During July and August this year a group of Year 12 and 13 pupils from St Paul’s had the experience of a lifetime
when we went on an expedition to Madagascar. The 4 week expedition was led by Mr Bark and Miss Green and was
the culmination of 2 years planning and a lot of hard work raising the funds to get there.
The fundraising activities we organised included barn dances, a race night, a sponsored walk, selling cakes at local
fetes and carnivals, selling refreshments at school events, and an auction night at a local Chinese resturant. The
entrepreneurial, planning, organisational and interpersonal skills we developed through these activities not only helped
us to gel into a superb team but are skills that are eminently transferable to our lives beyond school. The total raised
through these activities was over £9,500 and we would like to take this opportunity to thank our parents, friends and
those staff who gave so generously.
The expedition itself was divided into a number of phases:
Phase One – involved travelling to Antananarivo the capitol of
Madagascar via Nairobi. The next day we travelled to Ambositra where we
had our first real taste of the hustle and bustle of a Madagascan town and
the following day we travelled on to the Ramanafana National Park.
Phase Two - we spent 3 days in Rmanafana trekking in the rainforest. We
now know why it is called rainforest, because there are an awful lot of
trees and boy does it rain! We were fortunate enough to see seven
different types of lemur of which the Golden Bamboo had the most striking
coat, and the tiny Mouse lemur certainly lived up to its name. The night
hike was very special, under a starlit sky we saw Chameleons, tree frogs
and large spiders. Our final day was extremely wet when we set off and
the trek through the rainforest was very steep and slippery in places. We
had lunch in the rain beside a huge waterfall then pressed on again, by
the time we reach the thermal bath the sun had started to shine and we
were able to wallow in the warm water and revive our cold, wet, aching
bodies before making our way back to the campsite.
Phase 3 - the project. The next week was spent in a tiny village called Tolongoa Nord. After another two days
travelling we had to walk the last section to the village along a narrow muddy track carrying our full packs. As we
approached the village the people came out to sing us a greeting. This was a magical experience, like something out
of a movie or documentary, we were then escorted through the village to the sound of singing and children dancing
beside us to the house that would be our base. Once there we were formally welcomed by the tribal chief, then made
ourselves at home, the girls in the house and the boys in tents. The next few days were spent moving mud bricks from
the field to the construction site, it was hard work but rewarding; playing, singing and dancing with the children;
constructing a football pitch using freshly cut saplings to make the goals, and constructing a basketball hoop. On
Sunday morning we were up early to go to the local church, the singing of the congregation was beautiful with two and
three part harmonies making the more than two hour service simply fly by.
.
Monday was market day an experience we simply could not miss. The little town that had been so quiet on our
previous visits was packed with people and there were numerous little wooden stalls selling wonderful fresh produce
plus a vast array of other things some familiar and some not so. The next day was Alastair’s birthday and we
managed to bake him a cake in a homemade oven. As the celebrations progressed we were joined by the villagers
and we all ended up singing and dancing outside in the mud under a starlit sky. All to soon it was time for us to leave,
our time in the village had been a magical experience in so many ways and the warmth with which we had been
greeted and looked after was overwhelming.
Phase Four – we moved on to the granite mountains of Andringitra
and some serious trekking. Day one saw us make our way to Base
Camp an eight hour trek through a stunningly beautiful landscape.
We were now cooking on open fires under clear skies with the night
time temperature dropping towards zero. The next day was the big
one, we were making our assault on the second highest peak in
Madagascar Pic Bobby (2658m), it was a pretty steep climb but we
made it, and some of us still had enough energy when we got back
to camp to go down to the river for a very chilly bath. Our third day
took us on an 11 hour trek back up onto the plateau, across the
‘moonscape’ then down through tropical savannah with palm trees.
The contrast between the near freezing peak and the tropical
savannah in so short a distance was staggering.
Phase 5 – our next move took us further south to Isalo National Park. We were now in semi
desert sandstone where the rocks were carved into deep ravines by water and sculpted into
weird shapes by the wind. As we walked into our campsite we saw our first Ring-Tailed
Lemurs, they did not appear to be phased by us and carried on browsing on leaves as we
walked past them. That afternoon we went for a short trek to the Black and Blue pools, the
route took us through a deep tropical valley lined with ferns and palms. On arrival at the pools
it was not long before we were in the water, it may have looked an idyllic but it was extremely
cold.
The next day we were once again up before sunrise
inorder to go on a long trek up onto the high plateau
and the Cascade de Nymphes, the scenery was
breathtaking with the red and gold of the wind
sculpted rocks glowing in the morning sun. On
arrival at the Cascade de Nymphes we could not
believe our eyes, there was a beautiful palm fringed
clear blue pool in the middle of a desert landscape,
it did not seem real. Once again we took advantage
of the opportunity to swim, this time in slightly
warmer water. Immediately after lunch we rushed off again in the hope of catching a glimpse
of the Sifaks or dancing lemur. We were in luck and saw a couple at close quarters and
stunningly beautiful they were.
Phase 5 – Our move took us to the coast. We were in the tiny resort of Ifaty beside the Indian Ocean in a coal lagoon
with a beautiful sandy beach immediately outside our hostel. On our first day we went out into the lagoon in periogs
(dug-out canoes with outrigger and a square sail) to snorkel on the reef, the fish we saw were stunning but sadly much
of the coral was dead. The following day we were out in the peroigs again this time outside the lagoon in the ocean
hoping to see whales; we were lucky and saw several humpbacks spouting and rolling through the waves their huge
tails disappearing last. On both of these days we were treated to a feast of fish on the beach, barbecued and stewed
freshly caught fish served with rice – delicious. Our final day took us into the Spiny Forest with its Baobab trees and
many very spiny plants. We made the trip on zebu carts a journey that turned out to be quite an experience in its own
right. All that was left for us to do was to make the long journey home – what an amazing experience we had.
In 2012 a group of pupils from St Paul’s will have the opportunity to take part in the next expedition – to Mozambique.
If you are currently in Y11 or Y12 see Mr Bark to find out more. You never know it could be you that has the
experience of a lifetime to look back on.