After more than a year of planning and preparation, a group of Senior School students flew to Madagascar during the July school holidays. It was an adventure of a lifetime, better than any of us could have imagined! The Expedition was broken up into two distinct parts; the forest surveys and the marine surveys.
Despite what seemed like a small island, there was a great amount of traveling. It took our group almost 3 days, by plane, 4WD and walking to get to the first location. It was a remote section of the jungle only reachable by 4WD. This was the first time in a real jungle for most of us and the sights and sounds were exciting. In this location, there were two campsites. Our first campsite was a 4-hour hike away from the Mariarano base camp. To reach it involved wading through rivers, climbing steep hills and trekking through muddy rice paddies. Whilst at this satellite campsite called Matsedroy, we performed lemur and reptile surveys, in which we spotted and recorded what species we saw, how many we saw and their GPS location. We also captured frogs, spiders and birds! After three busy days of completing such surveys, we trekked back to the base camp to complete more surveys. We undertook hognose snake surveys, butterfly netting, scorpion counting and bird tagging. The surveys were exciting as the data we were collecting is used by scientists all over the world. We felt like we were doing something important.
Two more days later, and another 4WD trip and a boat ride from the port of Ankify, we arrived at our marine site, the island of Nosey Be. There were a wide variety of activities for the marine survey. Some groups learned how to dive and others were snorkelling while the already qualified divers were doing coral and fish surveys. At the marine site we learnt all about marine ecology and the importance of the marine environment. After five days at the marine site the trip was over. All that was left was two bus trips and two plane flights home. Most in the group used the trip home to catch up on some much needed rest and to reflect on their journey.
The Madagascar expedition was an amazing life changing experience and one this group of students will never forget. Being on the front line of conservation and getting to experience all of this first hand was priceless. This trip was absolutely amazing and I am sure everyone would do it again in a heartbeat. If the School offers a trip like this again, make sure you seize the opportunity!
Thank you to Ms Cook and Ms May for organising such an amazing tour.
Written by Callum Borck (Year 10)