Tonga Soa Fort Dauphin

I can’t believe I’ve been here for over a week. Landing a week ago and all the things that have gone on since then already seems like a long time ago. Madagascar does a weird thing to time. On the one hand, time goes incredibly fast. But whenever you go back home, it feels like you’ve been living in a parallel universe for the past few months and time stood still while you were away!

Fort Dauphin/Tolagnaro by air. The last photo my poor camera took before being abandoned.

The week didn’t get off to a good start with me leaving my camera on the plane. I was so excited to get out and explore that I left my camera on my seat, what a fool. However, proof if ever it was needed that the Malagasy are heroes, they found it and kept it for me! They did insist that I had my photo taken with the guy who found my camera though. It’s a great photo I’m sure you’ll agree.

This week I’ve mainly been exploring my old haunts in Fort Dauphin, getting to know my neighbourhood, Bazarikely (little market) and getting to grips with every day living here. It’s really different living here to being a pioneer. Trying to figure out what to do about food is the biggest thing. Nowhere does sandwiches, it’s too hot for soup and I’m scared the salad will rot my insides. Crisps and doughnuts it is then!

The crash-pad aka the stables.

I’m living in the Azafady “crash pad” where the long term volunteers are staying which is about a 5 minute walk from the Azafady office and literally a stone’s throw from Matt’s place. Good bathroom (with a shower and a throne toilet! Yahoo!), big kitchen and a huge lounge/dining room area. Electricity and water supplies are sporadic but big buckets are kept full and candles are there in case of emergency! I’m living there with Katie (Lemur Venture Coordinator), Mel (Lemur Venture Assistant Coordinator) and Diana (English teacher from the states). It’s a bit like living in student halls, people always coming and going and always somebody to talk to which is really cool. Especially when they have very similar mind sets to you and their boyfriends are also on a different continent.

View from my window.

On Monday we had a torrential tropical storm. I wish I had had my camera with me and it wasn’t sat in the airport so I could show just how dramatic it all was. There were HUGE hail stones the size of marbles, the rain came down in stair rods and within 5 minutes the roads had been converted to frothy rivers. The water was lapping at our doorstep in no time and we had to shout in our kitchen to hear ourselves over the noise of the rain on the tin roof. I think some modifications will be necessary before the rainy season, that or inflatable furniture.

The rest of the week has been less dramatic but no less exciting. I’ve been exploring the beaches, sussing out where to eat and where to buy food etc and chilling out before my first load of Pioneers arrive on the 4th October.

<---Libanona Beach

I was a bit apprehensive about market day. My Malagasy is next to non-existent and my maths isn’t fab either. However, I came out with a goodie bag of locally grown tomatoes, green beans, onions, pasta, a big wooden spoon, a new sarong, some rice and a marginally improved understanding of Malagasy. Go team!

So far highlights have been going out for THB and rum when I first arrived at Escale and Las Vegas followed by escaping the clutches of local men at Gina’s (the local nightclub), “family Sunday dinner” at Chez Perline (a great place to eat which looks like an outhouse but does an amazing zebu spag bol), eating brochettes for the first time in over 2 years (they are just as good as you remember!), going back out to Lanirano where the Pioneer campsite is (note to old pioneers, it has changed so much! So many new buildings. But good news, Gremlin is still there and it looks like she is pregnant!), chilling out at Libonona beach, catching up with Brett, Matt, Claude Yvon, Harey, Dino, Jimmy and meeting a whole new bunch of friendly faces who have been great at taking me under their wing, answering my hundreds of questions and showing me the ropes.

Big bug

It’s pretty much been one long party! Nights out, meals out, hanging out on a tropical beach, sweating and getting excited for the start of work! Bugs in the water tried their best to ruin the week and my birthday but I still managed to go out for a tasty meal at Filao and stuff down a twix and some cake whilst watching Bridget Jones’ diary. Who said being sick can’t be fun?!

View of the back of the office from my annexe

Lift Off

I’ve arrived safe and sound in Tana! But before I fill you in on the past few days in Madagasikara there’s a few cool bits and bobs which I want to blog about from blighty.

Gaz flew down to Bristol on Saturday which meant we got the chance to spend a few days together before he had to peel me off and send me on my merry way to a different hemisphere. I always love going down to visit Gaz at home. Somerset has a really great vibe and the Marshall family have 3 of the cutest dogs in the world (even if one of them did try to bite me this time. Rosie is so the coolest one). Saturday night we went for an amazing Dickensian style meal in Axbridge followed by several nightcaps of homemade blackberry brandy (get Gaz to make you some, it’s amazing!).

