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!