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!

Sainte Luce July

Back in town briefly after a month in Sainte Luce. It's all so good. I love my work. The people I work with are great and so are the volunteers. Everything is basically grrrrreat! I will be better organised and write up blogs for the next 4 weeks as they happen. It feels as though so much has happened I just don't know where to start now. I have been learning a lot about frogs, teaching English and teaching kids generally! There's just too much to say. I'm back again in a month and will be far more organised - I promise! ps: Have had 2 more pirasy, and maybe have fleas now, too! pps: Back in town I had caramelised banana pancakes while watching whales out of the window. Just to reiterate: Everything is GREAT!

My first parasite

So, today's exciting piece of news. I had my first parasy! (pronounced parash) It is a lovely little parasite that burrows it's way into your skin. Usually found in the feet (and occasionally hands) these little delights don't really cause much harm as long as they are caught early enough. They can then be removed using a pin. Mine was found on the big toe of my right foot. I didn't get one during my last Madagascan adventure and was starting to feel left out! Parasy live in the sand, and are pretty much inevitable if you spend long enough wandering about in flip flops. Apparently lots of the ground in town is sprayed to stop them multiplying to epidemic numbers. out in Sainte Luce though this is not the case, and I feel that my little parasite friend I said goodbye to this morning will be the first of many! i'll take a photo of the next one to show you.

Lavanono and Birthday

Lavanono has become one of my favorite places on the planet! There are few better places to turn 30.

Lavanono (lit translation: long boob) is down in the very south of Madagascar, 10 hours drive from Fort Dauphin. We all packed ourselves into a car on Friday morning at dawn. It was a bit of a squash, 7 of us plus driver. We headed off, tunes playing, really excited about the weekend. We went through Ranopiso (lit: cat water), into deep spiny forest, stopping only for a luxury lunch of a cheese sandwich (definitions of luxury change when away from home). We arrived in Lavanono at about 4. It is so beautiful. After hours of driving along really flat terrain you suddenly come to the end of what turns out to be a massive plateau, that drops down to a plain running down to the sea. It is breath-taking. The beach seems to stretch for miles, with the dramatic platau meeting the coastline. Gorgeous!


We unpacked our masses of luggage (you have to take all your own food and water) and straight away leaped into the sea. It's winter here and the sun sets suddenly before 6pm. Lavanono faces West, unlike Fort Dauphin so it was great to watch the sunset over the water. As the sun faded to the west the moon rose in the east. It was a full moon and so bright we didn't need torches. Elevctricity is only available over dinner time anyway, then it's on to candles. A little sip of rum, home-flavoured with vanilla and honey by Gemma completed the evening.

Saturday was spent walking, reading, swimming and generally having a great time. Followed by another beautiful, wine filled evening.

I woke up early on Sunday and the first thing I saw as I opened the door was the moon, big and yellow setting over the horizon. I didn't take pictures, just sat on the step outside the hut and watched. After breakfast Ali, Sarah and I went to Cap Sainte Marie, the most Southern point of Madagascar, where the Mozambique Channel to the West meets the Indian Ocean to the East. At the cape we spotted a whale. A humpback. It was heading the same way we were. So when we headed down to the shore, crossing dunes scattered with remnants of the eggs of now extinct elephant birds, it was just off the coast. In fact there were a couple. Amazing to watch them playing. In the evening we had a bonfire on the beach and various flavours of delicious rum.

I got up again on Monday to see the moon and to quietly contemplate being 30 (with a headache!). What a spectacular place. I spent my birthday relaxing, with afternoon tea on the beach. Perfect.

Back to town on Tuesday and also Jo's birthday. Another fun 11 hour journey! I lost a flip flop, we ate turkey and stopped for beer. Good times. Back in Fort Dauphin it was also a big party evening: The night before Independence. A whole section of town had been turned into a giant street party, with bar tents and a stage with live music and some amazing dancers! We met up with some other Azafady people then headed on to a club to party the night away.

It was such a good weekend!!!

Fort Dauphin

Seeing as I've been in town for a little while now I thought that maybe I should tell you a little bit about the place. I'm settling in to my little abode, making friends with the dogs/cats/kids that live there. All of whom are very cute (apart from the tom cat that sauntered in and sprayed in my room!)

My room has a view of peak St Louis which dominates the skyline to the north west of fort Dauphin. In nearly every other direction from town lies the sea. Fort Dauphin is situated between two large coves, Ancoba (1) and Shipwreck bay (4), which extends far beyond the town all the way to Evatraha. I live on a road that runs straight from one beach to the other.