Sunday morning dawned foggy but soon cleared so I headed out to hold Gaz’s ropes as he worked a 7a down at Sandford quarry. After practicing the moves til he knew he’d got them down he went for the redpoint, and got it! Grrrr tiger! After that victory we packed up the truck and headed for Azafady HQ in Stafford. There was still some packing to be done come Monday but we decided to skip packing for a day and head to the Roaches for my last rock climbing trip of 2008. My climbing wasn’t at its best but I hauled myself up some weird and exposed mounds of gritstone and Gaz had a really good fight on an E1 called Safety Net. It was an impressive display of climbing but a terrifying belay. Luckily Gaz was high enough off the ground to miss my whimpering and only hear my words of encouragement. It’s a shame the weather hadn’t been better but to be honest it was really good just to get out and about on an adventure with Gaz after a few guilty weeks of being fairly house bound.

Happy Gaz, he got the 7a!

What route to do now...there is a lot in the Roaches

Then it was 24 hours to go. Gaz and I made a mad dash into Brum to catch up with Gaby and Lomba as well as doing a last minute bit of shopping. Gaby and Lomba both work for Azafady in Fort Dauphin and are over visiting family and friends. It was really good seeing them and it made me really excited about getting stuck in to all the upcoming projects in Fort Dauphin.

The day of departure dawned and the team, Mum, Dad, Chris, Gaz, trundled off to Brum to wish me on my merry way. Even though I’ve been planning for this trip for over 4 months I still wasn’t ready for good byes. It was a really hard leaving everybody at departures but I'm pleased they were all there to see me off. The support (financial or otherwise) and words of encouragement from team Jones, friends and Gaz has given me the courage to go and do this. This trip would’ve remained a flight of fancy for years if they hadn’t helped me so much. So I said good bye to my Mum, Dad and Chris and then I said good bye to Gaz. Gaz has been so supportive of me going to work for Azafady from day one. Not only has he listened to my stresses and worries and eased my often irrational fears, he has not once griped about the fact that I’m buggering off for a year. He’s been a total star and the fact that I will hardly see him this year is definitely my biggest challenge and biggest fear for the coming months (even more so than food poisoning and that's saying something). I’m definitely hoping that the next big adventure I have will be a team Jones - Marshall adventure!

So off I went! Brum – Paris (Charles de Gaulle is such a depressing place), Paris - Antananarivo (Tana). Arriving at Tana was strange. In one way it was like I’d never been away but in another way it’s like I was arriving for the first time. It still smelt the same though. The 14 km taxi ride to the centre of town gave me a chance to soak it all in and man up!

Tana's take on Hollywood glam

My first day in Tana consisted of sleeping and going to the Parc de Biologie e Zoologie Tsimbazaza (Tana zoo) to see a man about my visa. I have no idea why I needed to see the Director of Tana zoo to extend my visa but I presume it ticked a box on a form somewhere! It did mean that I got to wander around the zoo all afternoon for free and look at all the animals. All the signs were in Malagasy so I have no idea what half of the creatures were but it all added to their mystery!

Giant Tortoise from the Seychelles. It was the size of a sheep!

Sleeping Fosa. Big cat/mongoose type thing.

I have no idea what this tree/plant is!

My second day in Tana was totally up to me. There isn’t a lot to see in Tana in terms of “touristy attractions” so I wasn’t quite sure what to do with myself. So, I left the safety of the hotel, rucksack strapped firmly to my tummy and guidebook in hand, to see what Tana had to offer. I had a great breakfast in a café nearby then hacked my way through to hawkers, beggers and traders to the Avenue D’Independence which is the main drag in Tana. My hotel is in Upper Town (the posh bit) and the Avenue is in the Lower Town (the not so posh bit) and the steps linking the two parts of town are seething with bodies. Rubber stamps, vanilla, toy cars made out of scraps of tin cans and sunglasses were all on offer and being shoved under my nose but I didn’t feel the need to buy any of these things. There were two children who were singing, dancing and playing guitar who were adorable. An oasis of calm in a crazy place!

Next on my list was Lake Anosy which is back up in Upper Town. I get a good view of it from my hotel and though I should have a wander round it to see if I could understand what the huge monument was in the middle of it. There weren’t any signs explaining the monument, the lake was smelly and the area started to feel a fair bit seedier so I upped sticks, scampered back and took refuge in a pizza and coke in a café near my hotel. By then afternoon was drawing in so I decided to head back to base and get things ready for going to Fort Dauphin tomorrow.

