Week 1:
Travel and Arrival

May 26, 2019

I am fortunate enough to be volunteering with the Madagascar Biodiversity Partnership at their field station in Kianjavato, Madagascar. I first learned of this organization from Talitha McGuire, a Cornell College senior, who spent a semester abroad in Madagascar. Talitha volunteered one weekend at the Kianjavato Ahmanson Field Station during her semester abroad. I emailed Talitha on the advice of my advisor Tammy Mildenstein who knew Talitha had spent time in Madagascar. Talitha reported that the field station staff and volunteers are impressive in their work ethic, professionalism, and knowledge about the native wildlife.

The Madagascar Biodiversity Partnership (MBP) was started by Dr Edward Lewis to preserve the vast diversity of Madagascar flora and fauna. Dr. Lewis is currently the director of the Conservation Genetics Department at the Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium. MBP is remotely overseen from the Omaha Zoo, but there is also an office in Antananarivo, Madagascar (the capital).

The Kianjavato Ahmanson Field Station (KAFS) was founded on June 23, 2009. Since then KAFS has grown to include many tent huts, the main building, a dining and kitchen structure, and two on-site plant nurseries. In the surrounding communities, there are an additional 18 plant nurseries! Each nursery has 1 manager, at least 1 weekly contracted worker, and a minimum of 5 single mothers who work half days. All employees at the nurseries and at KAFS are Malagasy (native to Madagascar), and only a few are not from the local villages. I became interested in this project because I intend to have a career conducting field research observing animal behavior and conservation outreach.

Week 1:

Wow! A frenzy of activity!! The 7 of us volunteers in the May cohort arrived between May 21-23. Six of us arrived on the 21^st; Evan, Jonathan, and Laura-Bethia flew in at 2:00pm. Carol, Emily, and I flew in at 11:30pm.

The 6 of us had a slight misadventure on Wednesday when we tried to visit a zoologic and botanical park. We took some wrong turns and spent 6 hours walking around Antananarivo!! The trip from our hotel to the park should have been about a 45min walk. Our 6-hour trek involved 14.5 miles of walking, an emergency pit-stop at a grocery store to buy food and water, and 6 blisters on my feet!

Thursday we used a map to find our way to the zoological park (why we did not use one in the first place, I do not know!). The zoo was culturally educating, seeing the animals that are exotic to the Malagasy; such as mallard ducks and alligators. However, it was also sad to see lemurs in small enclosures and on small islands in the middle of a man-made lake. I am just anxious to see lemurs in the wild. There are also gardens at the park that display several of the unique and strange flora of Madagascar. Thursday night at 11:30pm, the final member of our cohort arrived, making us a mob of 7!

Friday was designated as an errand day which mostly involved us spending 3 hours in the Orange store, the Madagascar equivalent of Verizon or T-Mobil. The prolonged Orange stop was due to the confusing process of relayed information as only one of us speaks French (Jessica), and the employees do not speak English. It was a confusing 3 hours, but in the end, we all got what we needed. We also stopped in at a store not unlike a Target or a Walmart so Emily could purchase a blanket.

Saturday, we drove to KAFS, a journey that should have been about 12 hours but took us 14! The streets we drove were mostly paved, the more traveled sections had potholes. The roads were narrow, only just wide enough for two vehicles to pass each other. The narrow streets would perhaps be okay except that without any kind of lane markings, traffic lights, or signs to direct traffic, it was one of the scariest experiences of my life!

The whole drive was a mess of swerving, creeping up hills and rocketing down, sudden starts and stops, and an unbelievable amount of honking. I get carsick on ordinary road trips in America, so you can imagine how unpleasant the drive was for me! We spent about 1-hour having lunch, but with another 6 hours ahead of me I thought it unwise to eat a lot.

Our drive was longer than anticipated due to the masses of people displaying the banners, posters, and colors of the candidate they are supporting for the upcoming election that is taking place on Monday, May 27th. Vans and trucks that were plastered with posters and signs and packed with people, all blared music. Each of these vehicles was promoting one candidate or another.