Thursday, August 7, 2014
Hi all!
Lots to report since our last post from Ranomafana.
We began our main trek in a highland village called Ambohimamasina,, the villagers were really friendly and taught us some Malagasy games and numbers during our short stop. The boys also managed to get themselves involved in 5 aside football tournament before we left early the next morning. Our first day of trekking took some getting used to however we all made it in one piece! Our second day was more adventurous as most of the walk was spent under the cover of the rainforest splashing through pools, eating lunch on river banks, swinging from vines and experiencing a completley different terrain to the previous day's dry grass and dusty paths. Camping that evening proved difficult as there was very little flat ground available in the area we stopped but our moods were improved by the oppourtunity to wash in the river on top of a waterfall! Day 3 involved a lot of slippy, steep decents and was tough on everyone, especially due to the rain we'd had overnight. All survived however and made it safley to a warm welcome in the village where we were undertaking our project. The village was in the area of Tanambao and during our time there we helped to protect the foundations of the school by raising the ground levels and assissting ther locals in creating a water drainage ditch and small walls in preperation for the rainy season. We were very well fed during our stay here with 5 meals a day, none of us were ever hungry for long!
A tough 10 hour trek then took us to the small village of Ifaneira. During the trek we had to make several river crossings by canoe and also the occasional piggyback provided by the porters, but our transport out of the village was definatley our favorite! A large canvas-backed truck took us to the coastal town of Manakara where we had the best meal we'd had, consisting of fresh fish, steak, pork; vegtables, crepes and some amazing chips!
We're going to see Ring-tailed lemurs (or as we call them, the 'king Julians' from the film Madagascar) tomorrow but will write again soon!
Love from Megan D, Kendal, Joe and occasionally Jess :-)
Lots to report since our last post from Ranomafana.
We began our main trek in a highland village called Ambohimamasina,, the villagers were really friendly and taught us some Malagasy games and numbers during our short stop. The boys also managed to get themselves involved in 5 aside football tournament before we left early the next morning. Our first day of trekking took some getting used to however we all made it in one piece! Our second day was more adventurous as most of the walk was spent under the cover of the rainforest splashing through pools, eating lunch on river banks, swinging from vines and experiencing a completley different terrain to the previous day's dry grass and dusty paths. Camping that evening proved difficult as there was very little flat ground available in the area we stopped but our moods were improved by the oppourtunity to wash in the river on top of a waterfall! Day 3 involved a lot of slippy, steep decents and was tough on everyone, especially due to the rain we'd had overnight. All survived however and made it safley to a warm welcome in the village where we were undertaking our project. The village was in the area of Tanambao and during our time there we helped to protect the foundations of the school by raising the ground levels and assissting ther locals in creating a water drainage ditch and small walls in preperation for the rainy season. We were very well fed during our stay here with 5 meals a day, none of us were ever hungry for long!
A tough 10 hour trek then took us to the small village of Ifaneira. During the trek we had to make several river crossings by canoe and also the occasional piggyback provided by the porters, but our transport out of the village was definatley our favorite! A large canvas-backed truck took us to the coastal town of Manakara where we had the best meal we'd had, consisting of fresh fish, steak, pork; vegtables, crepes and some amazing chips!
We're going to see Ring-tailed lemurs (or as we call them, the 'king Julians' from the film Madagascar) tomorrow but will write again soon!
Love from Megan D, Kendal, Joe and occasionally Jess :-)
Saturday, August 2, 2014
Something from Team 2..
This was posted on Facebook on the 29th Abigail and a few others were tagged in it but i wasn't sure if everyone was able to see so thought i'd post on here so there was some news from Team 2 for those wondering.
Friday, July 25, 2014
Happy Birthday Chloe
Happy 17th Birthday Chloe, Hope you have an amazing day. All our Love from Mom, Dad & Lucy
Team 1
Hi all.
All cold, tired and wet after vistiting Ranomafana rainforest for a days trek to the hot springs. However it was worth the 8 hours trekking, who knew it would rain in a rainforest non stop, although the campsite wasn't too comforting (we are all inexperienced at using toilets that are holes in the ground)
we are so excited to tell you that we saw 5 species of lemurs and we all have great photos to show you when we get back.
