Clownered, in Madagascar

thanks kev, while ever people keep reading i will keep posting. like i said, i could fill the board with pics and stories

(don't tell anyone but i keep getting a lump in my throat with all this reminiscing)

 

I admire what you've done, such an achievement and a great time to look back on.

I like many will say keep posting them, fantastic work

 

Did you not see any Fossas?

 

Excuse my ignorance, was / is the country a violent. Country did you come across any trouBle in what you was doing ?

 

plant life was extraordinary, with some really amazing species, most of which are only found on the island

the rose periwinkle is a basis for a number of cancer treatments, its properties are really only starting to come to the fore
View attachment 2606

the pitcher plant lives mainly on flies, and grows huge



the charity had a nursery set up in the village of saint luce, this contained some 100,000 tree seedlings. 60,000 were indigenous and the 40,000 were fast growing pine.

the 60,000 were to be planted in an area of scrub land donated by the govt to the charity to repopulate (60,000 will cover approx 3 acres) once weeded through and unhealthy plants removed and thinned.
the pine trees will be grown in an 4 acre area for the malagasy to use for firewood only, so that they don't chop down the indigenous population.

trees to be planted included acacia, bay, and some i can't quite remember the name of (did you know bay trees are extremely flammable)


thats me carrying trees to plant…. malagasy style!! everything is carried on your head


tree planting

 

Your posts in this thread have been some of the most interesting I've ever read on the BBS, mate. Thank you for sharing your experiences with us.

 

not in the wild, they are very secretive and generally hunt in the night.
I saw one in the parc botanical in the capital, they are scary looking cats really, about the size of a spaniel.
to be honest they are ugly as anything and the only natural predator of lemur.

there are also freshwater crocs, black widow spiders, boa constrictors, sea snakes and scorpions

they are later in my photo selection...

 

Thank you for posting your photos, and experiences in Madagascar. Really enjoying reading about your time there, please keep them coming.

 

I've seen them described as a small cougar and from what I have seen of them I would agree with that. I think they are quite striking looking really.

I saw them on a David Attenborough programme a few years ago and I've taken an interest in them ever since.

I did not know they have crocs in Madagascar though.

 

Its not a violent country really, the malagasy people are really placid. however…
during my time there, national elections were being held. Marc Ravalomanana is the first internationally recognised democratically elected leader.
he did get a second term, but the capital was split and it was widely recognised that the main ethnic group would challenge this.

as with most 3rd world countries the army is very powerful, and marc didn't fit in with this (he is the owner of three horses beer, the local star fizzy drinks, the importer of coca cola brand, etc etc etc)

on one occasion we had a tip off that there was going to be some demonstrations against the govt, so in caution we removed the volunteers from the town and took them into the bush to do some menial tasks (best out of harms way) in the end everything was fine, but better safe than sorry.

there isn't a gun culture, and they are not widely available, the weapon of choice would be machete!


6 months after i returned, there was a military coup! or a coup d'etat. with no bloodshed.

 

yeah the crocs were not indigenous but were released/escaped from farms and have lived there quite happily for some years. you rarely hear of any attacks on humans and they don't grow to the sizes of US or Aussie ones.
i saw several in the wild, the largest being about 3 foot

one in the zoo parc was huge though

this was a captive one, and had been for several years

 

I wouldn't fancy taking a dip with him.

 

didn't see many birds, not really a birdy person. but would love to see some pics of birds that you saw (if they are the feathered variety haha)

north madagascar is a haven for, with want for better words, pervy old men who "prostitute tourism" for malagasy women.

View attachment 2612
a kingfisher landed in the well that we were building


this pigmy kingfisher was really quite amazing


fruit bats were in a fady forest - fady is best described as taboo/forbidden it is generally an area of forest where the malagasy bury their dead or have religious significance, or even a touristy area where the local can make money by charging to enter a fady forest

 

Love this. Thread of the year so far for me. Shows how little so many of us (myself included) do to help those less fortunate than ourselves. I give a couple of quid a month to charity and think I've done my bit. This is something else. Well done, mate.

 

Re: Clownered, in Madagascar (mild nudity)

last post of the night….

some pictures of the staff that i worked with

this is Dino, a great guy who could turn his eyelids inside out. His english was shocking when he joined us, but wasn't too bad once he learned some proper yorkshire lingo. He was a great laugh and very childish.


the guides that worked for us used to bath in the local rivers (as did all the volunteers and staff) so i decided to steal their clothes……..
little claude on the left - claudy on the right


this is Manga, she was great, didn't speak english (well at least she never said so) but we knew she did really. Manga made breakfast most mornings, rice and mofo bread (a starchy cassava root bread that is fried) and bananas
she also did washing for the volunteers… for a price of course haha



this is the whole guiding team, based at our base in fort dauphin. our base was a campsite in an area called Lanirano (Lani for short) we camped on sand…. and lani was right in the windy valley… which led to some very interesting camping incidents!!!
left - right
Claudy - the best english speaker and longest serving guide - a proper ladies man. nicknamed the lion due to his huge frizzy hair and a martial arts black belt.
Hary - my favourite guide, he was the newest. He trained as a chef at the Dauphin hotel. he cooked and entertained us at his home with his 3 children and wife. a genuine lovely man.
Yvan - devoutly religious and a runner, he used to run about 10 miles a day without breaking a sweat.
night guard - Ramon he watched over us in our slumber….. properly funny never spoke english, but was the keeper of the camera cupboard key ….. he guarded it with his life - it had all the volunteers camera equipment.
Tinahay - very serious fella, fell in love with a volunteer from a previous scheme, she came back to teach english and they are still together in madagascar
little claude - related to tinahay, used to be on the building team but joined as a trainee guide, but went back into the building team.
day guard - Francois - the scariest person… his stare could cut you down from 20 yards.. he kept a look on all our possessions and tents while we were all out working



