"Sharing a jar of peanut butter, watching toy story, while a huge thunderstorm rages outside... This is going in the blog"

I write this with the aim of doing a piece about the work I have been doing at Reef Doctor (which is beginning to mount now as I volunteer myself to take on various tasks such as re-writing the presentations and taking on the job of volunteer coordinator) however as I type I am recalling other various anecdotes and amusing happenings that may distract me from original aim of this text such as climbing down a well to retrieve a bottle or attempting to watch Toy Story as a huge thunder storm rages outside... Anyhow I shall persevere!




We have come to the end of another month here at Reef Doctor and, as such, the end of another bout of reef surveys. These surveys consist of two batches. The first being indicator surveys. The indicator surveys include an assessment of a list of 20 fish species, 12 invertebrates and an analysis of the benthos of the sites (this being the substrate that makes up the reef system, whether that be coral, algae, rock or anything on the sea bed). These indicator species can give us a good idea of the health of the sites, one of which is a marine protected area (Rose Garden). An abundance of calcareous algae eating fish, for example, can show us that their food stuff is in abundance in that area, or a lack of them would mean the opposite. We are also able to use this data to compare how a marine protected area fares relative to an site that is not protected.

The second batch are known as expert surveys which consist of a longer list of fish, invertebrates and a more detailed assessment of the benthos. We survey six sites with this method compared with the two for indicator surveys. At each site we do six surveys allowing us to gain high quality data that can be compared in both space (the area of the site) and time (how it has changed and been impacted over the time that surveys have been taken).


The surveys were successfully completed though not without the odd complication here and there to ensure things stayed exciting... These consisted of currents nearly impossible to swim against let alone complete six transects, and one of the divers coming down with a rather nasty fever toward the end of the month. Just in time for the new volunteers to arrive and begin to be tutored in how to partake in the following months batch. We welcome two new volunteers in November. Simone, from Austria, and Laura, from Germany, fresh off of a Biology degree. We also welcome two new dive officers, Dom and Torsten, as well as a new science officer in the form of Marina.

This influx of staff cannot come soon enough as we reach a very busy month for the people here at Reef Doctor as not only do we begin doing the November's reef surveys but we also have other projects in the works. Christina, the education officer, is soon to be beginning a survey of the surrounding village with regard to contraception use. The increasing populations in this region is one of the leading factors that is causing a decline the reef ecosystem as the supplies of fish there can no longer meet the demand. It is not uncommon for families here to have a large amount of children. I have met people from Ifaty who are the proud parents of anywhere up to 14 children all of whom possess very odd names such as Camera or Medal... These surveys can show us how regular the use of contraception is and can thus enable us to educate those most in need of it about its use as well as suggesting that maybe two children is enough...




Meanwhile, Emma, the science officer, is about to begin data collection for her project on the fishing of sea turtles in this area and we have a student from America arriving to begin a research project here which will last for the next three weeks. It will certainly be a busy time for Reef Doctor and myself, and as I change from a volunteer to intern, I am sure there will be times over the coming month, when it feels a bit like a trail by fire, but I am raring and eager to go and looking forward to the challenges what ever they may be!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

"Oh f**k! A jellyfish!"

My cousin has a theory. It states that, even though in my life I have been lucky enough to be able to experience and do things that under other circumstances I may not have had the chance to do, these experiences are marred by small misfortunes and disappointments that, though small, can be quite regular and in your face. My time in Madagascar has been, of course, victim of this phenomenon, know as "Tom Luck". It first reared it's unfortunate head at the start of the trip back in August with the losing and then one and three quarter wait for my luggage, which I'm sure will go down in history as an infamous case study for the phenomenon, "Tom Luck". Everyone will be relieved to know my bags did finally arrive but not without the help of a lot of people. A huge thanks goes out to all who helped get it here including Shane, Rod, Emma, Mike, Kirsty and especially to my parents who also managed to somehow entertain a guest for 4 weeks while trying to get my bag to me!




I bring up this theory because over the past couple of weeks "Tom Luck" has been more regular than usual, so much so in fact that Emma Gibbons, the Science Officer on site, came up with a similar theory only she named it "Unfortunate Tom Syndrome". The events that lead to this unintentional plagiarism are described below...