Michael was fascinated by the moth he discovered and we will be sure to post a photo on the blog.
After being well fed our moods soon improved.
Despite all that we are all in good heath and enjoying what the Malagasy culture has to offer and the best once in a life time opportunity. The team has become a family, all supportive and full of pure bantZ (banter)
We've been told by everyone that they are all misssing you lots and cant wait to see you when we get back.
unfortunately for us we are starting our community project and main trek that will take approx 12 days so we are unsure of when we will next have internet access.
Lots of love from all of us.
From Megan Smith, Vicky, Michael and Becki xxxxx
All cold, tired and wet after vistiting Ranomafana rainforest for a days trek to the hot springs. However it was worth the 8 hours trekking, who knew it would rain in a rainforest non stop, although the campsite wasn't too comforting (we are all inexperienced at using toilets that are holes in the ground)
we are so excited to tell you that we saw 5 species of lemurs and we all have great photos to show you when we get back.
Michael was fascinated by the moth he discovered and we will be sure to post a photo on the blog.
After being well fed our moods soon improved.
Despite all that we are all in good heath and enjoying what the Malagasy culture has to offer and the best once in a life time opportunity. The team has become a family, all supportive and full of pure bantZ (banter)
We've been told by everyone that they are all misssing you lots and cant wait to see you when we get back.
unfortunately for us we are starting our community project and main trek that will take approx 12 days so we are unsure of when we will next have internet access.
Lots of love from all of us.
From Megan Smith, Vicky, Michael and Becki xxxxx
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Team 1
This is our fourth day in the country, we have been to 3 towns so far, Antananarivo, Anbositra and Fianarantsoa. We have spent many hours on the bush taxi driving through little villages watching people stop and stare at us white people in the pink taxi. "are they only staring at us because we are in a pink taxi" quote Georgina. We have also witnessed the extreme poverty here in Madagascar, children rummaging through rubbish on the street and more shockingly many carrying machete's. We have seen many amazing sites including picturesque landscapes and women carrying chickens on their heads. So far we have met many people all of whom are very friendly and welcoming such as Enda, Johnny, Fegghi and the nice guy in the italian top whos name we never came across. Even though only 43 percent go to school many know a number of languages including English, Malagasy, French and Italian. More importantly Joe was able to have a deep conversation about football players and teams. One thing we were suprised about, despite the fact they have next to nothing the people all have a massive smile on their face and waved at us as we drove past or got off the pink minibus. From Joe and Alicia.
The group have been brilliant and are beginning to show their true personalities. Joe and Lewis try to show as much flesh as possible, as often as possible regardless of the audience. Alicia is getting known for her blonde moments: biting through her headphone cables and constantly tripping over her laces. Despite having no make-up, Kendal and Meg S still manage to spend hours in the bathroom. Megan who claims not to be a leader could be heard across the valley shouting at them to come out as we were all so hungry. Michael spends most of his time asleep and when awake, constantly shares his nuts with Georgia! Emma has not stopped talking since we got here, except when asleep, or being sick on the plane. Joe and Megan also succombed to the turbulance and Lewis became the official puke monitor, carrying the bags to the toilet.
Lizzie made the mistake of telling us she can speak French and now gets dragged everywhere to translate everything from 'How to get to the National Park' to 'The toilet is blocked'. Georgina has become a mini-mum, stressing in the airport when she thought she had lost Alicia and giving her a right telling off. Vicky and Becky are trying very hard to destroy their tent, breaking the elastic in the tent poles and splitting the poles themselves. Should Georgia be in Madagascar? Spiders I can understand, but she runs away from anything that flies - she'll have no chance in the rainforest.
Weird! We have come into an internet cafe and found that the screensaver is Birmingham Selfridges!
We are going to sign off now and try to upload some photos. These can take some time so not sure how many we will get on before the rest of the team get back from the supermarket. After that we head to the national park for some short treks and then it really begins - main trek followed by project. It is highly unlikely we will be able to blog again for some time.
