Dispatches From The Field

11 July, 2003 -- Ted Gilliland

After advertising that my insect collecting trip would involve roughly 8 hours of hiking and return well after lunch, I didn’t have many volunteers that were willing to go with me. In fact, Line (pronounced Lynn), a villager from Ambodimanga, was the only person willing to go with me.

Line is a trainee for the ecological monitoring team. In the future, there will be a team of local people who will continue to build upon the biodiversity database that the Fossa Project has initiated. The Ecological Monitoring Team will also work as a roving foot patrol helping to protect the Ankarafantsika area.

As Line and I walked out to the first area where we would be collecting insects, Line showed an interest in the birds along the trail so we spent some time reviewing the bird’s English, scientific, and Malagasy names. I showed her the method that I used to record bird sightings in a field notebook in hopes that she could use them in the future with the Ecological Monitoring Team. I have been birdwatching for about five years so I was thrilled to have someone else interested in stopping and observing the birds along the trail. I gave her my binoculars, and she kept them for the rest of the day. Her excitement to use them made realize what my dust-covered every-day possessions at home could mean to someone here.

As we talked, I explained all of my research methods and how to record data like weather conditions. My limited knowledge of the Malagasy language made that an interesting endeavor. I was impressed with her. She showed interest in research methods, insects, and particularly birds. Somewhere in the middle of the hike, which totaled about 16km, I took out one of the few snacks that I brought from the US, Starburst candy. As we chewed on the only thing that made our 8-hour hike in the blazing sun enjoyable, I communicated as best I could in Malagasy that the candy was delicious.