Toliara

As I mentioned at the start of my last post, the weather here in Madagascar has been rather wild. Just two weeks previously we were having thunderstorms on a daily basis with afternoons spent running to and from huts to hurriedly place buckets down to stem the numerous leaks and, in some cases, waterfalls that would spring up around the site.
As exciting as it was listening to the huge rolls of thunder and sudden crashes of lightning that struck the ground close by, it did provide us with some difficulties. Firstly because of the huge quantities of water and surface run off, a lot more sediment was being washed into the bay. This meant that the visibility at our survey sites was so bad that we were unable to complete this months surveys. The high temperatures that accompanied the rain storms has also cause bleaching to occur in the bay. At Rose Garden,one of our marine reserves, a large bommie at the site now looks as if it is snow capped having gone from yellow to bright white in the space of a week. This can become a particular concern if the water temperatures stay to high for too long meaning that the coral will not be able to regain the algae known as zooxanthellae that it has a symbiotic relationship with and requires to survive.

The rain almost caused problems that would have been more suited to the UK. With torrential rain in the morning of the day of the first event put on my FI.PA.MI.FA in the village. FI.PA.MI.FA is a local association that focuses on strengthening traditional customs and consumptive taboos that underpin the cultural significance of marine turtles. The education day was a chance for all those involved to meet and finalise the local law (known as a DINA) which was to be put into place banning the fishing of turtles under 70cm and also creating a closed season between December and March.
Fortunately the rain held off throughout the whole event which was very successful with everyone agreeing to the terms of the DINA. Each village now has a group of turtle guardians who will monitor turtle catches and measure them to ensure they are greater than the minimum size. If not, they will be confiscated and subsequently released back into the ocean, something that we may be able to assist in if it occurs.
Other than this, it's been a fairly quiet couple of weeks here at ReefDoctor. There are currently no volunteers and only one new one whom arrives this weekend. I am on duty to go and meet him in Toliara which also gives me a chance to post up my blog. Most of the time when I post up a new blog entry, I have to travel into Toliara. It is the nearest town to us and gives me access to the wifi I need to upload anything from my Ipad. As a bonus Toliara provides some other space age technology such as cold drinks, electric fans and flushing toilets which would be out of place in the likes of Ifaty where they still stare with wondrous eyes at the taxi brousse which goes by every morning (though they could be staring with wondrous eyes at the only white person sitting on the brousse looking very out of place no matter how hard he tries).
A day to Toliara usually starts with a 05:30 wake up call. Not exactly pleasant on a Saturday, but if you want to be able to get a taxi brousse that doesn't require you to hang on to the back for dear life then it's necessary. After the hour and a half ride on the brousse (please refer to my last blog post for a couple to issues I have with this service) you arrive at the station on the outskirts of Toliara. Here you are immediately accosted by a crowd of people yelling "pousse pousse!" at you who surround the brousse reaching through the sides as if you have suddenly arrived in the middle of the zombie apocalypse. Once you have battled your way through the mob and found your way to one which you hope has enough duck tape on it to survive the journey you can head into the town.

Usually in cities and towns in any other country when you get in a taxi (or in this case pousse pousse) and inform them where you wish to go, they will confirm they know where it is, take you to the destination swiftly at which point you will pay them, say thank you and be on your way. But not in Madagascar. Here you inform them where you wish to go, they confirm they know where it is and then proceed to take you in the completely opposite direction. This can be troublesome if you yourself do not know how to get to your destination as there have been times when new volunteers and even myself have sat on a pousse for a good 15 minutes before he says he doesn't know where he is going.
Once you finally arrive at your destination the driver may then try to charge you more than the price you agreed to. Suddenly the cost will go from the agreed 1000Ar to 10,000Ar. If they ever try to do this to me now I just sigh and through the money that I had already agreed to pay on the seat and walk off.

One of my most memorable journeys on a pousse pousse occurred when I was travelling from the hotel into the town centre to grab some lunch. I exited the hotel and immediately, there appeared a walking pousse pousse who was all smiles and excited chatter. I agreed with him the price into town and hopped on. He continued to chatter away stopping every 10 metres to turn around and speak to me, I would tell him to keep going and he would begin walking again for a few seconds before stopping yet again. This continued for a while until at one point he stopped next to a stall selling denim jeans and proceeded to try and get me to buy him a pair. I told him no to which he ignored and persisted that I should buy him some and it wasn't until I began to climb out and walk the rest of the way that he got the message. We finally arrived at the café and I paid him what we had agreed on, however he was no longer happy with this price and so decided to take my hat as extra payment which led to a ridiculous scene of me chasing him round and round his pousse before I was finally able to snatch it from his head.
So once your in town your free to explore. The popular destinations for ReefDoctor staff and volunteers alike include Laterasse, a small café that serves good breakfasts and has speedy free wifi, the new supermarket called Score, which people tend to go to as if it is a museum of technology wandering around staring at the magical refrigerators full of cold drinks, and there is also Gelateria, an Italian restaurant that serves the most incredible ice cream and smoothies.

