Thursday, May 24, 2007

Blue Ventures Director wins Social Entrepreneur Award

Co Founder of Blue Ventures Tom Savage was announced as winner of the Young Social Entrepreneur of the year award in the Edge Upstarts awards 2007. (www.edgeupstarts.org/awards)

The awards, started in 2001, showcase businesses that offer innovative and sustainable solutions to social issues celebrating social enterprises, such as Blue Ventures, that have a socially beneficial purpose.

Ed Miliband, Minister for the Cabinet Office, presented the awards at a ceremony at St James’s Palace on the 10th May 2007.

Tom was highly acclaimed for his drive and ambition in setting up not only Blue Ventures but also Travelroots and the website Tiptheplanet.com

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

The Village of Andavadoaka, announced as Winners of the UNDP Equator Prize

The Village of Andavadoaka was honored yesterday at United Nations Headquarters by the UNDP Equator Prize, an international recognition of extraordinary work to diminish poverty through the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. The Prize serves to further advance the understanding within the global community of the vital link between healthy, biologically diverse environments and the creation of sustainable livelihoods.

The remote community of Andavadoaka, Madagascar has been acknowledged for its work in partnership with Blue Ventures and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), developing community run marine protected areas in the remote southwest of the country.

It is a fantastic acheivement having been selected from a group of 25 finalists, chosen from more than 300 nominations from 70 different countries.

The community will receive international recognition at an Awards Ceremony in Berlin, Germany on World Environment Day, 5th June 2007


Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Tana to Toliara, The Scenic Route!

I have just arrived in Andavadoaka as the new field scientist and so far it has proven to be quite a trip.
I met up with 2 volunteers in Tana, the capital of Madagascar, before exploring the city which is full of little quirks that give it such character. Particularly the taxi drivers who will actually charge you more money for a trip if it is uphill rather than down! Whilst there we were taken around the Rova, a large building with a lot of local history associated with it, and found on the highest hill overlooking lake Anosy, a beautiful heart shaped lake in the middle of the city, with amazing views on all sides. I would recommend the local guides as they take you through some of the back-streets which give you a much clearer idea of the way of life in Tana. We were also lucky enough to join some locals in a basketball match on the public outdoor courts by the football stadium. Unfortunately we underestimated how good they were and the match didn't go quite as planned, but that's enough about that!

After 3 days in Tana a few more volunteers turned up and we headed off on an organized road trip to Toliara. This is the 2nd time this trip has happened and it was an enormous success, hugely enhancing the whole experience, I have now seen a lot more of what Madagascar has to offer, rather than just simply flying to Toliara and missing out on some truly magnificent scenery. The pinnacle of the trip for me was on the 3rd morning when we were able to explore the national park I’Isalo. We stopped there the night before staying with Momo, our host/guide/negotiator (a useful man to know) and had a beautifully prepared meal of zebu steak and chips. The following morning started with a quick drive to the edge of the national park before starting our 6 hour hike through the mountains. The 1st leg was a 3km hike (all uphill) with some amazing views, before reaching a natural swimming pool with a small waterfall at the back, exactly what was needed after a long walk in the sun. After we had all sufficiently cooled off we started the 2nd leg. This took another couple of hours, and again was through breathtaking scenery of golden plains, punctuated by a mixture of rocks, waterfalls and canyons. Now we were deeper into the park we were lucky enough to come across a group of ring tailed and brown lemurs. After admiring them for about half an hour and taking quite a ridiculous amount of photos we moved onto the larger waterfall at the back of an enormous canyon. As much as I wanted to cool off the water was just to cold for me and so after a quick 30 second swim I had to retire to some rocks next to the pool.
By the time we met Dave, the local member of staff who was driving us to Toliara, we were nearly an hour behind schedule, so after a great morning walking around the Jurassic landscape of I’Isalo it was back to Momos hotel to repack our bags and collect our packed lunches of zebu and cheese, before setting off for Toliara.

Once in Toliara we were met by the rest of the volunteers and some of the Blue Ventures staff from Andavadoaka. After another day of travelling we finally reached the field site and have just settled into our idyllic beach huts just metres from the sea.
This is where I will leave now as I feel that it is time to lay in my hammock and enjoy this truly amazing part of the world.

Tristan Brown, Field Scientist

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Juice Concert

BV staff and vols were invited to a 'Jus Concert' in aid of a sports scholarship for local school kids. For the small fee of 1500ariary we were greeted by home made juice (well, orange squash) and plates of nibbles containing peanuts, crispbread stick type things and a wonderfully fresh bread roll (the true piece de resistance). Only a small group of us went down but it was actually really nice. The catholic mission had basically been turned into a chill out area with a TV in pride of place on the 'stage' playing some classic Malagasy music videos, so we sat and chatted, drank and munched the afternoon away.


Sophie, Field Scientist