Camp wildlife (KAFS)

A sedated Aye Aye, newly collared, truly enchanting animals

Tree frog hugging bamboo outside my cabin window

One of the numerous preying mantis living alongside the volunteers

He's watching me!

beautiful markings on this resident spider

Hanging out on an acacia leaf near camp

On the road, through the landscape, in search of forest in Madagascar.

This post was written on Jan 24th 2015. It was inspired by my first journey into Kianjavato from the capital Antananarivo (200 miles) with Ed Louis in his Toyota Hilux.


As we leave the congested roads of the capital, the landscape suddenly opens out to reveal swathes of green wasteland, interspersed with vast rice paddies, baron grassland and discarded construction materials. As remnants of modern city life are left quickly in the rear view mirror, the landscape transforms into a monotony of treeless rolling hills and mountains far, far into the distance.

Antananarivo in the distance, 20 minutes out of town

Quaint wood and mud houses scatter in small patches along the roadside as we speed away. This land is populated far beyond my expectations and even in this treeless wilderness, signs of human life are constant.

Every hour or so we slow down onto a paved road into a few hundred meters of built up area. They seem to be a central place for the local villages around. Essentially there is a grocer, butchers and some practical stores, with a few restaurants. At one of the larger communes we stop for gas. Some scraggly kids begs for money and want my water bottle. I chat with them and they enjoy having their picture taken and giggling as they see themselves back on the camera. We also stop at one of the numerous vegetable and fruit sellers which line sporadic parts of the main road.

out of the car window a very quaint looking town (consisting entirely of this one road). the picture hides the dirt, grime and rubbish.

that whole stall would cost less than $50 for all its potatoes, carrots, courgettes and tomatoes

the main mode of transport in the country side if u have no car!

the larger town wehere we stopped for gas

As we forge on, small clusters of pine and eucalyptus trees are the only vegetation to be seen - apart from rice, corn and manioc fields. These tree species are exotic, mainly brought over from Australia. The endemic and native trees have literally been burnt out of existence. I find it ironic that these trees are planted only after they have destroyed the ones already there. I struggle to imagine just how these people cook their food with fire. Wood is not available for hundreds of miles around. The fact is that firewood and charcoal almost exclusively come from the small fragments of primary forest that still exists in parts of this vast island.

Further on and deep into the countryside the bumpy road swivels and meanders up and down the ongoing see of mountainous hills. One can only imagine the sheer beauty of this landscape, once coated in tropical forest just decades ago. The hills rise and fall in a fabric of small valleys, where rice paddies dominate the soggy ground. Its a stunning landscape even in its totally degraded state. I can compare it to north wales or even the Scottish cairngorms, except this landscape continues for hundreds of miles far into the distance in every direction. Hills upon mountains upon hills of grassland no longer productive enough to grow the basic crops.

paddies and hill mountains

The traditional agricultural practise named 'tavy', basically slash and burn, has charcoaled the once productive soil. Centuries in the past the burned land, which is cropped and harvested for 1 - 2 years, was then left for 15 - 30 years to recover its productivity. But these days with a growing population and lack of resources, land is burnt far too frequently. After 3 - 5 uses, the land becomes completely void of nutrients and is left for dead. In its place invasive grasses grow abundantly and this is burnt seasonally due to wildfire and also to sprout fresh life for cattle.

As we continue further east the villages are steeped deeper in traditional shapes and colours. The people are dressed more traditionally, some men look like real cowboys, with dirt stained scarves wrapped around there chests and faces shaped and blackened by the charcoal, their clothes a burnt brown and coloured by the deep red of the tropical soil. Women are draped in loosely fitting clothes and brightly coloured scarves which allow them to work in the heat on the fields but retain there feminine beauty. Everywhere faces are scared and moulded by an existence of hard sweat and grind, of working the fields and striving to find enough food and wood to feed themselves and there children.

Speedily out of the villages we scape through the mountain hills in our 4 wheel drive. Passing local buses struggling to move over the broken up road, which often brings travelling to a standstill. 8 hours into the drive and the landscape scarcely changes at all. Through the bright green of the grass, thick bellows of black smoke occasionally rise from freshly cut scrub and pine plantations. Sporadically, the eyes are excited by a large patch of tree cover, only to realise that these non native species will very soon be cut for firewood, leaving the landscape empty again. 

As my eyes wonder over the landscape i am lost in the realisation that the world over has either been through this transformation or is going through it now. The UK, which once had cut all of its forest, now only has has 7% forest cover. The European average is about 30%. Then Brazil, which looses huge swathes of forest each hour (areas unimaginable in size) and much for the pursuit of meat for the hungry western carnivores, such as myself!
And then places such as Borneo and the Madagascar, which will soon be completely empty of natural forest. Apart from the national parks, which a few unthanked people have spent there lives preserving. The rest of humanity, which benefit every day from the clean air and water the forests provide, simply carry on their daily vices. Impotent of the perilous way capitalism, and commercialism suffocates life on earth. Never before did it become so clear to me that if this blind way of living continues, life on earth will be a very different prospect for my children and their children. Perhaps its time to change.

