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!