Once the shopping and gorging is over its on to the hotel. Nowadays, when I go in, I usually stay at the ReefDoctor apartment but before this and occasionally I will stay at a hotel called La Palmier which ReefDoctor are regular customers. La Palmier is owned by an Englishman called John who has been living in Madagascar for close to twenty years. The hotel is used by a lot of NGOs and other English speaking people so its. Great way of meeting new people who work up and down the coast (also John has a fantastic selection of movies and tv shows which we can pick and choose between to take back to RD).
So that's Toliara. I has it's flaws, though it is a great place to go for a little break to get some work done, contact friends and family and just enjoy not having a bed that is half sand. Just, watch where you step...
What's scuba smurf been up to this week?

"Setting up of the Dive Kit"

I thought smurfs only eat smurf-berries?

Dear Taxi Brousse Drivers...

Just a short one this week written from my porch as a huge thunderstorm rages on.

This is an open letter to the Taxi Brousse drivers who provide the transport service from Ifaty to Toliara. Here I provide some advice to improve your business, customer feedback and general quality of the journey...



- It might be an idea to provide "foot space" in which to stretch legs on a long journey instead of the "chicken or children space" which is currently provided on your Brousses. This leaves little or no space for those appendages that occur from the knee and below...

- "I aim to fill my Taxi Brousse to the point where the combined weight of the people on board is sufficient to cause the wheel to sheer from the axel mid-transit and thus I am unable to collect anyone's fare". This is not a good business plan.

- A bench made for 7 people was not made for 10 people

- As incredible as it is that Malagasy singers can harmonise perfectly out of tune, this does not mean that they are any good.

- And no. The songs do not get any better no matter how many times you play it on loop

- Before you start picking people up in the morning, it might be worth checking that the benches in the back are still fastened to the floor.

- If said benches are not attached to the floor, duck taping them to the sides of the Taxi Brousse does not count as them being fixed.

- Try to keep your information credible. For example when asked, "Does this Taxi Brousse go to Ifaty?" And you answer, "Yes". Don't then not go to Ifaty.


- I have been in the Toliara region for nearly 6 months, you have seen me numerous times at the Taxi Brousse station. I know that the price of the Taxi Brousse is 3000Ar, not 20,000Ar, and you know I know this. So why do we have to still play this game?

- As similar as they are I would much rather have my feet sitting on a rice sack on the floor compared to having a fat Malagasy woman sitting on the floor on my feet.

- I would advise creating sanitation advice suggesting that it is recommended that if a person on the Brousse has a cold and then subsequently sneezes, it is preferred that they do not then wipe their hands on the shorts of the person next to them.



- Kids are great. However I do not want the kids of fellow passengers of the Taxi Brousse to hold for the entirety of a journey. Especially if they are incontinent.

- Please ensure that the tarpaulin with which you cover the tops of your Brousses are waterproof. Especially if you are planning on putting buckets of fish on the roof that will most likely leak and then drip onto my head.

- Live animals on top of Taxi Brousses are never a good idea. Animals urinate. A lot.


So their you have it Mr. Taxi Brousse driver. The definitive guide to improving your business. Following this simple advice will ensure that I step off the Brousse at the other end with a smile instead of the grimace which I have perfected after so many tiresome journeys in the back of your truck.


Meanwhile, a new feature, here is what Scuba Smurf has been up to this week...


"No Diving this Week"






"Updating the LogBook"

Alfonso the Christmas Turkey

Calm down! I know that only takes us to mid-December!

As Christmas loomed ever closer we began preparing to finish off the expert surveys with the hope that they would be all done and dusted on the 23rd of December so we would be able to enjoy a small shin dig on Christmas Eve safe in the knowledge that nothing would be hanging over our heads. So as slates were written up, Christmas parties were organised by our new project manager, Julien.

Unfortunately things struggle to go to plan here in Madagascar and so we weren't majorly surprised when on the 20th the science team returned early from their survey having had to cancel due to terrible visibility. But we did not let that deter us and come the 24th the team returned triumphant having finished the final survey and thus the party could go ahead (a Christmas miracle I would say!). We all thoroughly enjoyed feasting on an excellent turkey dinner while washing it down with rum coco which is the closest thing to egg nog in Madagscar.



