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“Madagascar Marine Adventure”

Written on: 20/03/2012

Frontier's Madagascar Marine Adventure was an unforgettable and invaluable experience. When I got off the boat for the first time onto the island where our camp was situated, the view that greeted me was truly atmospheric- numerous wooden beach huts, surrounding sands and palm trees, the Madagascan sea right on our doorstep and a beautiful view of the Madagascan forest.

During my 10weeks there I learnt so much about the wildlife found in Madagascar. In the first 2 weeks the staff trained the marine team to recognise and name the many species of fish we would be surveying and when the surveying began we were all totally confident and even got the opportunity to specialise in the areas of marine life which interested us. Some of the most amazing wildlife I saw was at the marine reserve just 40minutes away by boat. The fish there were absolutely massive and the turtles were totally unfazed by human interaction, I often found myself just swimming alongside them for indefinite periods of time. The highlight of my trip has to be swimming with a leopard shark one of the staff members spotted there.

Camp life was lovely. The staff were so nice and helped you feel at ease and that you were part of a community. It was nice to have one communal camp for all the marine volunteers, forest volunteers and teaching volunteers too, because you got to meet more people and even had the chance to get involved with the other projects. As the camp was based in a rural malagasy village, it was great to get to know the villagers and learn more about their culture, play with the children and eat, drink and party at the locals' houses malagasy-style.

All in all it was a trip I shall never forget and I shall take everything I have learnt away with me. Thank you Frontier!