The Orange House...

Hi! I’m Dom from France. I took place in this programme between my 2nd and 3rd year at Uni, studying Environmental Science. During the course of my studies I heard a lot about Madagascar, and about its richness, not financial richness but for its rich biodiversity. Madagascar is a hotspot, you know what that is, right?

To put it in numbers, 98% of land mammals, 92% of the reptiles, over 9000 endemic plant species -that is 68% of them -, all of the lemurs – that is 50 species -, 2/3 of the chameleons … the list is long, and nobody has really focused on the small things like fungi and insects![1]

I’ll leave out the boring bit, “I’ve always been concerned with the environment/state of the planet…since I can remember, I always….” But I will tell you that I love travelling; it is a virus I caught and I don’t think there is a cure…but I also need to be kept active and do things: sitting on the beach is fine, but after a few minutes I’ll be bored! Nothing better than join a volunteer program that enables you to “travel” and do something useful! And the best deal is the YVP (if you’ve got this far, no need to explain those 3 letters)! 6 people, 3 projects, one country…welcome to Madagascar!

We met up in Tana, which I must admit was not the nicest place I have been to…but it is a big city and like all others it is noisy and polluted (ok maybe a bit more than what we are used to…). After a few days of introduction to WWF-Mada, the Explore program, it is time to make a move down south…Antsirabe, Fianaratsoa, Ambalavao, … Toliara. A couple of days here to do some shopping and meet the local WWF staff, then through a mix of 4x4 and boat we get to the final destination: Itampolo…to be more precise the Orange House!

Living in a remote area you learn a lot…how to live with just about nothing (when compared to Western “standards”) and how that part of the world is treated by the local populations i.e. how the local people live and take care of their direct environment: the sea, the beach, the forest…. How do you combine conservation and living conditions? After all it is easy for us – vazaha – to comment on how they run their lives and how they should not do this or that… but what are they supposed to do? That is the subject that we tried to touch… it was difficult and eye opening.

[1] http://atlas.aaas.org/pdf/186-87.pdf

Dominic

Sustainable fishing & marine conservation...

Fish for food, overfish for... death?

Tsanga-Tsanga!

Why not contact me?

I’ll stop here but could go on for ages on this…so if you want more info drop me an email txatxi@gmail.com!

My advice?

You’ll need to be adaptable, as field work doesn’t always go to plan… Much more needs to be done; so if you want to help and do your bit …go ahead! And by the way, you are not a glorified tourist…you’ll need to work! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity… The process is all online, easy and straight forward. Be honest and direct, stop thinking and stop reading this… just go for it!

My photos of Madagascar

Four fish, four different species... how many are out there?

Shark fishing: akio tomanimanente. 5 shark species are caught around Itampolo. They are a source of protein, oil and money: the meat is eaten, oil is extracted from the liver, and the fins are exported to South East Asia

As each day is unique, it makes sense to take 1 picture per day!

Radiated tortoise having had a feast on cactus fruit

Eretmochelys imbricata, the Hawksbill turtle. A critically endangered species listed on the CITES appendix I, for sale in the Marché de la Digue which is popular with tourists

Octopus trees – Dideraceae – endemic to Madagascar and characteristic of the Ala Maiky

Beach seine fishing: nearly no fish were caught this time

Manahira and a King Mackerel Scomberomorus guttatus. A very good lunch and dinner

Going to set the varilava nets. The mesh size is that of a mosquito net

The daily Vezo ritual: fishing. They were surprised to see us go out with them but seemed quite happy