Musings whilst on the road.

Blog 3

If im ever stuck in traffic in the ‘civilised world’ again I must remember my trips to and from the airport in Tana!  Roads are congested and broken up with large holes to be dodged whcih makes for slow going. There are often no pavements at all. The fumes through the car window are seriously intoxicating. The locals seem oblivious and my driver keeps his window open ‘to let the fresh air in’!!  It reminds me of Kathmandu where even some of the local where masks to breathe through. In Tana the roads are wider and the buildings spaced further apart but this does little to appease the thick air. In Kathmandu walking down a main road was simply torture and it really is much the same here

The road from the airport into town

The mish-mash of different vehicles in this city is like nothing ive ever seen. They are driving anything from 50 year old plus Renaults, of all different kinds,  seriously beat up mini vans – to brand new range rovers, Mercedes and VW Golfs.  And if that doesn’t tell you something about this society already, you are blind. A lot of the men drive these cool old skool looking Peugeots golf’s and BMW 3 series. Some of them are painted really nice and its clear there a kind of status symbol. 

A classic Renault, a common site

However it does not distract much from the petrol/diesel they run on. If you have never been to a city in the 3^rd world, it is quite unbelievable how bad the fumes are.  Im quite sure, the fuel they use is banned in the US and most of Europe. At least that’s how it was in South America, so im sure it’s the same here – and of course there are no filters either. You simply cant escape the smell hanging in the air and being covered in dirt and grime if your on the streets or in a traffic jam for very long.

young boy looking after a baby

To make matters even more interesting when your stuck still in the traffic, the famous car window sellers are queued up in the most congested areas. They are very sad people and seeing them desperately trying to sell what ever it is they’re peddling is uncomfortable to the western eye.  They come in all ages, male and female. Some of them look like complete stragglers, they look ill and in very bad shape. All of them are covered in the black dust of the fumes and none where masks. Some of them are smart young guys who have big smiles as they approach, some of them are young children. The stuff sold is various: sun glasses, leather belts, newspapers, electronic goods like mobile phone chargers and usb adapters, door mats, fruit , other snacks and all sorts of other stuff.

not really sure!

Generally I feel that half of these goods are the sort of thing you want to buy when standing in a shop or at a stall. Why these people are trying to flog them through car windows I don’t get. But then I suppose they don’t have any other choice.  I did not see anyone take up there offer. Of course being the foreigner they pay special attention to me, I blush, shake my head and say no.  This isn’t the sort of traffic jam you want to be stuck in on your way to or from work, but in Antananarivo that’s the way it is. 

2 young kids are left to play all day in the shade of a roadside clothes stall

As I sit back in the 4x4 which is escorting me around town I take a deep sigh. To see all the degeneration on the street makes me feel so very lucky to be who I am. Ill do my work here and ill work hard, ill try my best and help where I can. Despite all the unknown around me I do not wish to be any where else at all.

A man and his child sleep in the shade on the street

First impressions of Madagascar's capital city and a volunteers welcome

Blog 2 written on 10/01/15

Well guys how do I explain to you so far about my time in Madagascar, its been a bit of a bumpy ride but things are certainly settling down now. Having my luggage back is definitely a good thing, 4 days after I arrived! I am now on my own in the accommodation provided by Madagascar Biodiversity Partnership. The rest of the volunteers left early this morning. They are travelling to Kianjavato to get back to work after the xmas break. I was instead making the not so nice trip back to the airport to collect my baggage.

So far Madagascar has been all about Antananarivo, the capital.  It is much like other big underdeveloped cities I have been to – such as Dar es Salaam. Basically my first impressions are that its a sprawling mass of congested disorder! I think, at least for me, these are the places that it takes a while to comes to terms with. Just the drive from the airport is enough to bring up every negative emotion you can conceive, from despair to outright confusion. The road sides are covered in dirt and rubbish, adults and children alike lay in the street in the searing sun. Strikingly there are men transporting goods by foot with carts made of steel. These carts are seriously big and bulky. They are carrying anything from wood, fruit, empty beer bottles and all number of things that look far too heavy to be (literally) running along the road with! At the first section of traffic (of which there are many!) people try to sell random stuff through the car window, they appear tattered and desperate.  The smells are incredible; a mix of noxious car fumes, rotting vegetables and  spoiling rubbish heaps seep into your nose most pungently. It’s a real slap back to reality after being in the UK for the past year.

yes, barefoot, on his own, a regular site

3 guys transporting a few bananas - and they have probably been travelling for day to sell their produce in the capital

Gratefully I was picked up from the airport and taken directly to the volunteer accommodation. Here I was quickly introduced to the other volunteers whom I'll will be working with. 3 are Americans, 3 are English, with a French girl and a Swedish guy thrown in. They are all very friendly and caring and I got on with them all fine. It’s a very relaxed atmosphere and I feel I can be myself around them no problem. Most of them have been here for at least 6 months and most are searching for a career in environmental conservation. I am the oldest in the group which is a bit of a bummer!  I am now waiting to travel down to Kianjavato with the foundation founder, Ed Loius, who gets to Madagascar soon from Omaha, USA. Ed is the workhorse of the project and does much of his work in the US, which I gather a larger part is searching for funding.