The first occurrence was when we were planning on doing a dive at Coral Gardens with the new volunteers, Claire, Kate and Cameron, they were to be doing their buoyancy practice while myself and Joe were to be photographing various unusual benthic (any substrate from corals and anemones to rock and sand). The sea was mirror flat, and had been for the past few days, giving time for any silt or debris in suspension to settle. This meant that there was a good chance that the visibility would be great, and it didn't disappoint. The visibility was maybe 20 metres or more and Coral Garden hadn't looked better. Coral Garden is a reef out near the exterior, it is a lot deeper than the likes of Rose Garden going down to around 15m in some places and has a lot of interesting marine creatures that you may not find on the reefs closer to the coast. So you can imagine my disappointment when "Tom Luck" decided to strike... We had gotten in, done our buddy checks and began to descend when I realised that I couldn't equalise. If you can't equalise then you can't descend, so the next 15 minutes and a third of my air was then spent attempting to equalise at 3m as I looked down below at the vibrant reef being explored by Dean and the new volunteers. I eventually managed to clear my ears and descended a bit further, but that was the only time on the dive so it wasn't long before I was back stuck at 5m longingly looking down at the colour and movement below..




The next dose of "Tom Luck" came a few days later when Emma, Joe and myself were attempting to do the surveys for Ankarandava. This site is renowned for it's strong currents and the day of the surveys was no different. We managed to get the first survey done before running out of air and having to return to the surface. We changed tanks but this is when things began to go wrong and continued to go wrong for the next couple of days.. Firstly the current had gotten even stronger than it was when we first went it making us all doubtful as to whether we would actually be able to finish the surveys before we ran out of air, secondly we could not locate the reel in the water which we had tactfully left to mark where the surveys should be taken. We searched everywhere for the reel before returning to the surface and calling for Manju and his super human underwater vision to help find it. Within around 15 minutes of returning to the boat Manju's hand bobs up above the waves clutching on to the elusive measuring device which he insisted he had found at our point of decent only moments ago... We chose to leave Ankarandava until the next day but that was not much better with worse visibility and then the losing of a survey slate which again Manju was able to locate with incredible ease. At this point we all had had quite enough of this cursed site and chose to spend the next two days surveying Rose Garden with a lot more success.




"Tom Luck" phenomenon was absent for the next week or so apart from the odd stubbed toe or mild stomach bug. That was until a few days ago when we were diving at Rose Garden. We were there to start marking out the areas for the implementation of Anti Fishing Devices (AFDs). These were essentially large blocks of concrete with lots of metal rods sticking out with the purpose of stopping fishermen from dragging nets across the marine reserve. So after we had marked out the points with makeshift buoys, we had to dive on them to make sure they were in position and not being dragged by the current so we donned our kit and got in. I was just finishing up the buddy checks and swimming out to the descent point when suddenly I felt a sharp pain burn across my face, I opened my mouth to yell to Emma and Cameron when the nematocysts fired again adding to the burning sensation currently across my mouth. Emma swam over and picked the jellyfish tentacle off my face and threw it back into the water where it, as a final farewell, stung across my right hand. I swam back to the boat and got my dive kit off and climbed back on board where I proceeded to bathe my face in vinegar for the next half hour (Emma happily later pointed out that the tentacle belonged to a Portuguese Man of War, so at least I was stung by a celebrity in the world of cnidarians...). About 45 minutes later, as the stings began to subside, Emma and Cameron returned to the surface at the other side of Rose Garden having checked all the marker buoys. They waved to Manju to come and pick them up so we could head back to land, however "Tom Luck" had other plans and decided that at this point the engine would fail to start. This lead to a very tedious hour in which Emma and Cameron had to surface swim the length of the reserve and then we all looked on in hope as Manju attempted to mend the engine. Luckily he did succeed which meant we weren't stranded out in the bay attempting to row back to land in the baking midday sun.




So I hope you can see that "Tom Luck" seems to be slightly more prevalent out here in Madagascar. Initial theories that it can only occur in the miserable gloom of the British Isles have been disproven and it seems that the sun shine and enjoyment I am having out here with Reef Doctor merely amplifies it's effects. Even now it still occurs. On the way to Tulear to write this blog, the Taxi Brousse we had waited for since 05:30 arrived an hour later than first thought and then proceeded to break down with monotonous regularity throughout the hour and a half journey. Anyway at least now I can finally post this blog! Hooray! Oh.... The powers gone off...





