I'm back in Fort Dauphin again, with a couple of days left here before I fly north on my way out of Madagascar. I've got mixed feelings about leaving. Sainte Luce is such an incredible place, stunningly beautiful and full of wonderful people, amazing creatures and breathtaking places. I loved my time in the bush, though it was hard both physically and emotionally. I'm sad to leave, but I'm looking forward to the next leg. Already in town I've had a proper bed, a real shower and a pizza - what more can I ask for! I've had wifi again so I could contact my family and hear their adventures, and I can finally upload some decent pictures to make you properly jealous. So here goes...
Life on transects are always interesting, very varied. We might be crossing spindly bridges over rivers, forging through them, hiking through grasslands or dense forest, always flanked by the mountains in the distance.
This is the result of deforestation, open sandy plains where it's very difficult to grow anything. One of SEED's projects, Project Ala is growing trees to reforest some of these areas.
On transect we collect data about creatures we see. Some of them are fairly obvious but mostly they are tiny or really good at pretending to be something else.
This is the Ghost Gecko. He's incredibly rare. One of our guides Aime found him in camp and he seemed to enjoy chilling out on my arm. New tattoo maybe?
These guys hang out in camp. You hear their distinct chuffing hoot and the leaves bouncing around as they jump from tree to tree foraging. These are Red Collared Brown Lemurs, a family about 5 strong, and they are not bothered by our presence at all. Their favourite thing to do is munch on berries and then drop their leftovers onto our heads.
Some guys really like to hide. This is a Tree Boa
Spot the chameleon? It took us a while of watching the lemurs before someone suddenly said 'has he been there the whole time?'
We cross the mangroves on pirogues, dug out canoes that have seen their fair share of travel. We use 2 lashed together because they're pretty unsteady and we're pretty clumsy compared to the locals who use them for fishing every day. Paddling through the mangroves is an experience I will never forget. The greatest moment for me was seeing the Madagascan Kingfisher!
The problem with using such old canoes is that they've had a lot of wear and tear! And I mean A LOT. Every trip water starts pouring in from new holes that we plug with the heel of a foot or a hunk of cardboard. And a lot of bailing out goes on. It is the sole responsibility of one person to keep the boat from going down. We often have to stop and get a group bailing mission going.
One of our transects is on an island and we returned to the boats after a night session to find the pirogue almost completely under water! Once we'd finally got it river worthy again the journey back was mindblowing. Complete darkness with a clear sky and water so still that the whole milky way was reflected there!
While we wait for fishermen to return with sharks so we can see what species they have caught we like to play Bananagrams on the road. Some of the fish, the tuna especially is HUGE. They carry them on hefty sticks over their shoulders and they often hang down to the ground, almost as long as the man is tall.
We've been working hard to rebuild the nursery where we're growing plants for Project Ala. We painted wooden boards with a petrol-like sealant to prevent it rotting with and tie ravinala palms onto eucalyptus poles for the roof.
And then there's school. We teach environmental classes at 2 of the local schools, in Ambamdrika and Manafiafy. Hoby was a teacher before joining SEED and he translates for us. He loves music and he's written several songs for the kids which they sing at the beginning of each class. And by sing I mean shout at the top of their voices! We'll always play a game afterwards so the kids can let out a bit of their endless energy.
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