Ancoba is also a very long beach and is frequented by the surfers. The next bay along is Libanona (2) where I went on my first day. It's beautiful but the waves on that day were a bit scary! On the other side of this piece of land is Monsigneur beach (3), where I spent a good deal of Saturday! It's quiet, with a gorgeous view. Another surf spot. The area around these two beaches is the place to be for whale watching. July and August are the months when the humpbacks come by.

I have begun exploring more of the market (5). It's the hive of activity you would expect. Beans, fruit, rice, meat, fish, frip. It's all there! I'll try and sneak some photos later.

Tomorrow I'm off to Lavanono for a holiday. From what I've heard from the others I'm expecting great things! There are 6 of us going. We leave early tomorrow. It takes 10 hours to get there. We need to take all our food and water with us. I'm so excited. Back on Tuesday. A whole year older, but where better to spend a 30th than the on a beach in the spiny forest?


Here's a couple of photos from Saturday at Monsigneur beach. My feet and Forrest paddling off on a surf board.

World Environment Day

Since I arrived almost everything I have done has been about World Environment Day. On Wednesday afternoon we held Environment Education (which in truth differs only slightly from Club Atsatsaky). We were making a mess again with the kids. This time they were making their crowns for the parade on Saturday morning. We put the pioneers in place around the classroom, all manning a station. There was the glitter station, the pipe cleaner station, the painting station etc. The kids were given the crowns in the next room and then let in a few at a time (in theory - in practice about 50 of them descended on us at once). I was picking green glitter out of my hair and clothes for three days afterwards.

World Environment Day actually started on Friday night when a camion load of people from the office in town arrived at the campsite. After a hasty dinner we headed up to the Chef's office for a major gathering to show a film that Jo and Forrest have made about Sainte Luce. It's amazing and should soon be available for your viewing delight on the Azafady website. I'll let you know when it is! Followed by the Stitch Sainte Luce video (the place to go for all your present ideas people!) and a music video the boys made of a local group. Amazing dancing and drumming. It is beyond me how the girls can move their feet so fast and their arms so gracefully at the same time. I certainly did not look like that when I gave it a go on Saturday night...

The crowns made an appearance again early on Saturday morning when some of the kids from the village came to camp, ready to walk up to Manafiafy for the parade to start. Lisa has brought back a onesie from the UK and we had the help from stitch Sainte Luce to attach a tail to it. We had been making the head for the costume back in town. As the day drew closer, however, Rivo, who was going to wear it became a bit ill and backed out. At the last minute Ginny stepped in and wore the costume, heading the parade, surrounded by an ever increasing group of kids in their crowns, singing their conservation club song.

At the Chef's office I split off from the parade with the ACP team in order to set up the ACP stand, putting up photos and the posters we had spent the last fortnight making. I made it up the road a little later on to meet the parade coming back from Manafiafy. All the different associations were represented in the parade, with banners and matching sarongs or jackets. The procession made it's way into the square outside the office and surrounded the edge. We all stood for the raising of the flag and a beautiful rendition of the anthem by the choir. Then came the speeches. Unfortunately the sound system that had worked the night before failed when it came to this moment, so only those closest to the speakers could hear what was said.

The kids performed their play and song, this time with Ali in the variky (lemur) costume, leaping about. General fun and merriment followed, with vast amounts of face painting. mostly flowers and abstract designs. I think I managed a few lemur faces quite well, but I'm not sure about the result of the boy who requested a shark... As the light faded the stalls disappeared and the music was turned up (different speakers had been found for this purpose). I danced manically, avoided the moonshine (Toko gasy) which I could barely get to my lips when i did try it, and we all staggered home, happy and exhausted at the reasonable time of 10.30 (very late comparatively).

Sunday was spent clearing up and lying on the beach (it's a tough job but someone's got to do it) and general packing up. On Monday we came back in the Camion. Bumping along I listened to the Flight of the Concords and couldn't help but laugh out load a couple of times and now everyone thinks I'm crazy! Good times!

 

Sainte Luce

So much has happened in the last 10 days I barely know where to start! We headed up to Sainte Luce, where the ACP camp is based. It's where I spent most of my time back in 2002. It has changed a bit, but not much. A new campsite, on the other side of the road to the one I knew.

To get to Ste Luce we took a camion, a sort of truck, which we all piled into the back of with whichever of our possessions didn't fit on the roof. There were quite a few of us, both the ACP crowd and the Pioneer lot. We traveled north, along a bumpy road with the sea just out of sight to our right and the mountains on our left. It took three hours of being bounced about in the heat to get there.