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Night Dives and Many Goodbyes

A lot has happened here since my last post. It's become a struggle to decide where to stop each post because when I come to writing it I, (a) realise that I am way behind with what's happened (this one is covering things I did almost 2 weeks ago) and (b) do something else which is worth mentioning in a post but would make a single post too long. Ahh the stresses of living in Madagascar! How do I manage?
I will begin this one two weeks ago when we, after a long week of science and rescue training, managed to get out for a night dive. At about 6pm we headed out on the boat as the sun set and the moon rose. We were doing the dive at Rose Garden, a nice shallow reef system with a lot of interesting creatures to be found. We kitted up and backward rolled off the boat into the dark water below. For anyone who has been on a night dive will understand how different it is too diving in the day. For a start, because you can't see the light of the sun ripple and glint in the water, it feels as if you are just floating in nothing, the only clues being the surface above and the current passing by. Secondly the reef literally comes alive at night as all the polyps come out of the coral to feed. A lot of the fish sleep at night wedged in crevices or, like the parrot fish, protected in a bubble of a mucus like substance to avoid predators picking up their scent.

We spent a good 50 minutes under, looking for odd creatures and animals which were hidden away in the day but out and about under the cover of night, such as an octopus striding across the sand like squiddly diddly right before us. For any divers who haven't been on a night dive I highly recommend it, it was certainly an experience I wont forget anytime soon but then that goes for the majority of what I've done with Reef Doctor including what we did the next day...
So after a good nights sleep it was off out again at 8am to go whale watching. Humpback whales migrate through the channel made by Africa and Madagascar as they head north with their new born calfs. However this only happens at a certain time of year, luckily for me, between July and September. So out we went beyond the exterior and began our search for any water spouts, greatly relying on the vision 2.0 of our boat officer Manju. We searched for about an hour and a half only sighting a couple of flying fish and a lonesome jellyfish, and so rather disappointed we turned the boat around and started to head back toward the opening into the bay. That was until, right in front of us, a humpback shot straight up out of the water and crashed back down below the surface. It was an incredible sight to witness especially after losing all hope of seeing any that day. Manju immediately shot off in pursuit and we followed the mother and her calf as they calmly swam along beside us gently rising to breath and falling again under the waves.

After returning back to the site and excitedly informing those that weren't there about what they missed and then grinning at there attempts to pretend they didn't really care or believe us, we began to prepare for lunch. Because it was the final weekend of some of the staff and a volunteer, we had decided to put together a small barbecue of zebu kebabs, squid, carrots, beans, fresh bread and a side order of rum coco in their honour.

After filling ourselves to the brim (and then some), we headed to Mangily, a small tourist-ish village a mere 10 minutes along the road. Here we raised a glass to the soon to be leavers, of which included Val the science intern and source of many a good guffaw, Claire the Ozzie Science Officer, who had survived putting up with teaching Slow Joe his expert survey list, and Bart, the Dutch volunteer who had spent 4 weeks at Reef Doctor and 3 of those without a shirt on yet somehow managed to produce more washing than anyone else... The rest of the evening was spent introducing Manju to ring of fire, much to the amusement of himself and everyone else playing as he continued to nominate Shane (the project director) to drink, only to realise moments after that Shane had already picked him as his drinking buddy and so he too would have to drink. Needless to say there were numerous exclamations of "Taibe!" (Malagasy equivalent of bull shit).
And so farewells were given and those leaving us departed over the next few days to go back and gorge themselves on the meals they had been dreaming about since arriving. For the rest of us life became a little quieter and a little more hectic. There were added stresses over my bags refusal to join me here in Ifaty (a big thank you to all those who have been helping to try and get it to me!) and then there was a sudden realisation that this months surveys needed to be done. Unfortunately the original week that the surveys were planned had to be cancelled due to very strong winds and poor visibility so they had been pushed back to the week after Claire had left which just meant that there was only me, Emma and Joe (another, particularly laid back, volunteer) who could get them done. As well as this myself and Dean spent a day taking two German tourists out who wanted to see the reef, and then to top it all off Joe and I had yet to finish our Rescue Diver course (which at the time of writing this has been successfully completed!).
Spare time has been spent on the Weigh Station where the local Vezo bring their catches and we note down the species, weight and length. It is a long and arduous process but is great help when it comes to learning your fish for the expert surveys.

There can be big gaps between people bringing fish so it's then that I'm able to spend some time getting some good shots of this incredibly photogenic place...

