St Mary's Calne
In the rainy early hours of Thursday 12th October, 25 pupils from LV to UVI, along with Miss Malan, Mrs Firth and Mr Hilton, embarked on an incredible journey to experience the magnificent wildlife of Madagascar.
After a very quiet breakfast in Heathrow Terminal 4, we went to Paris and from there we settled in for the 10hr 30min flight to Antananarivo, the capital city of Madagascar.
Upon arrival we met our two guides, Flore and Fenitra, and our drivers who would be with us for the whole trip. From there it was off to our first hotel which was a beautiful wooded tropical paradise on the outskirts of the city. After a quick sleep to refresh ourselves, it was up and off to a French-run lemur park which was an amazing opportunity to see many different species of lemurs, including the fan favourite - the ring-tailed lemur, aka King Julian! We also spotted some impressive stick insects and a chameleon!
From there, we went back to the hotel for some time around the pool, however, the weather had other plans and a stunning African thunder and lightning show was the backdrop to our first evening meal all together. The next morning it was up and onto our buses for our trip to the Andasibe National Park, via an exotic park where we got up close and personal to geckos, chameleons and snakes. While here for two nights, we made the most of our time near the park and had a fun, but not overly successful, night hike and a wonderful hike through the National Park seeing all that Madagascar had to offer. We were also given the chance to plant a tree at a fantastic organisation that is trying to tackle deforestation in Madagascar.
The next journey was long, memorable and very worthwhile. A bus, jeep and boat was required to help us reach the most beautiful tropical island we had ever seen, which would be home for two nights.
The Palmarium Reserve was a beautiful oasis of sandy beaches. On the balconies of our rooms we made friends with the local lemurs, who loved to visit - some of us even had visitors inside our rooms!
We explored the island at night to see the adorable aye-ayes and, during the day, we walked the island and were able to interact and feed lemurs - it really was the most amazing experience to have a lemur hold your hand!
On our second day, we were treated to a show of traditional dancing, and even had a go at balancing bottles on our head and trying to dance - to varying degrees of success! We also had the privilege to visit a local school, we had packed stationary, footballs and posters among other gifts and the whole school came out to greet us. We were able to introduce ourselves to each class and see what lessons and topics they had been studying. Some of us even practiced our French conversation skills while the school pupils practiced their English with us.
This truly was a once in a lifetime experience and I know that at the end of our adventure we all felt very lucky to have had the opportunity to visit such a beautiful, welcoming and wonderful country.
Our time in Madagascar was truly special and I know we all made incredible memories and took some stunning photos. It was a very special week for all that we'll never forget.
Miss Kelly Malan, Housemistress and Teacher of Classics