Wild Wednesday's: Memories of Madagascar Part 1
Hello Steemian friends,
Hope you are all well, and ready to read this blog post. It's me (Becca) again writing. I am sure you have all had a time, a holiday or an experience that you keep looking and thinking back at. I have so many pictures on my laptop from a lot of previous events and times in my life, I often find myself looking through them, daydreaming of all those memories and the stories behind every picture. One of those experiences is of Madagascar, which I would like to share with you today.
As I mentioned a few posts ago, as a requirement for my university degree, I needed to complete a 6 week working placement in a conservation orientated organisation twice, once in between 1st and 2nd year and again in between 2nd and 3rd year . I could have chosen to work in anything from sustainability and conservation practises within an organisation or go straight into a work placement related to protecting a specific type of animal (species) or environment. I have already spoken about my second placement in between 2nd and 3rd year, which I spent in Crete with the Sea Turtle Protection Society of Greece. I would like to go back to my first placement which I spent volunteering in South-west Madagascar.
Towards the end of my 1st year at University, all my course mates and myself were told we had to look into what sort of placement we wanted to do, and what sort of conservation work we wanted to get involved in. I have always had an interest in wildlife and the environment, and I was keen on working and learning more about African wildlife and conservation. Immediately what comes to one's mind is lions and elephants and many other 4 legged mammals when you mention Africa. However, I was very much interested in marine life. Throughout my first year of university we had many different lectures on different kinds of conservation initiatives, species and environmental vulnerability. I found the marine environment lectures really interesting, hence I opted to focus my placement choices to marine conservation. I had originally chosen and was given a chance to work with Whale Sharks in Mozambique, however I decided against it. I then came across a UK based non-profit Marine conservation organisation that works in a small coastal village in South-west Madagascar - ReefDoctor. I studied their website, researched all their projects and spoke to the organisations director and co-founder. I absolutely loved what I found and could not wait to tell my parents about it (I was only 18 and wanted my parents opinion). ReefDoctor is passionate about helping the local communities and their livelihood while also passionate about conservation, which I believe is a great combination and is key for conservation success for everyone. I truly believed, and still do, that their projects are a great step in the right direction for marine conservation and their vulnerable ecosystems. I will talk about their projects as I go with this blog series.
I was so happy when my parents also felt the same way as I did about volunteering with ReefDoctor. To apply there was a fee which all volunteers had to pay for the projects, this fee I was happy to pay as I knew it going to go towards great causes (and it was not as pricey as some other African conservation volunteer programmes were - some went way over the $6000 mark for 4 weeks!).
First thing first was to make sure all my jabs were in order and take the extra ones I needed like Typhoid and Hepatitis etc. And then I had a big shopping spree getting all my "just in case meds", as I was going to be based in a very rural area. With that all done and my flights all booked up, I was soon on my way to Antananarivo, Madagascar. I had one night stop between arriving in the capital and catching a domestic flight the next morning to Toliara. This first night in the hotel the organisation set up for me was when I suddenly realised I was away from my family, in a foreign country which no one I knew had ever been to before, and that I was about to do something I felt very passionate about. I felt homesick and did not get any sleep that night. While waiting for my flight the next day, I met a girl from America who was coming to Toliara to work for ReefDoctor too. We became good friends from that moment onwards.
In Toliara, one of the volunteer coordinators was waiting for us at the airport, we went around town getting some basic essential things like exchanging our money to local currency, getting Malagasy SIM cards and getting our volunteer visas. We waited for two other volunteers to fly in, they were arriving in the afternoon, did the same run around town with them and quickly set off to Ifaty, where the camp is and where the projects are based.
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This sounds like a great program. I'll look forward to hearing more about some the specific projects.
It is a great volunteer program as it mixes both conservation and community development. Most conservation projects often get threatened by the locals as they think the organisation (NGO) cares more about the animals than them. They see that the organisation is there to save the animals from the locals way of life and practices. We will explain about this in the future posts (don't want to give too much away ;) ). Stay tuned and thanks for commenting @jctdesign have a good one!
Wow, Madagascar is an interesting choice for a volunteer project! I'm not surprised why it's such an unforgettable experience for you. And you've captured that experience so beautifully!
I have quite a few of those vacations or trips that I keep reminiscing about every now and then - the two cruises I took last year, one to the Caribbean and second to Alaska; I find myself dreaming about my trip to Italy way too often; and of course my first ever vacation with the husband, a road trip in New Zealand! Sigh!
Looking at pictures from my past travels is my favorite thing to do to pass time. Since I'm currently stuck at home with no vacation in the forseeable future, this is what I'm doing. Of course, being able to blog about my experiences when I come back from vacations keeps the excitement of the vacation going a bit longer. I'm still writing about my Alaska cruise! :)
Madagascar and many of the volunteering projects Becca has done in her life so far have been so memorable. We were talking about it after posting this post that we should do more volunteering holidays. Where our time, effort and influence is put to good use.
We hope your toe is healing well and we can imagine that feeling of boredom and the urge to 'get up and go' is stronger than ever! Those memories of the Caribbean and Alaska must be amazing. Cherish them! We've never been, but it's on the list as are many other places (like the road trip across New Zealand). Just keep blogging about those experiences and before you know it, you're on a plane, train, car or cruise to somewhere new. :)
We hope you will enjoy the future parts as we dive into some of the projects Becca did during her time in Madagascar. :)
I think it is seriously an amazing experience to be volunteer in a location like Madagascar. A different way to travel which permit to be in contact with local people, find a different perspective and open further our mind. Probably see " the real Madagascar"
Thanks Phil! Yes, Becca got to see and experience the 'real' Madagascar. No resorts or guided tours during her time there until the very end when her father and sister came to see her/collect her.
These trips or volunteer programs give you a new perspective and new knowledge as Becca learnt a lot in her first year and was finally putting it to use, yet there was so much more she learnt from just doing. Nothing that a lecturer or an academic book can teach you.
Thanks for stopping by Phil and for your awesome comment. We hope you are enjoying your time Down Under! :)
Thanks a lot for your response
It's hard to find great organizations while doing volunteer work, it seems like this is a balanced way to work in a local community. I'm curious to read more!
Most NGOs didn't get it right from the start: dictating what the locals should do and how to live, but now there is more of a community engagement and it's more mending some practises instead of completing changing them. There are the odd exceptions. We know you'll be around to see how this series goes! Becca looks forward to writing the next few parts in the weeks to come! :)