blowing it in the other direction. It was very sad. I woke up at about 4am that night and I could hear it from my tent. I had to stick my head out and check the sky to see how close it was. No red glow so I figured it was safe to go back to sleep. It continued burning through Monday.
On Friday Abi came to visit. It was her last weekend and she wanted to say goodbye to Sainte Luce. On Saturday we had the end of scheme party for Club Atsatsaky (that means gecko). Biscuits and squash for about 160 children! It actually went really well! Very smooth. No tears or anything (apart from Abi when she had to say goodbye). The afternoon's English class also went well. We got the advanced class to help the beginners.
In the evening we had another bush party. It started off very quietly, but after a few songs more people arrived and pretty soon everyone was dancing!

Week Ten
The last few days of the scheme. Sunday started of very sad as we heard that a boat had washed up minus the fishermen. Everything was still in the boat, even their tobacco, but not them. Manafiafy (the hamlet on the coast) was filled with people waiting for news from the people who had gone out searching. Nothing.
We sat by the sea and watched whales leaping out of the choppy waves. It's easy to forget how difficult things can be in Sainte Luce. On Monday we said goodbye to Abi and went to work. We packed a lunch and went to S7 for the day, to finish the last bit of baseline data collection. In the morning during a herp search Tsiraiky called out "Jess, I have a present for you". It was a Uroplatus (leaf-tailed gecko). During the day! It was brilliantly camouflaged against a tree (see bottom of post). Such a good find! I'd been dying to see one.
On Tuesday afternoon after work we walked up to Manafiafy to pay our resppects to the family of the two men (brothers) who were lost at sea. We walked back at dusk. The walk back at that time is amazing, the mountains framed by the setting sun. As we arrived back into camp we were told that one of the bodies had just been found.
We came back to Fort Dauphin on Wednesday. 7 of us plus driver in the 4x4. I guessed the time we'd be back to town and I was spot on! At 11.17am we pulled into Lanirano. I took a couple of minutes to regain the feeling in my legs and then we were dropped off at home. In the afternoon we had leaving drinks at the office for Abi. I also finally got to meet Conor, Nessa's boyfriend who arrived a few days ago. He's here to be the Azafady IT expert.
We went out in the evening for a few drinks to say goodbye to the Pioneers too. Then dinner and kareoke! Total eclipse of the heart? oh yes. And an ACP rendition of Three Little Birds, although it was basically just Tsiraiky (having both the loudest voice and the only working microphone).
Yesterday morning we waved off Abi. I don't know what I'll do without her. I'm off for a few days now, to recover. I need it. I slept most of yesterday. I've got a few weeks now, back in town to get everything ready for the next batch of volunteers. I hope they are as good as the last lot!

Scheme One - The First Half

Week One
The scheme started on the 5th July, the same day as the leaving party for Jo and Forrest. The volunteers were held up in Tana airport for ages. The arrived 10 hours late, by which time I was at the party... The party was awesome. A massive dinner at Jo and Forrest's house, then on to the bar for loads of music and dancing (until 3am - a good 6 hours of dancing!). A rather slow Saturday was followed by an action packed Sunday as we met all the volunteers properly and all piled into the camion to go back up to Sainte Luce. There were 11 volunteers to start off with. It was a busy week, with me trying to learn as much as possible. On Saturday we had a bush party. The band from Manafiafy comes down to camp and sets up outside the research centre. We start off by sitting and watching the performance (the band has dancers). The play Mangaliba and the girls dance, moving their feet so quickly they become a blur. Then the volunteers got dragged onto the dance floor and pretty quickly everyone is dancing. Loads of people from the village come too so it becomes a massive party. There was a little rain, but not enough to deter anyone. Once again, I was one of the last on the dancefloor when the music stopped.
The following morning we headed over to S17, the forest fragment that runs right up to the sea. It is privately owned and is absolutely stunning. A pirogue ride over the river, a short trek through the forest and a long walk up a windswept beach with epic scenerey, to a swimming bay. A great way to spend Johanna's birthday (one of the volunteers).

Week Two
Back to work on the Monday with a full day. Phelsuma plots in S8 (Phelsuma are a genus of day gecko, Phelsuma antanosy is critically endangered) and an afternoon and evening of herp searches! This week brought the arrival of Nessa, another Research Assistant. She is Irish and came here a couple of years ago as a volunteer. She is really lovely and studied art, then conservation. The car that brought her up took away lots of the volunteers - 7 of them! - and brought us one more, Claudia. It certainly felt quieter at camp but it was great fun. Sunday was Melissa's birthday (another volunteer). We went up to the beach nearer camp and had a very relaxing day, with cake in the evening.

Week Three

Monday morning was spent packing up ready to go to S7, yet another forest fragment in Sainte Luce. We walked for about half an hour then took a short pirogue ride over the river to S7, where we set up camp. It isn't very far away from the, main camp in Sainte Luce, but we stay there for a few days at a time because from there we need to walk up to an hour to get to some of the transects. I love S7. It was raining, which let it down a bit, but the forest is beautiful. The camp is on the edge of the forest and faces south east. You can't quite see the sea from there, as S17 gets in the way (it's a long thin hill).
In S7 we do the same sort of work; herp searches, lemur transects and habitat surveys. It's sad, as S7 is one of the fragments that has been designated to be mined in the future. Mining it will involve cutting down all the trees and then flooding it and dredging up the desired mineral (ilminite).Nice.

On one of the mornings we were walking back to camp from the forest and were near the edge when Solo, one of the local guides suddenly stopped. So suddenly that I walked into the back of him. He gestured ahead and it took me a couple of seconds to spot the snake. A Malagasy giant hognose. It had finally stopped raining and the sun came out. The snake was taking advantage of the warmth and basking in a patch of sunshine next to the path. Despite none of the snakes in Madagascar being venomous (or at least, in a way that would affect us) the Malagasy people are very cautious around snakes. The hognose is believed to be able to attack people by thrusting its head at the chest and piercing the heart with its pointed snout. The one we saw just crossed the path and disappeared. On passing we saw another one lying where the first had been.
On an afternoon off Hoby taught me a song from the spiny forest. It's about someone who wants to go home but has had a fight with their parents and so is worried about going back. But then he buys them a zebu and it's all OK. It's a good song!
We headed back to the main campsite on Friday and I had the afternoon off so went for a swim. I went to the local beach. it is so beautiful. I was there totally alone. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to realise that I am awake and I do actually live here!

Week Four

After a couple of days of work we went back to Fort Dauphin on the Wednesday. Two days to go through emails, wash clothes, catch up with everyone and eat as much bread and cheese as possible! It was a bit manic, but good. It was good to hear from everyone back home. It went so quickly! We said goodbye to yet another volunteer (Claudia) and then headed back up to Sainte Luce on Saturday. Unfortunately Ali had some bad news and didn't come back up. Over the weekend she decided to go back home to the UK. I miss her lots.

Week Five
Back in Sainte Luce we had a very soggy few days where it refused to stop raining. We spent some time setting up the replanting plots for the Beccariophoenix seedlings. Beccariophoenix madagascarensis is a palm species that Azafady are trying to build up numbers of. In S9 there are only 2 mature individuals left. It is here that we are replanting. On Thursday the Pioneers arrived, here to do the planting. There were 5 of them, plus Sarah plus three guides and their cooks, so camp suddenly felt very busy indeed!