Blue Ventures Marine Conservation Expedition in Madagascar
- Madagascar
About Program
Volunteer with Blue Ventures in our remote research and expedition camp in Madagascar and assist our international team of marine biologists, field scientists and sociologists surveying one of the most spectacular ecosystems of the Indian Ocean. Based in the remote fishing village of Andavadoaka on Madagascar’s southwest coast, our dive expeditions offer volunteers from around the world a unique opportunity to get involved with Blue Ventures’ marine research and community conservation work.
Whether a dive novice, experienced SCUBA diver, budding scientist or newcomer to the field of marine conservation you are welcome and able to support and contribute to our marine research and conservation work.
Expedition volunteers are at the heart of everything we do and we’d love to have you join us!
Response from Blue Ventures
Dear Pieter,
Many thanks for taking the time to review our programme. We are very sorry to hear that your experience with us wasn’t what you expected; this is also a huge disappointment for us.
We have received a complaint from you separately to your review here, which we trust we have responded to to your satisfaction. We hope this proves our determination to continuously improve our programme based on volunteer feedback.
You raised the amount of surveys planned per expedition. We initiated conversations with field staff to explore the option of introducing a more ambitious survey schedule. We have furthermore edited our website to reflect that science training can take between 2 and 4 weeks depending on group size, qualifications and other factors to ensure future volunteers are prepared it may take longer on occasions. Many thanks for raising these matters and thereby helping to improve our programme.
It was very unfortunate that during the expedition we experienced some unforeseeable problems, such as bad weather and equipment failures which you also detail in your review. Given we work in an extremely remote location with very limited access to repair facilities we operate a redundancy policy and have back-up equipment (boats, outboard motors and breathing air compressors). Occasionally even with back-ups there are mechanical and equipment problems that we cannot foresee or resolve quickly. It is also worth noting that there are no suppliers of dive equipment or spares in Madagascar. We understand how it can cause frustrations to not be able to solve issues as quickly as we may be used to.
The feedback you have provided stood out from the rest of your group, of which 92% rated their overall experience with us as good or very good, which we hope reflects that every effort has been made to overcome challenges outside of our control.
We are most disappointed to hear about your experience of the homestay programme. Homestays are a very successful Community Based Tourism initiative and we support this model in all of the countries in which we work. In Madagascar Homestays are an integral and extremely important part of our programme as they provide a direct economic benefit to the local community whilst offering an alternative source of income to fishing, which further helps to alleviate the pressure on marine resources the village relies on for food and income.
Since introducing the programme in November 2016, 95 families have joined the homestay group and as a result of the great interest we received, we developed a rotation system to enable as many families as possible to benefit from it. We are sorry you felt that the Homestay wasn’t a genuine experience, however we have not received any other feedback that supports your view and we trust that the huge interest the community has showed, reflects that the initiative is well received locally.
We really appreciate your input and very much hope that when you look back on your time with us, you will remember the positives you also outline in your review!