Weathering the storm
by Kame Westerman, Velondriake MPA Project Coordinator, Madagascar Although located hundreds of miles away in the Mozambique Channel, villages within the Velondriake Locally Managed Marine Area (LMMA) felt the effects of cyclone Funso’s outer edges last week. A recent report estimated...
Record numbers of critically endangered tortoise counted by Blue Ventures
by Shanta Barley, Field Scientist, Madagascar When Ryan Walker, a biologist based at the Open University, and his team crawled on their hands and knees through 60 kilometres of clothes-shredding, hair-plucking spiny forest between Toliara and the Mangoky River, racking...
One coffee and a warty chameleon, coming right up!
by Shanta Barley, Field Scientist, Madagascar With 57 of the world’s 131 species of chameleon, including the largest and the smallest, Madagascar has a monopoly on the family’s diversity. This unusual individual (see photo, below) was spotted clinging to a...
Shark vs Cyclone
by Shanta Barley, Field Scientist, Madagascar What constitutes a duvet day for a Vezo shark fisherman? Not the threat of capsizing in seven metre waves, it turns out. Yesterday, Andava bay was peppered with pirogues en route to the Mozambique...
Connecting the dots…
by Jo Hudson, Science Intern, Blue Ventures Head Office Connecting Classrooms is the joint project between UNICEF and Blue Ventures, which will enhance our community-based conservation programmes through innovative, technological teaching tools for the youth of coastal southwest Madagascar. By using...
The boy who cried whale
“A dead whale? Washed up in Antsanaranasoa bay?” Within minutes, a mob of villagers, armed with axes and buckets, was sprinting through the spiny forest, effortlessly hurdling knee-high thorny shrubs, in a race to procure enough fish bait to last...
Feom’bezo (the Voice of the Vezo) radio show
The Velondriake Management Committee works hard to keep the community informed about its many conservation activities, and how these benefit the community. In September 2011, Velondriake began producing a bi-monthly radio show in partnership with Blue Ventures, called Feom’Bezo (The...
Starting out in Sarteneja
By Casey Lewis, Blue Ventures volunteer, Belize I arrived in Sarteneja, Belize a little after 5pm – just in time to watch the sunset creep over the small town. Sarteneja is right by the ocean with beautiful views of the...
Reporting from the Climate change, deforestation and the future of African rainforests conference
Reporting from the Climate change, deforestation and the future of African rainforests conference, January 4-6, 2012, Oriel College, Oxford University, Oxford, UK by Trevor Jones, PhD, Remote Sensing Scientist Greetings from the opening day of the Climate change, deforestation and...
Conservation through Music: Respect the Environment / Hajao ty Tontolo Iaina
By Christi Turner, Education & Youth Outreach Coordinator Does anyone remember the cartoon movie Ferngully: the Last Rainforest? I’ll never forget watching it as a child, and starting to think about the disappearing forests on the other side of the...
Finding Nemo… and some Kenyan inspiration as well.
By Shawn Peabody, Locally Managed Marine Area Coordinator, Toliara – Madagascar I didn’t know that clown fish could be so cocky, at least not outside their protective sea anemone. If I were a clown fish, I would be cocky only...
A return trip….
by Jon Schleyer, Blue Ventures Film Maker, Madagascar Three years ago, on my first trip to Madagascar, I settled in for an exceptional adventure as I embarked on a pirogue (dugout outrigger canoe with a large square sail rig) to cruise...
A walk to Rocky Point
by Ana Maria, Blue Ventures volunteer, Belize We were not able to dive on Saturday (26th Nov) due to high waves and a strong current, so we went for a walk along the beach north to Rocky Point where the...
A Carnivorous Appetite
by Charlie Gough, Marine Research Coordinator, Madagascar We have now successfully completed a number of dives on the reefs of the Barren islands, on the western coast of Madagascar, and despite our wide eyes at the wonderful reefs sparkling with...
Discovering new depths…
By Colin Engel, Blue Ventures volunteer, Belize Taking part in a conservation expedition, such as those run by Blue Ventures in Belize, offers a wide variety of challenges and rewards. Volunteers will have expectations of the expedition and of themselves, together...