Laisa Laveti – Local Student – Fiji 2011

As a final year student of the University of the South Pacific, studying Geography, Literature and Language and having had some experience as a research assistant I was invited to join C3 as a volunteer for a month on Kia Island.

My job was basically to interpret questionnaires and assist a couple of masters students -Lui and Jonathan in completing data collection surveys. I gained some good field experience and was at the end of it able to do more survey without supervision. The end of the first week was exciting as I had the opportunity to teach classes 5 & 6 during a Reef Ranges activity, which are marine education classes we conduct at Kia District School. The topic was an introduction to Coral Reefs and it was interesting to see how the students can link themselves to the Great Sea Reef that surrounds their district. Most of them were able to identify issues that affected the reef when asked and were able to relate it to their group exercise.

I have fond memoriesconducting surveys-waiting for low tide in order to walk round the island, or hopping in a boat and speeding off in the tranquil blue waters surrounding the island, but when it was high tide we had to climb/hike up the hill over to the neighboring villages which was exhausting to say the least.

I adapted well to community life as I was quite familiar with the lifestyle from other villages I have already visited during my fieldtrips in uni-a compulsory part of all Geography courses. One of the new, exciting things I learnt was fishing with a line and hook, which was taught by the village headman Samu, during a fishing trip in the weekend with two other colleagues from USP.  Apart from that, our house chores were equally shared and we also did community work such as beach cleanup and community clean up during my stay.

Kia is a great place to work and I would recommend it to anybody who is interested in working on the beautiful island.

C3 Internship review – Megan Disley – Madagascar 2011

It’s quite a conundrum, finishing your undergraduate degree and knowing conservation is the career path you want to go down but all the jobs you look at require field experience, and where do you find that experience without volunteering with a gap year company? This was my position after graduating from my undergraduate degree in Marine and Freshwater Biology in 2009. Whilst searching for a solution I came across C3 and applied for an internship with them working inMadagascarand was accepted.

I have been very fortunate during my time with C3 to have been involved in all the amazing projects that are currently running. After completing health and safety tests and briefings I was thrown into the field work on my third day with a trip toNosyHaraMarineParkfor sea turtle nesting survey work which C3 are currently conducting inNorthern Madagascar. Sites are monitored every quarter with a project aim of collecting information the endangered sea turtles’ nesting sites and to use this information to help establish community based monitoring programmes. The islands of Nosy Hara Marine Park are beautiful with the camp set up right on beach front at Ampasindava where I learnt to sahafa rice and grate a coconut (which apparently now makes me marriage material in Madagascar!) as the sun set.

When I first arrived in the Diego office the other interns were already out in the field traveling around theNorth East coastconducting surveys for the SocMon project. Towards the end of their time in the field I joined them in Ambolobozobe where I had my first experience of sleeping on concrete floors and collecting water from the village wells, and my first walk behind (and ride on) a zebu and cart. Getting involved in the interviews was fascinating, giving a real insight into how people live inMadagascar, and everyone was so friendly and happy to provide information.

When not in the field there was plenty of work to keep me going in the Diego office (work levels do vary depending on the number of interns) from data entry and analysis to writing lectures for the Marine Resource Centre which C3 runs at the University of Antsiranana on a Friday afternoon which interns are welcome to attend.

Not all my time was spent working, free weekends were spent exploring Diego and its local beaches and nature reserves (Ramena, Emerald Bay, and Montagne d’Ambre) where I saw countless amounts of Madagascan wildlife: birds, chameleons, geckos, lemurs, and even an elusive fossa!

My second turtle surveying trip to Ampisikina was an interesting experience traveling by a rather delayed taxi brousse and what seemed like endless hours on a vedette, which we dubbed as a floating gargotte dropping off biscuits and beer to every village along the way, followed by a walk behind a zebu and cart, the journey in total taking an epic 48 hours to travel 50km as the bird flies. But for all the frustration that local transport can involve there really is no better way to seeMadagascar, after all the experience is in the journey!

I was also fortunate enough to be involved in the recent month long field trip to Sahamalaza National Park, which C3 were invited to visit for surveying and staff training. Between four locations we were taught about the behaviour of the Blue-eye Black Lemur, and surveying techniques for Reef Check, Seagrass Watch, and Mangrove surveying. It was an incredible opportunity for us to survey an area of Madagascar where no NGO have previous explored, having some amazing experiences along the way including seeing a green turtle chomping on seagrass, watching some amazing sun sets and sunrises, washing under a waterfall, and clambering through a muddy mangrove forest.

Not only have I gained invaluable field experience during my time with C3 (even now in my final week I am about to embark on another turtle survey trip to Nosy Hara Marine Park) and seen first hand the challenges of running an NGO in a developing country, I have worked with some fantastic people and had the opportunity to really experience the true culture of Madagascar seeing some incredible sights along the way!