Isalo

So apologies for the delay in blog writing but it's been a very busy couple of weeks. While continuing my science training, so I am ready to partake in the next set of surveys, I have also been completing my rescue diver course so I can officially be classed as a hero..
Other than all that, last weekend myself and two other volunteers, Jack and Bart, decided to take a trip up to Isalo to visit the national park where we spent three days trekking through the incredible landscape.
Our journey there began on the Wednesday. We took a rather worn down 4x4 up to Tulear (which was luxury compared to the taxi brousse) where we spent the night. Early the next morning, armed with a zebu steak sandwich each, we took a pousse pousse up to the taxi brousse station to rendezvous with a driver called Francois with whom we had booked seats on his brousse. However when we arrived at the station we were immediately swamped by people trying to get us onto their taxi brousse. Attempts to locate Francois were futile, even if we tried to call out that we were looking for Francois immediately everyone would begin to claim that they were Francois in a sort of backward take on the camaraderie shown in Spartacus. Eventually we just resorted to accepting that the one who looked the most trustworthy to be Francois and went with him to his brousse (it later turned out that this was not Francois who had called the Reef Doctor site concerned by our absence from the brousse, how he didn't notice 3 confused vazahs surrounded by a mob of taxi brousse drivers all yelling his name is beyond me).

Once onto the brousse we travelled the surprisingly comfortable 5 hours up to Isalo and onto to Momo Trek where we were to spend the night before heading out into the park the next day. This was probably the most uncomfortable nights sleep out of our time at Isalo as the beds were lacking mosquito nets and the windows were lacking.. well.. proper windows.. So the night was spent slapping various limbs in attempt to crush the swarms that made their way into the room.

At 8 the next morning we took the car down to the entrance of the park and began our trek. Our first part took us through a large canyon cut into the rock face and to a pool which became regular and very welcome features of our trip. As I jumped into the water I thought back the amount of times, at each of the clinics I visited for vaccinations and medical check ups for this trip, that I was warned about swimming in fresh water pools and not to due to Schistosomiasis. However I challenge any one of those doctors to trek through Isalo and resist the temptations of any those pools.


After visiting the canyon we began the arduous trek up the face of Isalo's great sandstone walls. For someone who has done little exercise for 3 years straight I can't deny that I did find this a bit of a challenge and the baking sun, loose crumbling path and lack of shade all combined to make me think by the end of the first day as to why I ever agreed to and paid 250,000Ar for this 3 day trek.

Fortunately the answer came about an hour into the next days walk when we were taken to a small oasis hidden away in the depths of Isalo. This consisted of a large, deep shaded pool adorned with small over hanging palm trees and with waterfall that provided warm water from the sun baked river above. We spent a good few hours swimming in the pools and relaxing in the sun gorging on fresh pineapple while ring tail lemurs played in the branches above us. Unfortunately this bliss couldn't last forever and, with inner body temperature lowered and spirits lifted, we continued our trek up to the very top of the cliffs which had fantastic views over the the small town of Ranohira and the great expanse of paddy fields that surrounds it. We then made our way down to our final campsite in Isalo which came with a welcome addition of Red Fronted Brown Lemurs, much to Jacks excitement, and a small, very concerned, looking chameleon much to my excitement.


Our final day in Isalo was spent visiting yet more pools, the last two of which were known as the blue and black pool. The black pool which was very deep and cold made the blue pool, which was shallow and in direct sunlit, feel like a jacuzzi. Afterward we made our way out of the park and back to Ranohira where we had a quick meal, which was rather disappointing after the delights that our porters had rustled up for us along the way including zebu stew and and an excellent spaghetti bolognaise, and then spent a second uncomfortable night swatting the mosquito hoards.

Unfortunately the end of our trip finished on a rather low note. To begin with the taxi brousse we were due to travel back with decided to break down so we had to spend about half an hour in a small car in which they had somehow managed to fit 11 people in. This consisted of 6 people on the back seats, 2 on the front seat, 2 in the drivers seat and 1 in the boot. Once we reached the new brousse we were yet again crammed in well over capacity and began the 5 hour journey back to Tulear. It was about an hour in that I began to get rather strong stomach cramps, another hour in a fever began to take shape and then another half hour before I realised that at any moment I was going to disappoint a very full taxi brousse by emptying the contents of my stomach. Luckily by some pure miracle I managed to keep it together until Tulear and was able to rapidly disperse the 12 pousse pousse drivers wanting my business by throwing up in the middle of them.

