Protect the Mangroves!

We've been working on the 'Sainte Luce Reserve Mangrove Regeneration Project' 
which has been really rewarding because we've managed to move it on significantly during my two months.

Thousands of mangrove propagules have been planted along the banks of the River over the last 6 months and a big part of their success will depend on education and publicity.

Two of the biggest threats to the young seedlings at the Reserve are tavy, Madagascar's practice of slash and burn, and wake from the only motorised boats in the area belonging to a smart lodge up the coast.

To tackle the second issue we've written to the helpful owner of the lodge with a report, written by me and translated into French by my volunteer colleague, explaining the project objectives and results to date. We've also made signs which the launch drivers will hopefully see and adhere to. This involved a rather painstaking stencil and paint job plus hammering together the boards....it all takes rather longer than you expect when you have to hand make double ended nails! Finally we were ready to put them in place, one to the north of the Reserve which we took by boat...

... and the other to the south which we could reach on foot. 

Tackling the tavy is more difficult but as education through the schools seems to work well we formulated a lesson plan. This involved me enacting a tsunami and a large fish keen to gobble up small fish! To increase the hit rate we also designed and printed leaflets which could then be taken home by the children and hopefully looked at by the adults. 

We had great fun one afternoon when the headmistress of the closest school said we could come along and run a lesson on mangrove conservation. It was actually a day off at school so the students had to come in especially; I think they thought we were bringing sweets with us based on the enthusiast rush into the classroom:

The whole school, 100+ pupils, managed to cram into a single classroom... this is half of them! 

There were some incredibly detailed and accurate drawings of mangroves, really talented.  

The final part of the lesson was a song written by our guides at the Reserve who are frustrated singer / song writers waiting to be discovered! With Rene on the guitar and a lot of repetition we encouraged a great sing along and even heard it being sung  and hummed as we headed home....success! 

Ravenala Madagascariensis

A hugely distinctive and gloriously majestic tree, the ravenala, or travellers' palm, has been a big part of my horizon for the last couple of months.

Depicted on the 100 Ariary note (2.5 pence!) and also on the state seal, it's a very useful fast growing tree. 

The trunks are used to make the walls of the houses. This is then being prepared... 

... and the leaves for roofing. A work in progress in the village. 

Nerd facts about the ravenala palm: 

- it isn't a palm but it's said to be related to the banana 

- it's called the travellers palm because thirsty travellers can mine the base of the leaves for stored rain water

Snakes!

We've had a rather exciting time of it recently with some up close and personal encounters with snakes. Although they don't have deadly snakes in Madagascar, it's difficult to trust that or put it to the test!

Most evenings there's a call of, "snake", as one of us just avoids treading on one of these chaps who we regularly see around camp at night.

You quickly get used to carrying a torch as they're not very quick to move off!

On a recent night walk we saw this fellow, a tree boa, who stayed hanging out on this branch for the next day and night.

We go to bed pretty early here what with early starts, physically tiring days and limited electricity. Unusually I heard excited chattering at about 10pm a couple of nights later and, on investigating, found 2 big eyed guardians who where sharing their bungalow with the tree boa who looked a lot bigger extended along their wall. It was encouraged to leave but I don't think either of them had a good night's sleep!

Last Saturday my neighbour was cleaning his bungalow; trying to evict a persistent mouse who wanted to set up home. Having been woken up weeks before by a mouse biting his big toe he wasn't keen to share! Whilst cleaning he saw this 1m+ snake that seemed to be struggling to find his way out or perhaps he was hunting the mouse!

While I was working in the vegetable patch I saw this very brazen snake. I think it lives here as I've seen it a few times; I disturbed it inflagranté with a mate on one occasion! I wandered away for a couple of minutes and returned to find him constricting a skink which was then swallowed whole, fascinating, if a little macabre, to watch.

The final snake excitement was when I was on my own early one morning walking in the forest and happened upon this boa digesting right across the path. The approximate size of his meal looked suspiciously like a fat tailed lemur!

No dramatic stories to this snake, it's just rather gorgeous and we've only seen it once. I spotted him on one of our night walks.