Christmas day was spent in a little hotel in Toliara and included very little activity or movement on my behalf. Just eating, drinking, sleeping and watching films. So not majorly different to Christmas back in the UK... except with a swimming pool... So probably slightly better... I was pleased to attain a box filled with gifts from my family (either that or the shoe box appeal had been inundated with donations this year so they had spares) which I spent going through in a small cafe on Boxing Day.



After Christmas things returned to normal for a few days before New Years which the Malagasy celebrate with great enthusiasm. For the few days afterward it wasn't uncommon to come across a drunk vezo asleep under the weigh station. We spent New Years Eve in Mangily, enjoying a nice meal before doing the countdown around a fire on the beach.


It was a great way to spend the holiday period and different to anything I had done before. Christmas Day also marked (rather conveniently) the half way point for my time with ReefDoctor. It's very odd to think that four and a half months have already passed. On one hand the time has gone by incredibly quickly with months flicking by in no time and people who have just arrived already waving farewell (17 people have left ReefDoctor since I arrived in August) and then on the other hand, I have done so much and learnt so much that I can't imagine that it would all fit into only that length of time. It only leaves me to wonder what will happen in the next four and a half months with talk of the UNDP returning for more science training and new volunteers coming soon, it's already shaping up to be a busy month. Yep it's true what they say here. Scuba Diving on coral reefs on a daily basis really does take it out of you...

Things to Do Before You Die: #1...

It's been well over a month since my last post here. Not that I had forgotten about it, it's been lingering over me like a homework assignment I have kept putting off over and over again to the point where I thought I was going to have to post a poorly prepared excuse as to why it has yet to appear...
So now, after my first draft was eaten by the dog and I left the second draft on a Taxi Brousse, I have finally sat down, ordered a sandwich and beer, plugged my headphones in and have began the task of updating you on the past month. And what a month it has been.
We shall begin in the late November which saw the arrival of a group from the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) marine training course. This annual programme is aimed at capacity building for Malagasy environmental agency employees. Over a period of ten days we provided intensive dive and science training to evaluate coral reef systems with the hope that these techniques would be implemented into marine management program's throughout Madagascar. It was a long but enjoyable ten days which finally gave me a chance to practice my very limited French.

The end of the ten days also coincided with the arrival of Roderick, the founder and director of ReefDoctor which gave us an excellent excuse to have a party including a whole roasted goat, Malagasy music and, of course, booty shaking by those who were that way inclined.

Things quietened down after the UNDP left and so it was decided that this would be the ideal time for me to start my Dive Master. I began to help out the dive officers on a lot of the dives and with the dive training. It also meant that I was diving more regularly. Due to the tides at this time we had been having to get up at 04:30 each morning to ensure we got back before the tides were too low. I can't deny that by the end of the week I was struggling to get out of bed, so when Saturday came I was looking forward to a bit of a lie in. This however was not the case. It was decided that we would be taking one of the volunteers out on a fun dive to the exterior at a site called Dippy and I would be leading. When my alarm when off at 04:15 I was really not motivated to get the kit organised and onto the boat and sat bleary eyed at breakfast lacking the energy to even make conversation with my fellow early risers.
So as the light of the sun began to glow over the spiny forest we headed out and set course for the exterior. It wasn't long before we had made it throuh the pass and as I sat there, still half asleep just thinking about getting back to my lovely thin mattressed, sand covered, sweat saturated bed as soon as possible I spotted something quite large, grey and dolphin shaped rise above the waves in the distance and then sink below. I excitedly shouted to Laura, the volunteer who was with us, and pointed into the distance to which she just looked at me and smirked unamused by this obvious "boy who cried wolf-esque" joke. Frustrated, and now fully awake I continued to point in their direction and repeat the word dolphin over and over hoping it would bring credibility to my statement. Eventually Manjo also spotted them and began to enthusiastically point and shout and then finally Laura also could not resist glancing and began to join our shouts of exuberance. We continued to drive to the dive site as the dolphins meandered around in the distance, donned our kit and headed down to explore Dippy.

When returning to the surface we could still see the pod who unfortunately had chosen not to come and join us on our dive. We stowed our kit away and pointed the boat back in the direction of ReefDoctor and headed home and incredibly the pod followed and were soon riding the waves the boat made. We couldn't resist stopping the boat and getting into the water. Luckily the dolphins remained, circling around giving us curious glances as they went. Eventually they became bored of this human exhibit and swam off into the blue. Needless to say the return journey was full of a lot of excited chatter and I was happy to tick of the second of the Big Five marine animals I hoped to see while at ReefDoctor. Only Turtles, Manta Rays and Sharks to go now so here's hoping by the end of my time here I only have to lie about seeing one of them...

"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