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.