Fortunately it was just a 24 hour bug and by the next day I was alive and well and ready to get back to work of which I promise I shall chat more about in the following blog post. Well that is if the whale watching, night diving and barbecue don't take up too much space...
Just a quick note that I will put up all my pictures onto my Flickr account which can be found if you search for the user name TomG_2013 and look under the set called Madagascar.

Location:9,Ifaty,Madagascar

Mora mora

After leaving the comfort and, essentially, luxury of the Ivato hotel in Tana I caught my flight to Tulear. Much easier said than done as they got the gates mixed up so that the one saying Fort Dauphin was actually the gate for Tulear and vice versa. If it wasn't for a very nice South African guy who managed to spot the error and inform me, then there would have been a very uncomfortable 70 hour taxi brousse ride ahead of me back to Tulear..

Once arriving there I was picked up by a taxi and taken straight to the Reef Doctor site. The drive was around an hour or so and cost 60,000 Ar which is about £15, which may seem cheap though it turned out that he had not only charged me for the journey but also charged Reef Doctor so there was a lot of angry shouting in malagasy down the phone to him the next day.

After I arrived I had a quick dinner of rice and lentils, a dish I would soon become very accustomed to, and then was shown to where I would be staying for the next 3 months which consisted of a large hut split into 4 sections using curtains. Each section has a bed and shelving apart from one which was the entrance and living area. We had a small bonfire that night to wave off a volunteer who was leaving the next day which was a great chance to get to know everyone.


The next day was filled with a lot of forms and signatures just so I was able to start diving the next day. Later I got a chance to help out on one of the projects in which they were giving solar ovens to the local villagers allowing them to save money on charcoal. They rent them out to the villagers at a low price (much lower than purchasing charcoal every day) and this stops them just taking advantage of schemes such as this and ensures that the people will take more care of the ovens them selves.

On Friday I did my refresher dives with the dive officer, Dean. Dean is a great member of the team who will always be happy to answer any questions regarding diving no matter how stupid you think they are. He has a great sense of humour and really connects very well with the volunteers and the staff equally.




Saturday was my first experience of a taxi brousse and though I had read numerous blog posts about peoples experiences in them it really wasn't anything like experiencing it first hand. One of the other volunteers described it the best as being, "a simulation of what it would be like if you were a battery chicken". They basically consist of a small pick up truck with a canopy over the trailer part and some benches on either side. Comfortably you could probably fit 14 people in one, 7 on either side. When we got to Tulear there were 28 to 30 people in the brousse. So certainly cosy... The reason for the trip was to collect the essentials I needed due to my lost baggage including clothes, toiletries, suncream etc. Emma, who is pretty much the mum of the camp, was very helpful with the clothes shopping due to having a much better eye for style than myself while also being able to speak fluent Malagasy and so was able to haggle down to get the best prices. This was much to the annoyance of the store owners who were shocked my this foreigner, or Vazha, who was able to get the prices of a Vezo (local fishing people).

The next week was filled with doing the dives need for the PADI Advanced Open Water. While also doing a few science dives which mainly consisted of ID-ing the various fish species, coral and invertebrates. All of which we are tested on before we can begin to partake in the surveying. The science dives are conducted by Val who is the current science intern. She is a great laugh and really makes the early mornings not as painful as they may well have been.


So that's my week in general, other than that I have been going to nautilus, a small hotel about a mile away with Internet, with the excuse of sorting out what's happening with my luggage, when actually its to have one of their delicious zebu steaks served by waiters wearing uniforms that seemed to have been designed by the same people who made the costumes for Rainbow... I have also taken part in a number of volley ball games, of which my terrible hand eye co-ordination has been little if no help, as well as continuously attempting to write this blog to little avail though at last I have succeeded! Well, unless I end up reading through this and then deleting it all again...

Pictures in order are the front of the Reef Doctor Site looking up from the beach, a pirogue which are the local fishing boats used by the Vezo people and the restraunt of Nautilus.

Trail by Fire/ Tom Luck Strikes Again

Written - 07/08/2012

So here I am. In one piece.. At least..
As I lie on my bed in the Ivato hotel, looking back on the journey, it doesn't seem that I have been travelling for almost 20 odd hours and though my journey has yet another leg to it tomorrow I do really feel like I have arrived. Though not without a few issues along the way...

