Volunteer Belinda Bertrand visits Berenty Reserve in southern Madagascar and sees Verraux’s sifakas, ring-tailed lemurs, sportive lemurs, and a Skups owl!
Tag Archives | Volunteer
Volunteering at Sainte Luce Reserve
This past October I volunteered in forest conservation for two weeks at Sainte Luce Reserve in south east Madagascar. I found the reserve listed on an international volunteer website and liked the variety it offered. Plus, it was in Madagascar which was a place that I’ve always wanted to visit. The volunteer listing mentioned lemur follows, tree planting, trail clearing, planting mangroves, sea turtle monitoring, and working in the tree nursery which all sounded perfect for me. I checked out […]
Volunteering with Azafady
Before going away to Madagascar, the longest I had been away from my family was two weeks. I lived the typical western lifestyle. My phone never left my side; everything I needed could be downloaded or ordered in just a few clicks; I binge-watched TV; and my biggest worry was that pesky spot on my chin. Looking back on it, something in me must have been crying out for adventure and change, otherwise why had I done it? Why had […]
Zookeeper’s Notebook: Getting Started as a Volunteer Lemur Keeper
I have spent an abnormal amount of time watching and listening to Youtube videos of lemurs and other primates. Where else can you hear an indri sing on demand? However, the site has a startling lack of black lemur videos, along with their unique and amusing grunts. It’s kind of pig-like but more nasal. So, one sunny Saturday in May last year I set off solo to Howletts Wild Animal Park. Rather than being a ‘zoo’ it has always handled […]
Volunteering with Madagascar Biodiversity Partnership
My interest in working with lemurs has only recently been in development over the past year, but my love for wildlife and nature has been lifelong. It was early in 2014 that I was on the hunt for a conservation-related volunteer experience abroad. Madagascar had always been on my bucketlist of countries to visit-the abundance of unique species that can be found no where else in this world is like no other. So naturally I jumped at the chance […]
