Some Background

I work as a tour guide and volunteer as a research assistant at the Duke Lemur Center, the largest collection of lemurs outside of their native Madagascar.  In addition to caring for more than 250 lemurs in Durham, NC, the Lemur Center is also engaged in a variety of conservation projects to help protect them in the wild.  Because Madagascar has been isolated from other land for 90 million years, an incredible array of plants and animals have evolved there that are found nowhere else in the world.  This makes it an important hotspot for biodiversity conservation; if we lose these species in Madagascar, they are gone from the world forever.  While working at the Lemur Center, I learned that two Duke students went to Madagascar last summer to help with the DLC's conservation projects, funded by DukeEngage.  I knew immediately that I wanted to do the same thing.  Along with my friend and fellow tour guide Faye, I applied for DukeEngage and was accepted to go to Madagascar over the summer!

For the next eleven weeks, I will be living near the village of Andapa, in the rainforested SAVA region of northeastern Madagascar.  The Duke Lemur Center supports a variety of conservation efforts in this region, and I will have the opportunity to help with several of these projects.  The primary focus of my work will be at Antanetiambo Nature Reserve.  This reserve was set up through the efforts of a local Malagasy man named Désiré Rabary, and it is supported by the Duke Lemur Center and my project coordinator Dr. Erik Patel.  Very few nature reserves in Madagascar have been created by locals, so Rabary has won a variety of prizes, including the Seacology Prize.  Antanetiambo is home to a population of northern bamboo lemurs (Hapalemur occidentalis), which are popular with ecotourists.  By observing these lemurs, I hope to collect meaningful data that will make it easier for visitors to reliably find them.  Ecotourism is a promising conservation strategy because it allows local people to make a living in a way that encourages and actually requires them to conserve the environment, so I am thrilled to support this in my service project.

Assuming I get my passport back in time (it is currently being processed by the South African Consulate for my study abroad permit), I will be leaving Friday morning from Reno to Chicago to Paris to Antananarivo (Madagascar's capital) to Sambava, from which it is a two hour drive to Andapa.

Until next time!