The Wanderer’s Return

Thursday 27^th December

Tana Airport

13:06 (UK), 16:06 (Madagascar)

In approximately 54 minutes I will be heading down the runway and leaving this Fair Isle. A month has passed very quickly and I feel I have done a lot, seen a lot, learnt a lot, and changed a bit. You know, I think I have managed to slow down. Just a little bit, but I am fine with dead time now. There has to be some time in which nothing particular happens and in which you have time to be with your thoughts and yourself. I have never previously been content with this time. In Madagascar things move at such an unimaginably slow time that you have to quickly adapt to having this extra time in which you are waiting for something that allows the next something to happen. It is crazy and you can not fight it. Fight it and you may end up going insane or become a violent / aggressive person – I very nearly did – highly unlike me.

Right it looks like we are embarking – that is good – prompt departure. I am looking forward to being home again and to celebrating a bit of a late Christmas with friends and family. It has been a great Gasy-mas but now is time to take some quality down time.

Mauritius Airport

16:52 (UK), 19:52 (Madagascar), 18:52 (Mauritius) – by having to work out that I realise now I have an extra hour to kill here – my flight doesn’t leave until 22.20 – rubbish – ahh well I can now practice my new found waiting skill.

Thank god I have a computer with music on that I can plug into and drown out the pan pipe version of Take That’s “Back for Good”. If only I could make a quick dash for the white sand. The pictures in the airport make it look very appealing indeed!

Being in transit is an odd place to be. There are so many different people here, from different origins and all brought together to wait. Very odd. It is very odd indeed. The proportion of white people has slightly increase here too – from about 1% to 7%, I figure that it helps that there is a flight to London. I think I am a bit scared of white people now. My instinct is to shy away from them and sit myself in the corner of the departure lounge writing to you.

So am I sad to be leaving? I think the honest answer is no. I have had a great month but now I feel very drained by it all and very very tired, I have had one of the best Christmas’ ever – spent in the forests east of Morondava looking at lemurs, chameleons, snakes, other lizards, butterflies and avoiding biting flying beetles, along with a number of other experiences and people that I won’t forget. I have had a lot of time to reflect on Blue Ventures Carbon Offset and on me.

I have made a list of New Year’s resolutions that I want to but into play, but I know that some of them will take determination and hard work to get through. I am excited by it, but apprehensive at the same time. One of them is to reduce my carbon even more dramatically than before and look at building my own eco house. I think from a business point of view- running a carbon offsetting organisation I would be far less hypocritical to be a carbon free as possible. It would also be an opportunity to road test a lot of the recommendations that we as BVCO give people to reduce their own footprint.

Watch this space for Ellie’s Eco Build Blog!!