Volunteers participating in either the Forest Conservation Volunteer Programs or Teaching Volunteer Programs will spend 5 days visiting the Ankarana Forest Reserve in Northern Madagascar as part of their adventure tour.

The reserve’s southern entrance is situated in Mahamasina, about 108 kilometres south-west of Antsiranana and about 29 kilometres north-east of Ambilombe. There is also a second entrance near Amboandriky but a 4×4 is required to reach it. Access to the third entrance near Matsaborimanga is very difficult.

The reserve is a small, partially vegetated plateau made up of 150 million year old Jurassic limestone and was created in 1956. The limestone is prone to erosion, causing it to produce both underground rivers (some of which contain crocodiles) and caves. The canyons are forested with dry, deciduous vegetation, many species of which are endemic to the reserve only.

In the west, the plateau ends abruptly in what is known as the “Wall of Ankarana”, a sheer cliff that extends 25 kilometres north to south and rises as high as 280 metres. In the south, the limestone breaks up into separate spires known as tower karst. The harder base rock has been etched into channels and ridges at some places, known as astsingy. The reserve is also home to the Mangily sinkhole which is up to 700 metres across and 140 metres deep with a volume of 25 million m³.

About 100 kilometres of cave passages have been mapped within the plateau. La Grotte d’Andrafiabe is one of the most accessible caves and on its own, comprises at least 8.035 kilometres of horizontal passages. Not only is the cave system here the longest in Madagascar, but possibly also in the whole of Africa.

The diverse wildlife can be viewed by either hiking or 4×4 drive vehicles which can access most of the campsites. Below the plateau, a grassy plain leads to the Indian Ocean.

Visitors to the forest can expect to see various mammals including the fossa, fanaloka, northern ring-tailed mongoose, numerous species of bats and, of course, several different lemurs. According to Bradt’s Madagascar Wildlife, it may be that Ankarana has the highest density of primates in any forest in the world.

Reptiles in the area include various geckos, the Madagascan ground boa and various chameleons which include the world’s largest chameleon, the Oustalet’s chameleon (which can reach 60 centimetres in length).

Bird lovers; be sure to look out for the endangered Madagascan fish eagle. The reserve is also home to several endemic bird species including the Madagascan pygmy kingfisher, Madagascan green pigeon, the greater vasa parrot and 15 of the 16 vanga species. Also look out for raptors such as the Madagascan scops owl and the Madagascan Harrier-hawk.

In the 1980s, expeditions to the reserve started cataloguing the various plants and animals, including fossils of several extinct large lemurs, amongst others. Bird lists were also collated and an interesting aspect of the behaviour of insect eating birds in the reserve was noted. It was reported that several species of these small insect eating birds foraged together in mixed groups. Within each group, the different species would then specialise in how and where they sought their prey. Some species focused on slender branches, others on the trunks. Working together also seems to have provided them with greater protection from their predators.

With so much to see and do in the reserve, the adventure tour is sure to become one of the highlights of your volunteering experience in Madagascar.

Contact us today and book your spot on either the Forest Conservation Volunteer Program or the Teaching Volunteer Program.

Teaching volunteer, Alex MacIntyre, has been in Madagascar teaching English in the neighbouring village of Ampangorina as part of his 16 week volunteer program.

“It is dangerous to hold lofty expectations. I reminded myself of this every time I felt tempted to believe the cliché that volunteering abroad would automatically guarantee me an ‘eye opening’ and transformative experience. So it was with an open mind that I stepped onto the plane in Melbourne airport, bound for the tropical island of Madagascar – known to most only
through the series of movies that share its name.

The real Madagascar has proven to be a trifle different from the theatrical depiction. Stepping off the boat onto Turtle Cove, it took me several breaths to absorb the scene of white sand, shimmering blue water and lush green jungle that was to become my home for the next four-months.

This image, however, exists in juxtaposition to the dire poverty felt by the majority of the Malagasy people. Teachers at MRCI strive to tackle this situation. Everyday we take the dubious but stunning journey to our friendly neighbouring village, Ampangorina. We teach hoards of energetic children and handfuls keen adults, in the faint hope that it will improve their likelihood of future employment, or simply feed their hunger to learn. At times it is tiring and tedious but we are unified by a shared vision and tacit acceptance that struggle is necessary to achieve it. Fulfilment comes in increments. It comes from enthusiasm detectable on the faces of students. From being received by the community with warm appreciation, not as a foreigner, but as a brother and a friend. This is true fulfilment. This is the hidden gem that we search for in our travels. This is what I found in Madagascar.

The wisdom and perspective I have gained during my time in Madagascar will remain with me always. As will the friendships I have forged. So, for all those considering volunteering with MRCI in the future, my advice is simple. Do it. Time on this strange and wonderful speck of paradise is time well spent.”

Take Alex’s advice and ensure your gap year abroad is an eye-opening, transformative experience too. Contact us to book your trip today.

19 year old Alexander McNab from Los Angeles, California, recently took part in our Marine Conservation volunteer program, immersing himself in the culture of the island. Volunteering abroad for 21 weeks on Nosy Komba, he shared how much the experience meant to him.

