Category: Uncategorised
Volunteer Blog by Jane Westerman
Madagascar will change the way you look at the world. Guaranteed. After three weeks here, issues that I would fret about at home vanish into insignificance. The here and now is what is so important – sitting on one’s terrace after a busy...
Update from Ellie: Hot Hot Hot!
Sunday 1st December 2007 Tulear – Chez Lala 13:42 (UK) / 16:42 (Madagascar) Oh my goodness it is hot. Really hot. Tulear may be only 500km south of Tana, but it is also at sea level and thus it...
Update from Ellie: Tasks in Tana
Friday 30th November 15:15 (UK) / 18:15 (Madagascar) A day of driving all over Tana centre on errands; trying to get the freight released from customs has left me feeling rather tired, smelly, and dirty. As a highly active...
Update from Ellie: My Arrival in Madagascar
Thursday 28th November 17:02 (UK) / 20:02 (Madagascar) I always swore to myself that I would never write a blog; it was too trendy, and perhaps reveals a little too much about a person, but today I have reassessed my...
Samosas by the sea by BV volunteers Alana & Rebecca
“Ah, farine” said the woman at the supermarket, scooping the half-kilo of flour Alana asked for into a plastic bag. We were picking up ingredients for our beloved fish samosas, the best street treats in town, and now we needed...
Staff Blog by Fran Humber (Marine and Fisheries Scientist)
Pirogues are the best way of travelling short distances out here and it was time to make the 40km trip north to Morombe. Our purpose: to collect all the shark and turtle fisheries monitoring data in each of the villages...
Volunteer blog by Isabel Butcher
I never understood how people on Big Brother, Ship Wrecked etc could spend so much time doing so little. Just sitting around babbling inanely to each other (the only apparent explanation being the evident lack of brain cells between them)....
Research trip to Belavenoke by BV Volunteer Kristy Benz
We meet outside the huts, ready to go. Our valuables (cameras, toilet paper and biscuits) are in dry bags, the rest of our supplies for the next three days are slung over our shoulders in backpacks. We’re off to Belavenoke...
Time for afterthought by Ida Vincent
Leaving Andavadoaka is hard for anyone who visits this unspoilt area of Africa. No matter how long you stay – 3 weeks, 6 weeks or indeed 9 months – it never feels enough. Coming back to the real world is...
Seagrass Mapping by Field Scientist Tristan Brown
After a recent visit from an American research company, SeagrassNet, Blue Ventures have gone on a seagrass mapping mission. So far in expedition 33, with the help of some very keen volunteers, we have managed to find and map 3...
CARPE DIEM by Ben Fry
After one of the best sleeps I’ve ever had, in a proper bed, and for more than four hours, I awoke to an absolutely pristine environment. Cameras out (and unlikely to be put away anytime soon) we all started taking...
BBC Photo Journal
Andavadoaka, the location of Blue Ventures’ conservation research site, is featured in a new photo journal on the BBC website about shark fishing in Madagascar. The article quotes Blue Ventures’ scientist Volanirina Ramahery about the threats shark fishing poses to...
WTM’s World Responsible Tourism Day
WTM’s World Responsible Tourism Day is taking place on 14 November 2007. The day is dedicated to raising awareness of the significance of minimising negative impacts of tourism and to encourage the protection of tourism destinations and host cultures. The...
Primates under threat of extinction
IUCN and the International Primatological Society have recently released a report in collaboration with Conservation International, highlighting the need for further conservation efforts of endangered primates. The report states that 29% of all the worlds primates are on the verge...
Volunteer Blog by Kristy Benz
We are now three weeks into expedition 33, and I think it would be safe to say that the time has been largely devoted to one thing: fish. And I don’t mean eating fish. So much of our work on...