SEED Madagascar Conservation Programme Internship Madagascar

I was a little worried that I was too old to volunteer in this programme, however the staff at SEED made me feel so welcome age wasn't an issue. I volunteered to teach English and again was worried as I hadn't been to university but had completed a TEFL course, and again there was no need to worry the TEFL course was all I needed. During my stay I met some wonderful people. It was the hardest but the best thing I have ever done. Its hard to see such poverty, however the people really appreciate what you are doing for their community and I can honestly say to anyone who is thinking about volunteering do it!

It is weird to say that I loved my experience here, because the experience included a stark view of the world; it is difficult to believe that the poverty of this country and its citizens can coexist in a world with other developed countries of affluence and wealth. However, I found myself completely immersed in the experience of understanding the complexities of these issues and excited to help with the current work. I really enjoyed my experience working in the Pioneer program and then participating in the Conservation program. Each program immersed you in a community and I was able to learn about Malagasy culture in a respectful, yet participatory way. You experience the poverty that you help to alleviate, and it is clear that you can see SEED's tangible impacts throughout the community.

I had the most amazing experience with Seed Madagascar, the staff were all friendly and helpful and although living at the rural conservation project camp in Ste Luce was often challenging the support network between everyone there was incredible. I learned so much from talking to staff as well as when participating in the surveys being conducted at that time. Some of the most important things I feel my time at the project taught me however, were less academic and defiantly more personal. It taught me not to give up because the people of Ste Luce always managed to smile and laugh and get through the day no matter what was thrown at them, and also to appreciate what I have at home. After just 6 weeks I nearly cried when I came home and actually got to sleep on a proper bed, was amazed at light bulbs and switches, western toilets and food that did not contain rice! The last 3 things are actually in fact present in the town camp but as I spent 5 days there out of my 6 weeks and honestly enjoyed the rural camp more (spiders and all despite being at total wimp at home when it comes to them) I really did come to understand just how much I had taken for granted up until that point in my life.

In my opinion it is vital that more people do volunteering like this and I would recommend it to anyone. Westerners live in a society that takes many things for granted. Often life its self. Working in this part of Madagascar will be a harsh but seriously needed reality check for some people and I hope that they will accept the challenge to open themselves to how the rest of the world have to live, while also helping to improve things for local people and the environment while there. I have definitely come out of this experience a stronger and I believe a better person.

Volunteering with SEED Madagascar was an eye-opening and rewarding experience. I went
in order to gain experience of ˨eld conservation projects and learned a tremendous
amount. The other volunteers, staff and guides were friendly and helpful. They were most willing to share ideas and discuss conservation issues which was a tremendous learning experience.

The work was varied and interested. We did transects searching for lemurs, reptiles and amphibians and bats, as well as tree counts. It was a fascinating insight into the biodiversity of the region.

Camp life in St. Luce was bliss. It is a beautiful environment, the food was excellent and there was a friendly and warm atmosphere. I would highly recommend volunteering with SEED.

I've been back home now for the past 4 weeks, and I'm still missing Sainte Luce! Being out there for 4 weeks you get into a routine so it was sad to leave the people and the beautiful landscape and wildlife behind. I decided to do my dissertation research whilst I was there, and had great support from both the London and Madagascar offices in helping to organise it and the good working relationship that Seed has with the local people made it easy to find participants!

I also joined the surveys and was amazed at how close we were to the local wildlife population, with a forest fragment only across the road from camp, and frequent visits from brown lemurs trying to steal bananas! The Malagasy guides are very informative and friendly and seem to have a natural ability to spot wildlife from a mile away- even from a moving taxi! The programme was very flexible allowing you to choose what activities you participated in and more importantly giving you plenty of time to take photos!

Although the idea of staying in a tent for longer than a week may put you off, investing in a good camping mattress meant that honestly you couldn't tell much difference, whilst the food was varied and there were plenty of opportunities to change it up a bit, including buying lobsters for £5! I think if you are considering volunteering in Madagascar but are a little bit hesitant about travelling alone, it is worth it in the end and was a lot less scary than I was expecting. More importantly, I knew that the money I was spending was genuinely going to the projects. My only regret is not organising to travel more around Madagascar, but this gives me an excuse to go back!