Traffic jam in Lower Town

Smelly lake with unkown monument

I’m not sure what to make of Tana. I’ve felt safer and got less hassle here travelling alone than I have done in other places where I’ve been with family, but I wouldn’t want to spend any more time here than I have done. Maybe that’s because there’s not strictly much to “see” in Tana. There are things to see here but Tana is a difficult place to get around, gridlocked and full of people. I would love to have wandered the streets taking random pictures. There was so much going on all the time but I didn’t really want to draw attention to the fact that I had an expensive digital camera so only whipped out the camera on very rare occasions. Maybe if I’d been travelling with other people or if I’d been in Madagascar a bit longer than I have I would’ve felt confident enough to strike out and really explore. Having said all that, I’ve enjoyed my time here, I’ve seen most of what there is to see here and I’ve not been mugged so Tana’s not all bad.

Off to Fort Dauphin I go! Not sure what the web connection will be like but one thing I do know is that i won't get wifi in my room (damn shame) so hopefully I'll get some news up on here soon!

Getting ready for the off!

It’s difficult to know where to start with a blog. Especially since the last time I was seriously tapping away on a keyboard was to put the finishing touches to my dissertation about a year ago. So apologies if there's lots of howevers, therefores or a random Calluna vulgaris insertion! I guess I should start with introducing myself in case folk other than those who already know me stumble across this in cyber space. Deep breath, here goes!

Hello! I'm Sarah, I'm 23 and I'm just about to move to Madagascar for a year. I'm a Geographer by trade and I'm originally from Stafford. I've given up the midlands and can now be found hopping around Scotland where I've been ensconced for the past 5 years where I try to optimise time spent north of the central corridor. You can often find me with Gaz in the best kept, beautiful, secret places in Scotland. The aim of the game is usually walking, running, climbing or, if I'm really lucky, skiing. Scotland is awesome. I also love bumbling around the coffee shops of Edinburgh with my girls or hunkering down with a good book or SATC. Often with buckets of tea, a big woolly hat and a blanket when rain stops outdoor play.

So, I’m off to Fort Dauphin in south-east Madagascar to work as a Volunteer Coordinator with Azafady, an organisation I did some volunteering with in 2006 (Check it out! Make a donation! Volunteer with them!). It was my first solo adventure and it definitely whetted my appetite for more grubbing about in the tropics in the future.

I feel blame for my wanderlust lies almost entirely with my parents. Taking a very young girl to Indonesia, Malaysia, Africa and the Middle-East when she's already showing left-wing, hippy tendencies was only ever going to end in me doing something like this. Travelling Family Jones style meant that I was made aware of a lot of issues from a very early age and I've always felt that if I got the opportunity to work on some of these issues then I would.

For this second trip to Madagascar I’m not sure what internet access will be like so I have developed a cunning plan. So I don't have to try and fit everything into an email which I have 5 minutes to write and to prevent clogging up people’s inboxes with weighty email tomes I thought I’d switch on to this blogging revolution.

Today was a joyous day. I've just about managed to squeeze my worldly goods for 12 months into my 20kg weight allowance. My goodybag of drugs is prepped and good to go. Gallons of DEET and suncream. Sadly no room for a pillow though. Ouch.


It's felt a bit like planning a military operation at times. A lot of admin and random crap to buy which has at times, I'll admit, made me want to scream (just ask Gaz, poor guy). It took me about 2 months to get the flights sorted. But ever since I came back from Madagascar 2 years ago I knew I'd be going back sooner or later. It's one of those places which is exhilarating to be in and really gets under your skin. It was always going to be worth the hassle.

It's an incredibly beautiful country. I'm not going to get too sciencey or gushy on you but there is such an amazing diversity of plants and animals and something crazy like 80% of them are only found in Madagascar. Loads of them are freaky weird too and all well worth protecting. Hopefully I'll be able to get loads of pictures up on here so you can see them too and share in their weirdness!

Cool chameleon!

Ring-tailed lemur catching some rays

Baobab tree. They look like they're upside down but they work well!

But, as is often the case, Madagascar is biologically rich but economically poor. Azafady are working with several grass roots initiatives to try and improve living standards whilst promoting a positive coexistence with the unique and fragile environment. All good stuff eh?

It's all getting very exciting with about a week to go. Not got anything left on my list apart from a few farewells and hopefully a day raid to the Roaches to go climbering with Gaz when he comes up (unless the remnants of hurricane Ike rain on our parade).

On that note, I'll sign off for now. Thanks for reading and watch this space for updates, hopefully there'll be another post before Christmas!