The work started straight away with a visit of the office of the head of Ste Luce, the Chef de Cartier. Sainte Luce is made up of three villages in a row. The campsite is based in the village furthest from the sea called Ambandrika. 10 minutes walk away is Ampanasatombiky. Then a few minutes further along is Manafiafy, right on the coast. Each village has it's own head and then one who is in charge of all three. We had a meeting with the whole group, along with the equivalent of the police chief, a secretary and other representatives. We went over the last few plans for World Environment Day. This will be the third WED to be held in Ste Luce, a celebration of the wildlife of the area and the achievements of the different environmentally aware groups that have been set up within the villages (such as tree planting and street cleaning). The meeting ended with a ceremonialised drink of bonbon Anglaise, which is like cream soda with extra sugar! It gets dark by 6 here at the moment because it is winter, so we headed home and had dinner and I got settled into my tent (which is dinky but I love it). I know I have mentioned how cold it is before and I don't want to repeat myself, but it is really very cold at night! Luckily I have my "cadeau" hat from the nice lady on the frip stall. I am living in it!


Over the weekend we held the kids conservation club, club Atsatsaky (it means gecko). Lots of kids, lots of singing and a lot of chaos over the pencils for the drawing competition. Lots of fun. I also went for a walk with Lisa (ACP coordinator) and Abi (same job as me) to Manafiafy and then back along the beach. The weather wasn't great so we didn't swim, but it was still gorgeous. I seriously love my job!

I wasn't well for a couple of days at the start of the week so didn't manage to do much. I did finally get into the forest, starting with lemur behaviour. We entered the forest just on the other side of the road from the campsite with our guide Solo. It was barely 10 minutes before he spotted a  brown collared lemur. We took data every 5 minutes for the next hour and half. The original lemur was joined by others and soon we were following a group of 7 in the trees above us. Springing from trunk to trunk and leaping across branches.

We also went on a night walk. It was 45 minutes before we got to the transect. The aim was to walk along the transect and spot lemurs and then you can use this data to estimate their density. The lemurs we were looking for were woolly lemurs. The first one we saw, though, was a mouse lemur. These should be in hibernation, but this one was out and about just a couple of feet above the path. There ware also sleeping birds - birds of paradise with long white tails and  a kingfisher with a stubby orange tail and bright blue wings, both with their feathers puffed against the cold. We were looking up in the trees for animals but also down to our feet to watch for things we could trip over and the giant snails (Mum you would NOT like these) which were mostly avoided although a few were less lucky and ended as a faint crunch-squelch. Oops. We spotted a few lemurs. I even managed to spot some myself. Their eyes reflect the light of our torches back as a blazing orange - visible 50 odd metres away. Love it!

My third and final trip to the forest for this visit was in the morning when we went looking for herpetofauna (frogs and reptiles). Six of us walked in a line through a swamp recording everything we found. This is a lot harder than it sounds when there are giant pandanus plants 10 feet across in the way with their sharp, toothed leaves. I found some teeny tiny frogs that could sit on a finger nail. One of the pioneers was determined to find a snake and broke off from the official line. It paid off and after a while he found one. It's great to finally be in a country where the snakes aren't venomous and you can actually handle them.

Enough for now. I'll write the rest of my week tomorrow. The big party for World environment day...

New house!

Yesterday, over lunch I moved house. I am now living just down the road from the Azafady office. It's a little room above the garage of an Swiss-Malagasy couple. It's really cute. They are called Kate and Flav and they have 2 lovely daughters, a dog, 2 puppies and at least 1 very curious cat. And a gecko living under my washing-up bowl (Hemidactylus mercatorius) It has a little balcony with another cool view. The last house was great but a bit remote. It's going to be fun living here!

Walk to work

It's a beautiful day today. Clear blue skies. I have been getting into a daily routine, starting with my journey to work. Each morning I walk along the main road through the market. I usually walk through at 7.30 and it is in full swing. It is mandarin season at the moment and on the approach to the market the road is lined with women selling the oranges. They are stacked in piles of about 5, which is how they are sold. After these are the chickens, held in groups in upside-down basket constructions (alive). Then comes the fruit and veg department on the right. Densely packed and fixed tables fill the covered area, spilling out their displays onto the pavement. On the left are household items, books, pans and bits of bicycle. I nip down a road to the right to buy bread for my breakfast. The bread is baguette style (in looks if not exactly in taste) evidence of the French colonialists. Continuing back along the main road I pass an enclosed section for more vegetables and another road branching off to the right. This is where to go for woven mats and baskets, or meat and fish. It can be quite potent later on in the heat of the day. It's not unusual to see a group of men pulling a wooden cart laden with a zebu carcass or two along the road. The last bit of the market is frip heaven (that's the second hand clothing in case you'd forgotten). Finally another stretch of oranges, then charcoal and then the market is past and I take the right hand turn, winding up the hill to the office.