The most recent of these occurred today as I arrived in Johannesburg to discover that my bag had failed to do the same. I spent around half an hour describing what my bag looks like to a woman who seemed more interested in what her lunch would look like, and being routinely offered high fives by a large African airport attendant who then declared, "Welcome to South Africa my friend!"
"Thanks but I'm only staying for a few hours, I'm travelling out to Madagascar." At which point he would walk off looking glum.

Finally, I filled out a form noting my final point of destination and supposedly my bag should be waiting for me in Toliara tomorrow, so fingers crossed and mind doubtful!

After that it was onto the plane to Madagascar where I arrived today at 14:55 local time. I must say the guides that Reef Doctor sent me could not have described the walk to the Bureau de Change more perfectly. Taxi drivers attack you from every angle desperate for your fare, luckily I had a taxi pre-booked through the hotel so I was able to fend them off quite swiftly with a mere point to the driver holding a card with my name spelt wrong on it.

After changing some money and attempting to get a phone, though giving up due to the line length and impatient look on my taxi drivers face, we headed out into the bright light of Madagascar. Immediately small children, maybe 5 or 6 years old, appeared with hands out begging for money. One was particularly relentless even after numerous attempts and declining in my best French he only stopped asking once he could no longer keep up with the little renault we were chugging along in.

It was a short drive to the hotel where I paid for the taxi for which I made a rather embarrassing attempt at haggling (though I guess that comes with getting used to how much the usual price for things are), paid for my room, was informed of the internet being broken as well as the phone (probably broken since they opened the hotel) and retired for the day with the plan to sleep through to tomorrow morning. Photos of my room and view out my window are below.






Though I have only seen very little of Madagascar so far, this area is very much how I had imagined it to look. The area is very poor with the houses having small wooden balcony extensions stitched on like a weird extra limb looking as though they would fall apart as soon as a leaf landed on them. There is sand and dust everywhere and the roads seem to be pretty much a free for all. Even so, everyone I have met so far has been really friendly and chatty, the taxi driver who spoke about as much English as I did French managed to hold up a conversation the whole trip to the hotel, mainly about how much he loved his car but he was a great character to first come into contact with in a very much distant land.

I think French is going to be my next big hurdle here, forcing my self to use it more and also becoming more adept at it. I certainly found my limited dialect to be quite a barrier today just checking into the hotel, and hope that I can pick it up sooner rather than later, besides I am getting sick of saying "mon Francis c'est terrible!" Also I am pretty sure it's wrong..

Location:Antananarivo, Madagascar

So it begins...

The Hobbit, Les Miserables, James Bond: Skyfall, the final season of Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones season 3.

If you are a film and television buff like me, then you will understand that the decision to spend 9 months out in Madagascar with an NGO called Reef Doctor was not one that I merely wanted to do for the experience of spending 9 months somewhere nice and hot (though that certainly may have been an incentive). For as much as I can recite the majority of the Lord of the Rings films, with a little help from Adam & Cameron, my heart truly lies in conservation and the protection of species that are most at risk from the impacts of humans.

This is no more apparent than in marine habitats, especially coral reefs which are struggling to cope with attacks from all angles whether they be climate change, over fishing or high quantities of tourists.

Coral reefs occupy less than 0.1% of the worlds oceans surface yet they are able to support and provide home for 25% of all known marine species. This alone is a phenomenal statistic for an ecosystem. It is why I am so shocked about the fact that so many reef systems are near collapsing or already have done due to the impacts caused by humans.

And so I have been lead to Reef Doctor. The organisation was recommended to me by one of my lecturers and I couldn't pass on the chance to fulfill my goal of becoming a marine conservationist. With less than three weeks before I leave for Madagascar I thought I would post a prelude to this blog to hopefully introduce future readers to what it will be about. If you are just looking at it long after it was originally created I hope I have managed to stick to my aim of what I wanted it to be.

My hope is that I have been able to show the work that goes into protecting a reef system such as the ones found in the bay of Ranobe in Ifaty. I want to be able to do this in a way that brings across the enjoyment of such a career for any future conservationists, while at the same time giving readers an idea of the efforts such an NGO have to go through to help preserve such a unique ecosystem. Of course, in time, things on this blog may change. I have very little experience in marine conservation and so I hope to pass on my thoughts and opinions about what I learn within this fantastic organisation.

So the bag is packed, the kit lists are ticked off and, though I have still yet to see my visa application completed, I am already starting to miss Greggs bakery..

Bring it on Madagascar!