Theres lots of stories & lots of memories! The people & scenery are fantastic, as is the wildlife. I should also point out that I am a little older than the usual volunteer (43) so if you are older, I would still recommend this. I will be going back anyway!

If you have a morbid fear of spiders, you're going to struggle as there are a lot! However, I was amazed at how beautiful spiders can be.

There were a couple of highlights though - walking back after a night transect towards the end of my stay, I still hadn't seen the infamous mouse lemur when about 100 yds from camp, I spotted the tel tale glow of eyes caught in my torch light & it slowly dawned on me that they weren't the wooly or dwarf ones we had been seeing on every night transect but much smaller. I initially thought that there were a few there then I realised that it was just one but moving VERY quickly! Good job he was quick really as we also spotted a snake in the tree trying to follow him! A few days later, Tsiriky or Hoobie came into camp & said that they had found a mouse lemur nest too which wasn't far away.

Then another day, we were out looking for seeds (for a reforestation project) when we spotted a tiny little iridescent gold frog sitting on one of the plants we were picking seeds from. none of the guides recognised it & so we took it back to camp for DNA testing (waiting for results)

One day the collared lemurs came through camp while I was chilling in the hammock. There must have been around 10 of them & one female came right down the branch to within 3 feet of me & hung there staring at me for a few minutes
Learning how to pin butterflies was pretty cool too

Then there was...

(apologies, I can't get any photos to upload for some reason, though I have loads!)

The most interesting about my stay, I found to see on how many ways you can do biological research. I have learnt a lot of it, it is not in my field of interest, but I think really important to understand how you can find out about the biodiversity. I found the azafady as organisation really respectful to the villagers and I had the idea we were going along with each other really well. Things we were doing, where birth spotting, pit traps, butterfly catching, PCQ and many more. I found it really special to live in a really basic place next to some small villages. Being really busy in the nature, every day walking and doing research. I was interesting to work together with all sorts of people of different background, different fields of interests and different countries. We had a antropologist, biologist, medicin and geogologist.

During my short stay at the Azafady camp and St Luce, I was treated to some incredible nature, a wide variety of activities, a brilliant social scene (football, cards and a few beers every now and then) and most importantly, genuine conservation opportunities that are really going towards helping the community and the wildlife.

The local community are very friendly and are pleased to have conservation workers there. Local understanding of the importance of conservation was obvious throughout the community and many members of the community now work for Azafady in order to help.

This programme offered me a truly unique experience and has to be up there with one of my most enjoyable trips. The work I was involved with was incredibly interesting, rewarding but most of all thought provoking. The staff, volunteers and particularly the locals created a great environment to live and work in. I hope I get the opportunity to go back!

Madagascar is a very special place with many unique forms of life which are found nowhere else. It has been a great experience and a privilege for me to take part in Azafady's conservation programme in Sainte-Luce, to get to see and research some of the island's amazing wildlife. Of the many special moments I had, my favourite was seeing the brown lemurs on a moonlit night leap through the treetops.

You stay on the edge of St Luce, a small village in the rural SE of Madagascar. Tents are centered on a wooden long-house where meals are eaten and the hanging-out is done between trips in to the forest.

These forest trips range from half-hour bird surveys to a couple of hours following lemurs or conducting Herp surveys - all very informative and good fun. All in the most amazing forest surroundings with the ever-present chance of seeing something incredible.

All of the Azadafy staff, whether domestic or international, were very friendly and the organisation's relationship with the local community in St Luce make for a uniquely integrated experience.

The Azafady literature makes the food in the bush seem intimidating but it's actually fantastic, the cooks do a great job.

All-told, my only regret is that I didn't stay for longer. Although I highly recommend that you also leave time to travel the country after your volunteering is over. The guys in camp will give you some great advice.

