Avenue of the Baobabs, Morondava, Madagascar

Pictures I saw long ago of the Avenue of the Baobabs inspired my love of travel and I finally got to see them! Morondava is a small seaside town on the remote western coast; it’s a challenge just to get there and then it’s an hour drive to the baobabs. Madagascar is the only place these giant baobabs grow and several of them happen to line a road connecting villages so that section has become famous. And here are some of my many pictures of them – because they are awesome!

At sunset, the most popular time when all the tourists in 4x4s and cars come to get “the photo.” I was one of them and here it is! This is low season so I didn’t have to fight for space, but in the high season the guides said it gets quite competitive.

And then a second visit at sunrise. Here a local woman carries vegetables to another village. I was the only tourist and it was a completely different experience. Silent until people began to wake up and then the smell of fires starting as they prepared breakfast. Roosters crowing and dogs barking, but otherwise quiet.

Rush hour with trucks and tourists and villagers selling baobab souvenirs.

And at 5:30 in the morning the moon still out but no one else around.

Coral Reef Monitoring, Reef Doctor, Madagascar

The coral reef system off southwest Madagascar is the third largest in the world. It is high in biodiversity with over 300 fish and 400 coral species. But it’s under threat from coral bleaching from climate change warming the ocean, overfishing that removes fish that keep the coral healthy, and pollution from land that suffocates the coral. There are several non-profit organizations working here to protect the reef and Reef Doctor is one of them. (All photos below are from Reef Doctor or the divemaster cameras).

We dive and perform underwater surveys of the coral, fish, and invertebrates at several sites to determine how healthy each one is.

Unsurprisingly, the small areas that are protected from overfishing are healthier with more species and less bleaching. These two marine protected areas are quite small but are guarded and supported by the local fishing cooperative so they show what the reef could look like. We also survey sites that are not protected to observe the difference. Some pics of me here, the dive slate makes me look all official, right!?

Two artificial reefs have been started, one in 2007 and one in 2010. Both use transplanted coral attached to concrete rubble or metal frames to start new reefs. They are growing, but very slowly.

Here are some more cool reef photos of coral, a hermit crab, Moorish idol, pufferfish, and lionfish from one of the night dives.

Madagascar – Volunteering with Reef Doctor

Hi everyone, I’m headed to Madagascar and I’ll be going to the southwest coast to volunteer with an organization called Reef Doctor. It’s a NGO that focuses on coral reef conservation and social development of the local area. Here’s the site with more info –

https://www.reefdoctor.org

I’m planning to be there for four weeks. It’s a remote site and wifi and cell coverage are limited so I’ll post updates as I can. It should be an amazing adventure and I’ll be scuba diving most days so I can’t wait!