Neil
This is our fourth day in the country, we have been to 3 towns so far, Antananarivo, Anbositra and Fianarantsoa. We have spent many hours on the bush taxi driving through little villages watching people stop and stare at us white people in the pink taxi. "are they only staring at us because we are in a pink taxi" quote Georgina. We have also witnessed the extreme poverty here in Madagascar, children rummaging through rubbish on the street and more shockingly many carrying machete's. We have seen many amazing sites including picturesque landscapes and women carrying chickens on their heads. So far we have met many people all of whom are very friendly and welcoming such as Enda, Johnny, Fegghi and the nice guy in the italian top whos name we never came across. Even though only 43 percent go to school many know a number of languages including English, Malagasy, French and Italian. More importantly Joe was able to have a deep conversation about football players and teams. One thing we were suprised about, despite the fact they have next to nothing the people all have a massive smile on their face and waved at us as we drove past or got off the pink minibus. From Joe and Alicia.
The group have been brilliant and are beginning to show their true personalities. Joe and Lewis try to show as much flesh as possible, as often as possible regardless of the audience. Alicia is getting known for her blonde moments: biting through her headphone cables and constantly tripping over her laces. Despite having no make-up, Kendal and Meg S still manage to spend hours in the bathroom. Megan who claims not to be a leader could be heard across the valley shouting at them to come out as we were all so hungry. Michael spends most of his time asleep and when awake, constantly shares his nuts with Georgia! Emma has not stopped talking since we got here, except when asleep, or being sick on the plane. Joe and Megan also succombed to the turbulance and Lewis became the official puke monitor, carrying the bags to the toilet.
Lizzie made the mistake of telling us she can speak French and now gets dragged everywhere to translate everything from 'How to get to the National Park' to 'The toilet is blocked'. Georgina has become a mini-mum, stressing in the airport when she thought she had lost Alicia and giving her a right telling off. Vicky and Becky are trying very hard to destroy their tent, breaking the elastic in the tent poles and splitting the poles themselves. Should Georgia be in Madagascar? Spiders I can understand, but she runs away from anything that flies - she'll have no chance in the rainforest.
Weird! We have come into an internet cafe and found that the screensaver is Birmingham Selfridges!
We are going to sign off now and try to upload some photos. These can take some time so not sure how many we will get on before the rest of the team get back from the supermarket. After that we head to the national park for some short treks and then it really begins - main trek followed by project. It is highly unlikely we will be able to blog again for some time.
Neil
Thursday, July 17, 2014
Boot care:
So today I have cleaned and re-proofed my boots. Took some time but will be well worth it when we are over there.
Only two days till departure now and finale preparations are being done.
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Tent preparation..
So as we are only a few days away till departure now so me and joe thought it would be a good idea to air out our tent..
So glad we did.. It was put away wet after the training expo and to say it was a tad mouldy would be an understatement.
So we cleaned it following the trust of googles advise and it is now very clean! It may have took us hours but will defiantly be worth it when we are there. We decided to push the boat out and even reproof it using 'nixwax' for tents just to top up the waterproofing layer. Here's a picture of joe 'working hard' spraying it on ;) :)
Sunday, July 13, 2014
Equipment:
So have you got all your equipment sorted?
Remember try packing and re-packing your bag to familiarise yourself with where everything is and remember you need 10L spare for group equipment.
The days leading up...
After fund raising since September 2012 we are now entering the finale few days before our expedition to Madagascar. The 'World Challenge' started long before the expedition itself and has had some really rewarding outcomes. I think I can speak on behalf of everyone and say that we are all very excited to depart now!
With all the funds collected and sorted out and the last piece of equipment being brought or arriving the true reality of how close we actually are is starting to sink in with many of us. I believe there is mixed emotions such as nerves and anxiety, 'What if my parents don't miss me enough?', but I think also a sense of pride and joy is also felt as we have got so far and are now ready to set off on a once in a life time experience... Happy Blogging everyone!
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