If you can stay for a period of 7 weeks you will have enough time to visit the marine site following 6 weeks of data collection for a dissertation project at the terrestrial site. This can be for research experience or used for your final dissertation project as part of your undergraduate studies. With this course after your first 6 weeks in the forest, you would then be able to move to the marine site to gain your SSI open water dive training certification, or if already qualified, take part in the Indian Ocean reef ecology course.
Those booking this option, please email expeditions@opwall.com to let them know whether you would like to learn to dive, snorkel or are already qualified.
In the Mahamavo dry forest most diurnal and nocturnal lemur species are easily seen by teams walking sample routes by day and at night. However, two nocturnal species, the fork-marked lemur (Phaner pallescens) and fat-tailed dwarf lemur (Cheirogaleus medius), are seldom seen by the field teams. Additionally, the forest is within the range of aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis), so it could occur in Mahamavo, although it has not yet been detected. Every year there are a small number of sightings of carnivores including the (Fossa Cryptoprocta ferox), (Falanouc Eupleres goudotti), and Ring-tailed mongoose (Galidia elegans), but not enough observations to infer their distributions or population sizes. The dry forests are also home to bush pigs (Potamochoreus larvatus). For cryptic species such as these, we use a network of 40 camera traps to gain reliable data on distributions, densities and trends through time, without needing to trap animals. Students choosing this project would help design the spatial and temporal sampling strategy for the cameras, select ‘best’ sites at the local scale to install them on the ground or in trees, visit the cameras to change SD cards and look at the photos and then undertake analysis of the detection histories of each species recorded by the cameras at each site using occupancy models. This powerful approach allows occupancy of sampling units (camera locations) over the course of the season to be estimated taking account of the detectability of each species.
If you would like to do a dissertation or thesis with us but your university hasn’t started dissertation planning or the project selection process, that’s no problem. You can cancel your expedition with zero cancellation charges up until the 15th of April of if you provide documentation from your university saying that they won’t support completing a dissertation project with us.
Madagascar has less than 5% of its land designated as Strict Nature Reserves, National Parks, Wildlife Reserves or Wildlife Corridors, and even some of this land is already severely degraded. So the actual area of land under protection is much smaller. An alternative approach to assigning protected area status and prohibiting usage is to develop community managed areas such as Mahamavo, where there is a mosaic of protected and managed areas. DTZ, the German Technical Support Agency, has established a series of community managed forests in the Mahamavo area that appear to be successful and may form the basis for conservation and improving livelihoods in other parts of Madagascar. The Opwall teams here are monitoring how the forest structure and biodiversity in these community managed forests are changing over time to identify whether this management strategy can provide a viable alternative to formal protected areas in terms of protecting biodiversity. The dry forests around Mahamavo have exceptional diversity with two species of diurnal lemur and another six to seven species of nocturnal lemurs, two spectacular species of chameleons, three known species of leaf-tailed geckos, and many endemic birds. In addition to the forest work, the Opwall teams are also carrying out long term monitoring surveys in the adjacent wetlands, which have recently been given Ramsar status (a Ramsar Site is a wetland site designated of international importance under the Ramsar Convention).
Climate
In Madagascar it is the dry season so it is hot during the day (temperatures between 25 and 30 degrees Celsius) with extremely little chance of rain. During the evenings the temperature does drop to around 18 degrees Celsius with occasional cold spells getting as low as 14 degrees Celsius.
Fitness level required
Moderate. This project requires you to walk long distances, and although the terrain is relatively flat you will be walking mostly on sand which can be tiring.
Creature comforts
Facilities are basic (tents, bucket showers, long drop toilets). The site has no phone signal or wifi.
Find out all about how you could fundraise for an expedition.
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More information on how the dissertation/thesis projects run within Opwall and what you will need to do
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