Whether you are looking to gain valuable field experience to beef up your resume, or are just looking for a vacation off the beaten track, the Azafady Conservation Programme is for you! As an experienced field biologist I was looking for an experience that would allow me to both return to the field, as well as give something back to the local community. Having never traveled to Africa before, I was a little nervous about the trip in general, but Azafady was always quick to answer my numerous questions before my arrival, and ensured I was taken care of upon arrival in Tana (even though it was after midnight). I rented a tent from the organization, which withheld TERRIBLE rains in St. Luce. If you've ever lived in the field, the camp is what you would expect at a location with no power- bucket showers, latrine, cookhouse and a nice communal longhouse. Electronics can be charged for a nominal price. Daily schedule involves performing biological fieldwork sampling the many different species that Azafady is working so hard to preserve (lemurs, herps etc). You would never see many of these endemic animals as a tourist (as many are nocturnal and located off the beaten track). ALL the people that run the program are friendly, helpful, kind and genuine. This is truly one of the safest and most amazing ways to experience Madagascar- coming from someone that has worked in many forests around the world.

My 4 weeks with the Azafady Conservation Programme were just amazing! The research into the wildlife of Ste. Luce was fascinating and will hopefully help protect the amazing endemic species found there. Watching lemur behaviour and finding chameleons and geckos by night will definitely stay with me for the rest of my life! The programme also allowed me to interact with the local community by teaching the children about the forest and English lessons. So much fun and the community is so wonderful, always smiling and laughing! That is definitely one of the reasons I find Azafady fantastic, as they combine conservation and community work. I would definitely recommend Azafady to anybody wanting an experience of a lifetime!!!

I choose to do the ACP program on a whim after finIshing unIversity so I could put off getting a job and it was one of the best decisions I have made. The people, environment and azafady staff that I encountered during my time with azafady made the experience one I won't forget in a hurry and my only regret was I didn't go for longer than 4 weeks. So if you want to do some worth while conservation work and don't mind rice & beans, drop toilets and bucket showers this is the place for you.

The initial contact with azafady and the sorting out of your volunteering stuff before you leave is pretty good, they can book you hotels in mada and help with flights and so on. I was never left wanting more information.

Once your in Fort Dauphin (actually a pretty cool town with a decent night life) your shown around and the whisked of to the bush for all the fun stuff. The conservation work up there was fantastic and I actually learnt some worth while ecology skills doing which was convinient. Basically the work revolved around lemur behaviour, HERPs (reptiles and amphibians (so much more fun than lemurs)), endemic palms and conservation education with the locals.

Life in camp was a ball, you've got the local madagash staff who keep the place running, the local guides which keep you from getting lost in the bush, the azafady guides whom are experts on everything wild in mada and really amazing people and then you have the ACP research assistants whom are responsible for your well being and were beyond amazing and really made my time there fun and worth while. There are also other volunteers. And while much is made of the rice and beans you have the opertunity to by fruit, fish and lobster at redicously low prices and the local shop is more often than not stocked with beer (warm but still good). The work can wear on you at times I guess but I found my self often wanting to do more.

But basically this is an amazinging program done by amazing people and unless there is something wrong with you you will have a fantastic time.

Coming to Madagascar has been an ambition of mine for a long time, ever since I first read one of my favourite books, The Aye-Aye and I by Gerald Durrell. The project certainly hasn't disappointed. Everyone on camp has been friendly and welcoming, and to be in such a wonderful place with like-minded people has really helped to generate an amazing experience for me so far.

Getting stuck into the research on some exciting new projects has been great, especially getting to know our local troop of black lemurs that live just outside the village. The highlight for me has been the birds (they are my thing) and getting to visit Ankarafantsika to see the fish eagles was magical.

I was a bit worried that I wouldn't see much of the mainland while I was here, but the sat camp solved that problem. The camp feels like home, and the home-comforts that I'd thought I'd miss seem unimportant now. I would definitely recommend this to anyone with an interest in nature.