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SAVA Conservation CENTER News from the Sambava-Andapa-Vohemar-Antalaha Region of Northeastern Madagascar

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SAVA Conservation CENTER News from the Sambava-Andapa-Vohemar-Antalaha Region of Northeastern Madagascar DUKE LEMUR SAVA Conservation CENTER News from the Sambava-Andapa-Vohemar-Antalaha region of northeastern Madagascar S P E C I A L VOLUME 2, ISSUE 1 MARCH 2013 P O I N T S O F I N T E R E S T : The SAVA Conservation Initiative Moves into Its Second Year Hard to believe that the DLC-SC initiative is now officially just over a year old! Never had I Director dreamed that we would be able to move so far so quickly. Thanks to their experience and Training in contacts in the region, Erik and Lanto have been able to get project activities off to a rapid Environmental start. Below is a very brief encapsulation of where we stand today. Education The teacher training program in environmental education has already moved through the first two stages, and is now poised for the final teacher trainings. Numerous structured school Duke Alumni group visits into Marojejy NP Madagascar have been sponsored by DLC-SC. Project-overseen construction Tour of a school and footbridge on the remote west side of Reforestation Marojejy is two-thirds finished. in Our support of reforestation Antanetiambo through a collaboration with Belgian NGO Graine de Vie has already put thousands of trees INSIDE THIS in the ground, with tens of I S S U E : thousands of seedlings still in Environmental 2 tree nurseries. The first village education training fish ponds are being dug/built as we move to support fish Photo by David Haring School and bridge 3 almost done farming activities, and a large demonstration pond is up and running. We are presently going through final tweaks of a bushmeat poster that will be distributed throughout the SAVA region Duke Alumni 4 Travel tour in the coming months. Project-sponsored English classes have enabled locals in the Marojejy area to take Guard program 6 advantage of the growing tourism opportunities at the Park. Review classes for admission to Forest monitoring 7 transects created secondary school contributed to the success of 20 of 26 students gaining admission into secondary school (“middle school”). Collaboration with Madagascar National Parks has DLC-SC office in 7 Sambava increased their ability to effectively protect Marojejy, through project-funded activities such as improved park boundary demarcation, and support for a village guard program. Through Alliance Française 8 visits Marojejy research missions and long-term monitoring of the silky sifaka, we have learned more about the natural forests and wildlife of the region. Through our support of Antanetiambo Nature Reforestation in 9 Antanetiambo Reserve, we expand our influence into the Andapa region while contributing towards reforestation, ecotourism and agricultural initiatives at this model reserve founded by a local Nature Reserve 11 grows in size Marojejy guide, Mr. Desiré Rabary. Collaboration with the Center for Renewable Energy (CER), a small association in Sambava, has included trainings for rocket stove and green Silky sifaka scent 12 marking charcoal construction which could reduce local dependence on fuel wood. Duke 15 In a step that will increase our profile in the region, a building has been rented in Sambava Connections which will serve as our base of operations, with both office and living space (for visiting collaborators). And lastly, we are already serving as a platform for Duke researchers and VOLUME 2, ISSUE 1 P A G E 2 The SAVA Conservation Initiative Moves into Its Second Year Continued students, whose work also benefits DLC-SC conservation objectives. Whew! And oh yes, we now have a newsletter such that we can keep our supporters current on project activities. That might seem like an overly ambitious list of activities for a first-year conservation project, and I must admit that there are times in which we wonder about that ourselves (with only a total staff of two in Madagascar!). However, it is difficult to overemphasize the urgency of the environmental situation in Madagascar, and in particular the unique SAVA region. The Marojejy and Anjanaharibe-Sud landscape together protect more than 800 km2 of mountainous rainforest! We are not expecting to achieve conservation miracles, but our presence in the region is very definitely having an impact. It is important that we move without delay. Director Training in Environmental Education By Charlie Welch The DLC-SC teacher training program in environmental education continues to move forward with trainings of school directors over the Easter holidays in April (2012), and in September, at the end of the summer vacation. Now all 325 directors of schools in the Sambava and Andapa school districts have been trained in use of the 64-page Teacher’s Training Manual (“Guide Pratique du Maitre”). Once again we owe a great thanks to the Madagascar Fauna Group (MFG) environmental education training team