Ros in Madagascar

A strange bug that kicks you when you lift it up !

I have been taking lots of pictures, mainly above water but I also have a few under water ones. I normally don;t take the camera down when I am doing science training dives but I have had two recreational dives so I took the opportunity. The viz has been really good on both my recreational dives but fish are very hard to photograph :) . I have taken lots of pictures above water too. There is so much wildlife, every time I see something new (I wish I had a more powerful zoom), so far I have managed to photograph 3 different snakes, a huge spider, a strange bug that kicks you when you lift it up (last night), a bird, some local hedge hogs that are called some name that has slipped off my mind and I am sure something else that I cannot remember. Sunsets are also amazing so pictures go very qui8ckly.

On 3rd December is elections day in Madagascar. Apparently there has been a bit of unrest in Antananarivo and Toliara in the past few days. This week I have also been snorkelling to the Mangroves. It was so much fun. They are about 45 mins' walk south from camp. When the tide was coming up there were some currents and we were gliding through the mangrove it was great. I saw a few juvenile fishes. By the way I have also passed my bethic test, both on the computer and in-water which means that I can now tell apart my tunicates from my sponges ;) We have one fish lecture tomorrow then we will start with the fish tests from tomorrow: I think they will be quite challenging however I am already quite happy as I have been suprising myself recognising quite a few families and species during the dives.

There is a lot of work to do and some days I hardly have time to brush my teeth after lunch but it is good fun and I am learning a lot. I have just come back from the village now after giving some 8-11 yrs old English lessons. They really get super excited. There is really no light pollution here. We had a fire on the beach the other day and it was really good fun. When the generator goes off at 10pm it is pitch black! And Tulear had hardly any street lights either so I guess most of Madagascar is like this.

posted by Simon @ Tuesday, November 28, 2006