Travelling

After the scheme finished, I travelled around Madagascar for 2 weeks with some of the other volunteers.

From Fort Dauphin (Tolanaro) we flew to Toliara and spent three days in a bungalow on the beach by a little fishing village called Anakao, just south of Toliara.

From Toliara we took a "taxi-brousse" (bush taxi) to Isalo National Park, between Ihosy and Fianarantsoa. We did a one night / two day trek through the park, with its beautiful sandstone scenery.

From Isalo we went to Ambalavao, a pretty town in the mountains, where we went to the country's largest cattle market. We also visited paper and wild silk workshops.

When we got to Fianarantsoa, we took a train to Manakara. This was great fun - the train was absolutely jammed packed and we wove down through the mountains with stunning views on either side.

From Manakara we stopped at Ranomafana National Park on our way back to Fianarantsoa where we saw Golden Bamboo Lemurs, which can only be found in Ranomafana. We then travelled to Ambositra which had countless arts and crafts shops, so we managed to do lots of shopping!

From there we went to Antsirabe, our last stop before Antananarivo, which had a very European feel to it. We hired bikes and cycled past paddy fields to a nearby lake where we had a picnic.

Finally, we had a day in Antananarivo before flying home.

All in all, I had an incredible 3 months in Madagascar. It's a strange but beautiful place - if I could go back tomorrow, I would!

I'm so pleased that I made the decision to spend 10 weeks of my gap year doing an internship with Azafady - they are a great team doing a fantastic job in the Fort Dauphin region, one of the poorest areas in the whole country, to improve the lives of the local people through education, environmental and sanitation projects.

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About Azafady »

Azafady is a registered UK charity and Malagasy NGO, which works in southeast Madagascar with local communities on nature conservation, health and education.

About Madagascar »

Madagascar is the world's fourth largest island. It has an absolutely staggering diversity of plant and animal species, 80% of which are found nowhere else on the planet. However, while one of the biologically richest places on Earth; it is also one of the world’s poorest countries. The country typically spends as much on debt repayments each year as it does on health and education combined.