Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
woodwork at school, but was certainly not a plumber, carpenter, electrician or cabin-
etmakerwhenIarrived-andI'mstillnotnow.However,thiswasalargepartofwhat
I did during my stay there. The windows now close, some furniture is made, most of
the doors now lock and the pipe still leaks (I did try!).
Ialsogavecomputerlessonstosomeofthechildrenintheevenings,whentheelec-
tricity was strong enough to keep the computer going. Here there was a great differ-
ence in the levels of the children, depending on their background. To make matters a
little more interesting, it was generally the ones with less education who couldn't use
a computer, meaning they also spoke little or no French, and I didn't speak Malagasy.
OverallIhadafantasticthreemonthsthere,aswellas(Ihope)beingusefultothem.
I would strongly recommend Akany Avoko, or simply Madagascar, to anyone. The
countryisincrediblybeautiful(asarethebeaches),thepeoplearesofriendlyandthey
need - and are very grateful for - all the help we can offer.
ManyoftheorganisationslistedbelowarecoveredinmoredetailinBradt's
Wildlifeand
Conservation Volunteering
by Peter Lynch.
Akany Avoko
22 441 58;
e
akany.avoko@moov.mg
;
www.akanyavoko.com
.
This won-
derful children's organisation welcomes volunteers with suitable skills. See
Click Here
&
boxes on
Click Here
&
Click Here
.
Arboretum d'Antsokay
m
032 02 600 15;
e
andry.
petignat@caramail.com
.
This splendid
arboretum near Toliara (see
Click Here
) welcomes botanist volunteers.
Azafady
London, UK; 020 8960 6629;
f
020 8962 0126;
e
info@azafady.org
;
www.madagascar.co.uk
.
This charity/NGO works in southeast Madagascar to tackle hu-
man poverty & suffering, & protect unique environments. Volunteers work in village com-
munities helping to develop sustainable livelihoods, set up health & education infrastruc-
ture, & carry out habitat conservation.
Blue Ventures
020 7359 0770;
e
madagascar@blueventures.org
;
www.blueventures.org
.
This award-winning organisation, based in Andavadoaka, is set-
ting up the largest community-run protected area in Madagascar with great success so far.
Their work includes marine monitoring (scuba training included) & wide-ranging commu-
nity projects from education to family planning schemes. See boxes on
Click Here
,
Click
Here
&
Click Here
.
Earthwatch
Oxford, UK & Maynard, MA, USA; 01865 318838 (UK), 1 800 776 0188
(USA);
e
info@earthwatch.org
;
www.earthwatch.org
. Pioneers in upmarket scientific re-
search trips. In Madagascar you can work with Dr Alison Jolly on lemur research in Ber-
enty.
Frontier
London, UK; 020 7613 2422;
www.frontierprojects.ac.uk
. Also works in mar-
ine conservation, taking paying volunteers for their marine research programmes.