finally Romaine
a true character….. he is the cook, quite possibly the worst in the world…. his rice was so overcooked you could pick it up and eat it as a bar.
he used to borrow money from the volunteers - and never pay it back
he used to steal (sorry borrow) food from the camp supplies
his father was a witch doctor, who mended my broken finger… story later in the series
he was in relationship with Manga (above) and 3 other women and married to another
he was a heavy smoker of not tobacco
his english was pigeon… until he needed things… but when he was told off… didn't understand a word!!!!
we loved him to pieces….. lord only knows why!!!

 

i did reply to this, but it didn't show, … see the post i put on with kingfishers on it.
its rare to chat to anyone who has been to mad. would love to see some of your pics

 

episode 5 - how to build a school…

one of the biggest projects was school building, not a small undertaking for a group of volunteers.
it took us around 10 days to build the school.
They are made of a basic timber construction with all joints constructed in-situ.

apologies if this post goes on a bit, but there are loads of processes involved and i will try and keep it concise.


The builder and his team have full control over the build, the volunteers generally do all the manual work, whilst i generally maintained a few health and safety rules, translation and time management in the heat of the day.

the first process was to mark out the ground ready for the timber posts to be inserted.



the grass is cleared and holes are dug at set intervals before the builder marks out the corners
very rare are the holes dug in the correct places, but they are easy to move…..



the main builder (a guy called Ramon) and I laid out posts at the 4 corner, to which string was attached to create a corner point at which the post is to be positioned.
there were no laser levels or other cornering aids, it was just measured out string and a set square! simple really

but somehow it always worked


at this stage the main ground works are just starting. the next job was to mark out the locations of all the supporting posts and dig down approximately 2 feet for the post to stand in



again these holes were often re-dug.

 

the next stage was to start to position the timber posts.
all of the standing posts are measured and cut by the volunteers and pre chiselled to form a square peg at the top to for a slot joint when the cross member is placed on top.
using the basic tools shown earlier, plus hand made wooden mallets - made by the guides.






as the posts also had multiple slot joint for supporting bars, it was easier for the whole beam to be chiselled out in one go, so we used to put the volunteers back to back, it was very efficient and providing the holes were marked out with precision they would always fit…. or be made to fit!!


the lady on the left in this pic, is Marjory, who at 78 was the oldest volunteer ever to come out with us. She was from the US (florida) and was a real gem.
we always made a shady area for her and the fairest skinned volunteers. Once Marjory left us and returned home she sent out a couple of hammers and saws, they took around 8 weeks to arrive.


before any of the corner posts can go in, the village elder (due to the old french colonial rule, the are known as "chef de cartier") performs a ceremony that involves pouring moonshine into the hole and blessing its future.
Anyone involved in digging the hole had to also drink some!!
even the devout tea-total Marjory had to partake!!

 

once the holes had been blessed and all of the upright posts chiselled out ready to lock in place… the erection started
It was usually quite quick to assemble as it had taken us 4 days to get to this stage.


the local used to turn up to help at this point (once all the hard work was done haha) the malagasy aren't lazy but don't come out in the heat of the mid day sun. with very little work in this area, especially out in the small villages we worked in, most men are self sufficient farmers, moonshine makes or tobacco growers.


we made our own scaffold platforms, to assist in the building work, not sure if they would pass any health and safety regs, but they did the job.
the were made out of the cement planks that we used in the latrine pits. No wood was wasted!!


within a day all of the upright were in place, and the top beams were lifted into place and slid on top with minor chiselling on the odd hole, but 90% of the time they fitted really well.
the upright posts at this stage were not concreted in place, once at the correct position the holes were backfilled with the earth that was removed from them and that earth was tapped back to hold the upright post in place




there is a common theme in malagasy building, once the horizontal beam goes on…. guess what… moonshine is passed around again!
the guy who i am with is one of the building team, he specialises in the joinery side and i have never seen anyone chisel through a piece of timber with such ease - bearing in mind that the chisels were made from melted down ship wrecks ( i still have one of these in my garage as a tool, which although takes ages to sharpen, is still very much in use)

 

we generally worked into the dusk hours, as night came very quickly at around 6pm every evening all year round. with no artificial light the nights were very dark with just the moon and stars to guide you.


day 6 saw the final pieces of timber in place and the blessings start again, the topping out ceremony is again carried out by the village elder and the top most point was usually adorned with a local plant (in this instance it was jasmine) but each area has their own plant which they use. Moon shine is poured over the plant and blessed

and yes….. time to drink again!!




this is the next stage, laying the foundations and floor, proper back breaking work. in the 3 weeks prior to arrival, the local men were instructed to collect large quantities of local stone for use to use for the base and floor of the school. the rocks had to be a certain size and have a flattish edge to one side so they are easier for the volunteers to lay.