of Mr. André, Mr. Gimod and Mr. Modeste for carrying out the director trainings. The week-long September train- ings were held in Sambava, Andapa and Mandena simultaneously. The next step in the program is the primary objective of the trainings, the actual training of the teachers. The directors will be tasked to execute the teacher trainings, but with assistance from the more experienced MFG trainers. T h i s next stage will take more time to cover all schools, as there are 2,500+ teachers in the two school dis- tricts combined! We are pres- ently seeking funding to carry out this daunt- ing but essential last step in the process. School directors in a training breakout session Photo by Lanto Andrianandrasana SAVA CONSERVATION VOLUME 2, ISSUE 1 P A G E 3 New School and Footbridge Almost Completed! By Dr. Erik Patel DLC-SC is facilitating the construction of a new three- classroom primary school and 40-meter footbridge in the remote village of Antsahaberaoka, which is near the western boundary of Marojejy National Park (see article in Vol. 1, Issue 1 of the SAVA Conservation newsletter). The project was funded and initiated by Seacology, an environmental organization based in Berkeley, California. As in other Seacology projects, the goal was to engage this island community living adjacent to a threatened high biodiversity habitat in a win-win Primary school being built in Antsahaberaoka Photo by Tonkasina Jacques Harson "Jackson" conservation exchange. In this case, the village signed a locally enforced contract (“dina”) agreeing to 30 years of renewed protection for a region of Marojejy National Park which contains an unusually high density of silky sifakas, and where lemur hunting and other forms of habitat disturbance had previously been a problem. It is indeed gratifying to see that the community has made substantial progress towards the completion of the school and footbridge. Due to the remote location of Antsahaberaoka, this has been no small undertaking as all construction materials must be carried manually for nearly two days to reach the village. Fortunately, park rangers concur with our team that habitat disturbance of all kinds has considerably diminished in the Marojejy forests adjacent to this village since the project began. Foot-bridge foundation in Antsahaberaoka Foot-bridge being assembled Photo by Tonkasina Jacques Harson "Jackson" Photo by Tonkasina Jacques Harson "Jackson" SAVA CONSERVATION VOLUME 2, ISSUE 1 P A G E 4 Duke Alumni Travel Tour of Madagascar Visit to Marojejy By Charlie Welch In October 2012 I had the pleasure to lead a tour of Madagascar for Duke Alumni Travel. The tour participants included DLC-SC friends and supporters Dr. David Howell and Dr. Sara Miller (their second trip to Madagascar), DLC volunteer Megan Elwing and DLC photographer David Haring. The tour took us to national parks and other sites of interest around eastern and northern Madagascar, and included a tour extension to the SAVA region and Marojejy National Park. We were fortunate to have Erik join us and share his experience in an area that he is intimately familiar with. Duke Alumni observing wildlife Photo by David Haring The visit to Marojejy was the most challenging, though extremely rewarding, part of the entire tour. After making arrangements with porters and paying entry fees, we left the park office on the main road and, after a short drive on a dirt road, walked the next four hours to what is known as Camp Mantella (named after a diurnal frog genus commonly found nearby) or Camp #1. This was also my first visit to Marojejy, and I was very taken with the beauty of the primary rainforest once we were well into the park. Enormous majestic trees towered above us along the trail, as we crossed numerous small rocky streams of shimmering clear water. As the trail took us through a bamboo thicket, we encountered bamboo lemurs Marojejy National Park entrance sign Photo by Megan Elwing (Hapalemur occidentalis) at very close range. An exciting first lemur sighting! At Camp Mantella we stayed in the quite-civilized bungalows made of tarps spread on wooden frames. We were spoiled by a capable camp cook that made sure we were never hungry. The walking was tough, but roughing it – well not so much! The next day we continued our walk through the national park forest on a more difficult trail that sometimes required using a trail side rope to pull up the steep slopes. After two hours of hard walking we arrived at Camp Marojejia (named after a genus of palm unique to the region) or Camp #2. If you ever imagined an idyllic tropical forest location, this is absolutely it! The bungalows and common dining area sit along (and directly Bungalows at Camp Mantella in Marojejy NP Photo by Megan Elwing above!) a beautiful tumbling mountain stream, with a stunning view of the vertical rock faces of Mount SAVA CONSERVATION VOLUME 2, ISSUE 1 P A G E 5 Duke Alumni Travel Tour of Madagascar Visit to Marojejy Continued Ambatotsondrana (which means “leaning rock” in Malagasy) across the valley.
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