Katherine Tracy recently spent 10 weeks with us in Madagascar as a volunteer on each of our
programs, getting to know the island, the wildlife and the people and creating a lifelong connection.

“September 4 – November 12 is the amount of time I spent on the beautiful island of Nosy Komba. I was quite nervous at the beginning of my trip to the amazing country of Madagascar. This would be my first time venturing out on my own without knowing a soul. Upon arriving at Turtle Cove I was greeted with smiling, friendly faces and an overwhelming feeling of excitement. I didn’t know it yet, but over the next 10 weeks I would be sharing some of the most amazing experiences of my life with some of the most equally amazing people I have ever met.

With Madagascar being a third world country, technology isn’t widely used which forces you to be more intimate with the people around you. I personally thought that the lack of technology made the trip all the more worth wild. You spend the week days doing project work, whether it’s for Marine, Forest or Teaching. I was lucky enough to be able to spend time in each project and got a feel for all three aspects of project work. The teaching portion had me interacting with the locals on Nosy Be and Nosy Komba. These people are extremely outgoing and kind, they were more than happy to have us on their island and to teach us about their culture.

The Forest and Marine projects allow you to get up close in personal with marine life and the forest life of Madagascar. I was even fortunate enough to become a PADI certified advanced water diver thanks to my amazing instructor, Kyle.

I would have to say that even with the amount of beauty that I was privileged to see and interact with, the people are what really made this trip for me. Coming on your own forces you to come out of your comfort zone, to be more social so that you don’t feel alone throughout your stay. You’re with these people for 24/7 every day for weeks at a time which makes you grow close and makes it extremely hard to say goodbye.

In my experience, saying goodbye to Turtle Cove, to the incredible volunteers that I was lucky enough to have the chance to meet and to the welcoming locals that I may never see again, was almost impossible. I bawled like a little 3 year old all the way to the airport, I’m sad to admit. It just hits you hard knowing that all these people will most likely never be all together again in your life.

Enjoy your time in Madagascar make friendships that will last forever because I promise you it will change your life or at least have some sort of positive impact on it. To me it all feels like an amazing dream that I once had and wish I could go back to”.

Madagascar is an incredible country, the perfect setting for any volunteer to experience a truly unique and special gap year adventure. Contact us today to book your place.

Adam left his life in London and job in a bank to live with us on Nosy Komba, Madagascar for four months. How glad we are that he did – throwing himself into each project that he was part of and one of the kindest people any of us have encountered.

And we’re pretty sure he enjoyed it…

“What a fantastic experience, I volunteered for eight weeks in the Forest Programme followed by eight weeks in the Marine Programme. The Forest Programme was a wonderful insight into how rewarding conservation can be. It’s very hard to pick
just one favourite moment but hiking through sub-tropical rainforest to find wildlife every day was something I’ll never forget. The Forest Team was beyond dedicated, forging relationships and earning the trust and respect of the locals which is vital to any conservation programme.

The Marine Programme was equally as rewarding and opened up a whole new world of exploration for me. I’d never dived before yet I achieved my Advanced Open Water and a total of 40 dives during my eight weeks here under the wonderful guidance of the instructors.

My 16 weeks in Madagascar were unforgettable and I can’t recommend it enough. My only piece of advice would be to stay for as long as you can.”

Dr Andrew Polaszek

For a couple of weeks in June, we were fortunate enough to have the company of Dr Andrew Polaszek, a world expert in parasitoid wasps, who came to study and hopefully discover new species of these insects on the island of Nosy Komba.

Andrew came to us from London, where he resides and works as an entomologist in the city’s Natural History Museum. His work has taken him all over the world, studying creatures which largely go unnoticed by the rest of us.

A parasitoid wasp usually lays it’s egg inside the living body of another insect to enable their larvae to develop inside the body of the host, eating the non-essential tissues whilst they develop, after which they pupate and emerge as adult wasps ready to repeat the cycle, typically killing the host in the process.

It was not the first time working together for Andrew and our Terrestrial Science Manager, Dan, who assisted in the identification of new species of parasitoid wasps collected from an expedition to Borneo last year. But for Anjatiana, Mandaniaina and Onja, who joined us from their university in Antananarivo where they are studying entomology, and some lucky forest volunteers, it was an exciting opportunity to take part in significant field work.

This was the first time that research has been conducted on the insects of Nosy Komba, an important task not only to glean knowledge on the species that make up our planet, but given the habitat destruction taking place in Madagascar, it is useful to know what species exist to therefore know which are being lost.

And so an ocean side laboratory was set up and days were spent sweep-netting in the surrounding forest, as well as the setting of both malaise and yellow pan traps, which provided abundant specimens to place under the microscope – a veteran piece of museum kit, whose travels had exceeded that of anybody on camp.

From looking at the findings here, new species have definitely been discovered although the genetic sequencing and formal naming process will take place in London in January. Needless to say we are excited to see the results!

It was a privilege to work with them all and a great reminder of the species abundance within the forests in which we live!

Volunteer, James Barker from Sheffield, England, spent 10 weeks participating in our forest conservation, marine conservation and teaching volunteer programs. His aim was to experience something totally different from his everyday life, which he most certainly did and not only did he leave with plenty of photos, but also with new friends.

“I am incredibly lucky, Sheffield is one of the greenest cities in Europe, I live on the doorstep of one of the UK’s largest National Parks. I spend much of my free time on my bike pedalling the scenic, winding country roads of this area of outstanding natural beauty… But me and my friend Vincent wanted to see something different, and that’s where we found Madagascar, the polar opposite to Sheffield.

We arrived in Nosy Be, and even just on the drive from the airport to the boat port we experienced something of such contrast to the norm of life in Sheffield: Mountains, forest, road side stalls selling bananas, green oranges and vanilla.

But here in this unfamiliar and bizarre environment, different to anything either of us has ever experienced before, we quickly threw ourselves into the life here, which quite honestly is better than anything we could ever have imagined! We were lucky enough to have a crack at the forest conservation, marine conservation and also the teaching programme.

The forest programme gave us the opportunity to see the infamous lemurs indigenous only to Madagascar, many of Madagascar’s unbelievably extensive chameleon species of all shapes, sizes and colours not to mention the diverse population of insects and geckos. All whilst actually being proactive, conducting reptile, bird and Lemur surveys collecting useful data, indicating current populations of these species in different habitats from plantations to dense forest.

In marine, we were able to learn new skills, becoming firstly PADI open water divers then completing our Advanced open water, thanks to the amazing on site diving instructor and dive masters, before becoming competent in fish identification, allowing us to participate in fish surveying. But diving in this country which seems to have everything was unworldly, swimming with rays, turtles, an incredible range of fish species and even sharks, was something special, impossible to forget!

Teaching was not only rewarding but tremendous fun, there’s a range of ages and abilities, from 5 year olds, with very basic English but huge characters and great enthusiasm to learn, to adults with impressive English, but with a burning desire to refine and build on their knowledge. It wasn’t only the actual teaching that was so enjoyable about this aspect of the programme but also getting to know the local people who are warm, welcoming and enormous fun to be around.

I left Madagascar knowing I might never experience anything quite as special anywhere else, but with a mind filled with new knowledge, a camera full of new experiences and new friends whom I will never forget”.

If you’re looking to take a gap year abroad and experience something both meaningful and completely different, contact us today!