“I come from a place with traffic, people, big buildings, and smog. Los Angeles, the city of 3.7 million angels, so it was no place like home that I was going to when I arrived at Nosy Komba. It’s name means Lemur Island, or Nosy Ambariovato, it’s alternate name, which means ‘island surrounded by stones’. Both names give a clue as to what kind of place this little island is. It hasn’t any roads, any bank, or big buildings. It hasn’t any post office, any port or any electronics store. There are two hospitals, a few thousand people, one police station, and a queen who uses to rule over it all, and there’s this one volunteer place above the rocks by the ocean between two villages: that’s MRCI, my home for five months.

The strangest part about being in a place so foreign as this is that, quickly, it all becomes old hat, old habit, routine. Of course we take cold showers and wear flip flops and watch the sun set every day over the ocean. That is our life here, and as I have lived it, it has become just as much mine as the traffic and people and smog.

Many folk like to call this place paradise, and it is but not because of its beaches, the jungle, and the sea. Nosy Komba is paradise because I came here a stranger, a vazaha, a foreigner, but I have, nevertheless, been received by here people here on camp and in Lemur Island’s many villages with an ‘mbola tsara’, maybe a bowl of rice, and a friendly smile to let me know that though this place is not home these people are still family.

I have gotten a lot from the people of Madagascar (free food, a necklace, a place to rest my weary head) and the more abstract things too like happiness, companionship, and goodwill. The people here have given and I have received. My only regret is that I may never be able to repay them for it all.”

No matter which volunteer program you participate in, volunteering in Madagascar is a fulfilling and exciting way to make new connections and create beautiful memories as part of your gap year travels abroad.

The first thing that springs to mind when thinking of conservation and ecotourism in Madagascar is the lemur and the Black Lemur (Eulemur Macaco) is probably the favourite animal of many of our volunteers that have visited the island. Lemurs are found nowhere else in the world and Black Lemurs are to be found only in the north-western parts of Madagascar.

Male Black Lemurs (as the name suggests) are black or a dark chocolate colour with thick fur and long tufts of black hair around the ears.  Females of the species have radically different appearances to males, having led to the belief for many years that they were a completely different species of lemur. Females are lighter brown to chestnut in colour with white bellies and white tufts around the ears. There are actually two species of Black Lemur – the Eulemur macaco which has brown or orange eyes is considered to be vulnerable and Eulemur flavifrons which is critically endangered and is the only primate (other than humans) to have blue eyes.

The Lemur’s primary food is fruit, making up 78% of its diet making them significant agents for seed dispersal. You’ll come across many photos of our volunteers sharing their fruit (especially bananas) with the lemurs around our research centre. They also eat flowers, leaves, fungi and some invertebrates, and during the dry season you will find them feeding on nectar.

Black Lemurs live in groups of 2 to 15 members with more or less equal numbers of males and females, where females are dominant. They are active during the day and night and forage in the upper and middle canopy of the forest at night but in the understory in the day. One of the biggest threats to the lemur is loss of habitat and in degraded areas you will even find them foraging on the ground.

It’s also been noted that Black Lemurs regularly pick up and bite toxic millipedes to force them to release toxins in self-defence and them rub it on themselves to deposit the toxin on their fur. This usually isn’t fatal to the lemurs and we aren’t quite sure why they do it. Some believe the toxin repels other insects while other researchers suggest they do it to achieve a high. When they inhale or ingest enough of the toxin, it inhibits their monoamine oxidase system, resulting in the high. I don’t know about you, but that certainly brings King Julian from Disney’s “Madagascar” to my mind…

Did you Know

The word “Lemur” is actually Latin for “ghost”. They were probably named thus because living so high up in the forest canopy, they were rarely seen but their calls were easily heard from the ground. These calls include a recognition grunt (that sounds more like a duck’s quack) when identifying each other, a cohesion call to keep track of each other, an alarm call to warn of predators and the purr of contentment that babies use when being groomed.

Conservation

The main threat to Madagascar’s lemurs is deforestation for agriculture, firewood and charcoal production, logging and burning to create pastures for cattle. Sadly, they are also hunted for food and captured for the pet trade or for zoos. Black Lemurs also raid crops, which is another reason they are killed.

Madagascar’s unique isolated island evolution makes the island the world’s highest priority for conservation, with new species being discovered all the time. Even as late as the 1980s, two new species of lemurs were discovered. Volunteer programs like our forest conservation program, are vital in the preservation of its wildlife.

So how will ecotourism in Madagascar benefit the Black Lemur?

Given it’s tolerance of people and adaptability to having its habitat disturbed, it has a higher chance of survival in close proximity to humans than it less adaptable cousins, making ecotourism a promising way to preserve safeguard their future.

The worldwide growth in ecotourism is a strong economic incentive for Madagascar to preserve its natural environment. The unique animal life and hot springs offer potential tourist attractions and future jobs. Efforts are now being made to replant steep, barren slopes affected by landslides that are unsuitable for agriculture with fruit trees and to restore channels to revive abandoned rice fields. This will restore the natural habitat of the lemurs whilst also improving the lives of the local farmers – a win-win situation for all.

Can ecotourism provide enough motivation for Madagascar’s people to become a part of the conservation efforts to preserve its biodiversity?