One of the many traffic jams on the way to Mankambhiny, where MBP base is

I have had some interesting information from the volunteers about the project and its founder which has surprised me. Its certainly different from what I've already been told.  Contrary to my expectations, the area I'll be working in has been almost completely deforested, no primary forest remains at all. Im told the journey down will be a landscape of deforested, degraded and abandoned land. Well all this will soon be put to reality when i finally reach the field site on Wednesday or Thursday.

Internet access is terrible and sporadic. It will be a lot more difficult to communicate than I first thought so I will try my best to post blogs as often as possible but please be patient. I will tell u all when I make a new post.

Road side view from central Tana

Finally a little piece of info on Madagascar itself:

Madagascar has a population of around 22 million (although census stats are perhaps not as accurate as they could be and in fact that number is probably more).  The capital city of Antananarivo has a population of about 2.5 million. The Madagascan island is 4 times as big as England and the 4th largest in the world. The main languages are french (in the cities) and Malagasy (of which there are countless dialects).  

90 percent of the population live on less than 2 dollars per day.  There about 3 hospital beds per 10,000 people and a approx of 3,150 doctors, 5,661 nurses, and 57 dentists for a population of 22 million!

90% of original forest cover has either been cut down or is severely degraded; the current deforestation rates is aprox 9% per year.

250,000 species are found here, of which 70% are found nowhere else in the world (this is incredible)!  There are 7 species of baobab trees in Madagascar, compared to only 1 in all of the rest of Africa. The region has the most extensive mangrove coverage in the Western Indian Ocean. 
There are over 100 species of Lemur of which all are endemic and more species are expected to be discovered.

International funding for environmental conservation of Madagascar is so low that the Madagascar Biodiversity Partnership will start charging volunteers like me to come and work as from Jully 2015.

A little piece of paradise in the Seychelles

Blog 1 written on 06/01/15

I did not expect to write a blog on my short stop over ion the Seychelles but I had such a nice experience I thought I would!

Only 17 hours in Seychelles and already I leave happier than when I arrived! The people are amazingly friendly here, helpful and full of warmth. Usually in big tourist places like this the local are, and quite rightly, sick of western foreigners and there whims! But not so here :

I had just taken 2 local buses to the little, tiny town of Beau Vallon, where my hotel was (was a nice journey and in 1 hour i had spanned half the island). So im just off the bus and standing in the street with a confused look on my face, no idea where i was going! I approach a shop just a few yards off the sea front.  Before i had time to inquire a cool looking mixed race local guy approached me asking if i was ok. I showed him my limp piece of paper of the hotel booking on. He says 'no problem man, ill take u there '. I think, yeah im sure u will mate, but i don’t want to be ripped off! I ask how much (he speaks perfect English),  'don't worry man' he says, in a nice Jamaican/creole accent, and off we go . 5 minutes later, just up the hill away from the sea, im forcing on him a pounds worth of local currency. He really did just give me a completely free ride, I thank him again and he has a big smile for me.  This wasn't the last time someone helped me out completely selflessly and man it felt so damn good to be back somewhere like this.

In an hours time after a quick rest in my apartment I strolled down to the beach in my swim shorts. In no time I was floating effortlessly, lying back in the Indian ocean with my eyes closed and taking deep humble breaths - i was in the tropics and out of the western civilization! My head relieved itself of the bullshit of before and it was a great start to my journey.

After 2 hours of playing in the waves I was really quite hungry. All i wanted was some fried fish and rice, seeing as I was at the coast!  I wondered lazily along the beach front and to my delight there were 2 old ladies behind a stall with a big grill and a few large pots under a fire. Aloft the grill were several large sizzling fishes I did not recognise and in the pots were rice and vegetables.  I payed them the hefty sum of 75 pence, sat on a bench looking towards the sea and thoroughly  enjoyed my meal. Soon after I wondered up the shore taking photos of the sunset and awing at these giant bats that flapped there wings liked bird and hovered in the sky. I sat at a beachside cafe, drank a cheap expresso and watched the sun go down.

Yes Seychelles is a little piece of paradise and i was very sad to be leaving at 9am the next morning but very glad i came.