May 31, 2004
"Parc Ivoloina"
by Jodie LaPoint

Today the Fossa Team has the opportunity to visit Parc Ivoloina. I'm excited to go because about 5 years ago I spent a month there doing a small research project as a student with SIT. The park lies in a beautiful patch of eastern rainforest just north of Tamatave. Visitors can see lemurs, radiated tortoises, and other Malagasy wildlife in a small zoo, or hike around a palm-lined lake and find wild lemurs. Ivoloina is also a center for educational and agricultural programs for the surrounding communities.The park is supported by the Madagascar Fauna Group, a consortium of conservation-minded zoos and universities. However, it has truly survived and flourished due to the hard work and perseverance of Andrea Katz and Charlie Welsh.

I really admire them and their work, so it is great to hear that Charlie will meet us and give us a tour of Ivoloina himself. This is a pleasant surprise because he and his family are in the process of moving back to the states after 17 years in Madagascar--I can only imagine what a difficult transition that must be. We meet Charlie at the MFG office in Tamatave early in the morning. They've moved the office since I was last there and I'm very impressed with the spacious new quarters. We spend a few minutes talking about the research, conservation, and education programs MFG is involved with, then head out to the park. We drive out of town and turn down a muddy road that follows the shore of a broad flat river. People sell bananas and litchees along the roadside from small wooden or bamboo stalls. Charlie first shows us a demonstration area for a new reforestation and agroforestry project. Though the program is still in its infancy,they already have a nursery of young trees, talapia ponds, and a hillside growing every crop imaginable in neatly terraced plots. There are avacados, bananas, vanilla, cloves, peppercorns, papaya, mangoes, rice, squash, sweet potatoes, raffia, pinapple, sugar cane, passionfruit, and more. Next we head down to the zoo. A free ranging black-and-white ruffed lemur sits on a fence and calmly gazes at us under heavy eyelids, as the rest of his group siestas in the trees overhead. Maybe he is one of the same individuals I studied here years ago, or at least a relativge. He sits long enough for a photo, them ambles off. As we walk around, Charlie tells us about the education program at Ivoloina. Previously, about 90% of local primary school children were unable to pass the exam that would allow them to enter secondary school. They began to offer classes at the park that combined environmental education and the required courses. Now there is a 90% success rate and children walk for miles to attend the school. Charlies say that about 100 kids now squeeze into the little classroom each week, and they want to build an additional room. Ivoloina is one of those rare places in Madagascar that leaves you with a sense of hope for the future. In the 5 years since I last visited, the park and its programs have grown and improved--and it wouldn't have been possible without the remarkable dedication of a few individuals and the enthusiasm of a community.