WEEK ONE: AN INTRODUCTION

It has been less than a week since the plane touched down in Antananarivo and I already love Madagascar despite the slight dodgy belly, torrential rain brought in by a cyclone in the western channel and wet sleeping mat due to leaky tent (user error - better to learn from my mistakes now while we are in Fort Dauphin).  

Air Madagascar changed the flight time for the internal trip to Fort Dauphin no less than 3 times and we arrived in Fort Dauphin late Friday afternoon (much more civilised than the original 6.40am arrival) to begin the Pioneer scheme.

I have learnt so much about Azafady over the past few days and I am feeling very inspired and excited to head into the bush tomorrow for the school building project.  While 35km from Fort Dauphin does not sound terribly remote, the trip will take us about 2 hours.

We have already done a little work in the tree nursery filling 401 small bags with soil ready for a seed to be planted in each.  Agro-forestry is really important as rather than using the forest, these plants provide an alternative source of firewood and building materials.  This is critical as Fort Dauphin consumes150 tonnes of charcoal per month.

I have been suprised at the number of similarities between this region and Queensland:

• There are the obvious things like the weather and the beaches (we went for a swim at beautiful Libanona and just after we got out of the surf, fishermen arrived in a lankana (like a wooden canoe) and carried up into town a four metre tiger shark);
• There are many of the same plants like mango, pawpaw, banana (I was told they have a type here where you need to kick the trunk for the fruit to ripen, although I suspect my leg was being pulled there), travellers palms and fast growing Aussie imports that can grow in difficult conditions including eucalypt for wood and citronella, acacia for firewood and paper bark used as loo paper;
• There are also some of the same social issues such as how to attract teachers to work in the bush and the interplay between mining, the local population and the environment:

The wildlife however is very different.  We have seen lots of wildlife already: chameleons in the garden of the airport hotel, red parrots and green lizards (which may or may not be giant day geckos) at our campsite and last but by no means least, four types of lemur at Nahampoana Reserve including a troupe of ringtails, brown lemurs, startled looking sifakas and a few reclusive bamboo lemurs.

I will be back in town in early February so keep an eye out for a further update.

P.S. I am typing this with great difficulty on a French style keyboard so please excuse any typos.  I am also having problems uploading photos and will try next time.

D-DAY: HEADING OFF

Today is the day.  I am a little nervous, but very excited.  In a few hours I am planning to meet up with two of my group at Heathrow which will be great, and I will be in Madagascar by this time tomorrow.  Let the adventure begin!

True to form, I have only just finished packing and now have only a few minutes until I need to start getting ready to go.  I checked, and fortunately the clothes I had set aside still fit despite the few celebratory kilos I have piled on and am ready to work off.

I am looking forward to volunteering with Azafady, winner of Best Volunteering Organisation in the 2007 Responsible Tourism Awards.  In the past two years, Pioneers have helped build 6 schools allowing access to education for some 1,800 children who previously had no educational opportunities and with Pioneer assistance, Azafady now has 10,000 seedlings of two critically endangered species in its nurseries.  It will be wonderful to be a part of these projects.

I will write when I can so keep an eye out in about a week, and then in early February and early March and sometime in April when I am back in Europe.