The Madagascar 2012 Expedition will follow 14 years of world travel and community projects organised by The Coopers' Company and Coborn School. In 2012 a group of 34 year 12 and 13 students will spend one month in Madagascar, with the aim of completing the building of a secondary school block in the Merina village of Andranosoa. Pupils will also spend time experiencing the vulnerable wildlife, people and landscapes of what is a unique country by travelling to the west coast via a 3 day canoe journey along the Tsiribihina river, visiting the Tsingy de Bemaraha, Kirindy Forest and the Avenue de Baobab. As a team, we are hoping to raise £20,000 to cover costs for the charity project. The aim of this blog is to provide information about Madagascar, the team and the fund-raising project. Please visit the pages shown on the right to learn more about the expedition.

Monday 16 July 2012

Week 1: London- Tana- Andasibe


Week 1

London- Tana

Smooth journey via Nairobi with no excess baggage costs despite one of our boxes weighing over 30kg. All luggage turned up in Tana and thankfully we didn't have to show them the contents of our carefully packed bags and boxes. We checked into our hotel close to the airport at 2am and met up with Gary (Remote River Expeditions) and Roland (project Manager, Andranosoa).

Tana- Andasibe

Early in the morning, Mr Cornish went to the bank to change money and ended up a multi-millionaire. Mrs McCall was in charge of spending over 1 million Ar on food for our camp in the project village. At 13.00 we set off for the Eastern Rainforest and a national park called Andasibe where we spent 2 days hiking and lemur watching. Key lemur species seen were the Indri (see photo), Brown Lemur, Bamboo Lemur, Black and White Ruffed Lemur, and Woolly Lemur. The lovely log cabins (with flush toilets and warm showers)were to be our last taste of luxury for a while. One of the highlights for the pupils was a visit to lemur island where the lemurs are semi-tame and can be fed.


A male Indri feeding in Andasibe. One of the group's highlights was hearing their eerie call echoing around the forest. 
  

A Black and White Ruffed Lemur at Andasibe

Ross greets a friendly Brown Lemur

Bottoms holds the largest chameleon in the world (Parsons)

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1 comment:

  1. Jane C.3 August 2012 at 04:35

    A trip to countries like Madagascar is always worth it. There's no price you could pay for the adventure you'll experience in these countries. Seriously, I wouldn't mind paying an excess baggage in South Africa at all.

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