But it's my last day of this because I'm moving house at lunch time! I'll put up some photos tomorrow. So excited!

Week 1

I have been here for a week now and I am loving it more each day, if that's possible. I have been in town all week and won't get out to Sainte Luce (where the forest is) until this Friday. I have been busy, though, studiously attempting to familiarise myself with the herpetofauna (that's frogs and snakes etc) of Sainte Luce. There is lots of work to be done for the major upcoming event that is World Environment Day. That's the 8th of June people so start your preparations! It's a busy time here in the ACP department of the office. (ACP = Azafady Conservation Programme).

I have also had a great weekend. On Saturday I went fripping. A fantastic verb (to frip) that means buying second hand clothes from the local market. It is a place of adventure and amazing fashion finds (I'm sure some pictures will be making it up soon). After a morning hunting with Abi, a fellow research assistant, we and our purchases headed for Ancuba beach, one of the larger stretches along Fort Dauphin. Swimming and sunbathing. Bliss. The beach was the site for numerous games of football, so getting to the sea involved a watchful eye and good timing. The water was great and the local surfers put us to shame with their talents. An indulgent late lunch of zebu kebab was just what I needed. A few of us met up again for dinner and a film and a generally chilled evening.

Yesterday I went to Nahampoana reserve with Abe, a short-term English-teaching volunteer. The reserve is a short (but bumpy) taxi journey outside Fort Dauphin on the road to Sainte Luce. A guide, Dauphin, showed us around the reserve where we saw 3 of the 4 species of lemur, frogs, chameleons, tortoises, crocodiles (separated from us by a sturdy fence) and all sorts of plants. It was brilliant. We decided to walk back to town, meeting lots of people on the way and saying "salama" (hello) more times than I thought was possible. After a bit over an hour we reached lanirano, a lake outside town. We stopped for an indulgent late lunch at a fancy lake-side restaurant. After lunch we strolled, significantly slower, back to town. On the way we passed the pioneer's campsite. It has moved since I was here 11 years ago. The old one was completely abandoned. The building had no roof and it was quite sad. A final slog up the hill back home for a rest and reflection on a brilliant day.

Coming up this week: Moving house, paper mache and more preparations for World Environment Day and heading to the forest!

Arrival

I'm finally here. I arrived in Fort Dauphin on Sunday morning after a stopover in Tana. It was raining. And a bit cold. Did this distract from my excitement? Of course not. I was picked up from the airport and driven to the house I am staying in. During a brief lull in the rain I dashed out to explore the area a little. Fortunately this is the house that most new people stay in on arrival, meaning the lady next to the nearest shop seemed to find my lack of Malagasy language and complete clueless-ness as endearing, funny and somewhat expected. With much sign language and laughter I managed to get a couple of supplies. I spent the afternoon having a damp walk around town with two of the Azafady team, followed by dinner with many more of them. Everyone here is so friendly and welcoming.

Yesterday we headed down to the beach, along with the rest of Fort Dauphin! It was a public holiday, traditionally marked by a beach picnic. As I followed Jo-Jo down the bank towards the sand I looked over the bay, across the blue waters, below the blue sky, mountains in between, and quietly said "I live here".

Today I am in the office and the work begins. My brain feels so full of information that if I tilt it to one side I'm afraid it may fall out of my ears. I have realised just how much there is to learn and I can't wait.

Info

So here's a bit more about the place I'll be going: Madagascar is not just a film! It is the world's 4th largest island and an amazing biodiversity hotspot with the vast majority of it's wildlife (~80%) found no where else in the world. The island split away from both Africa and India when the Gondwana supercontinent split. It is thought some species floated across the channels of water that separate Madagascar (Africa is about 400km away) on rafts of vegetation, where they then evolved independently. The island is well known for its lemurs, which may have arrived on Madagascar by this method around 50 million years ago. 

Madagascar was first populated by people who traveled from Borneo in dugout canoes about 2000 years ago and by people from Africa across the Mozambique channel. 

Map from the UCLA African Studies website.

Madagascar!

I am very excited to have the opportunity to go to Madagascar and work, in the role of research assistant, for Azafady. Azafady is a charity based in London and in Taolagnaro, South East Madagascar. Their mission is to “alleviate poverty and conserve unique and biologically rich but greatly endangered forest environments in south east Madagascar by empowering some of the poorest people to establish sustainable livelihoods for themselves and improve their well-being”.

I am planning on spending a year working with them, predominantly in the area of Sainte Luce, some 40km north of Taolagnaro.

I will be studying lemurs, herptofauna, and ferns. I will also be working with the local school and the community. To read more about Azafady and their work go to www.madagascar.co.uk.