Stanley the turtle and the Mauritius crew

The final two weeks of the Gaggle’s migration to Mauritius is fun-filled and busy. Due to a cyclone passing just off the coast of Mauritius, the Gaggle spend most of their time on land, as rough weather conditions prevent them from entering the water to complete their transects. Instead they venture inland to the mountains of Tamarin falls, where they trek down the side of a canyon and up into the mountains in search of Nirvana. They stumble upon it, when the fearless Jessie decides to climb a rock face whilst the others are resting.

A deep pool under a cascading waterfall provides refreshment for the hot and tired gaggle and a selection of the Dutch invaders. Whilst they are swimming, Jessie once again decides to go on an adventure and climbs the next rockface up, proceeding, after heavy caution from the alpha male, to jump into the water from the top of the cliff – a height of roughly 7.5m! As all goes well, several members of the gaggle and Dutch invaders decide to join in the fun before climbing the long and tiring trek back up the side of the canyon. T

After a hard day of conducting transects on Tuesday, the wind becomes too strong and gaggle flee North to La Vanille Reserve des Mascareignes to visit the crocodile farm and the large array of animals in the reserve. They see monkeys, insects, crocodiles, amphibians, reptiles and giant tortoises undergoing X rated activities, complete with awkward sound effects. After arriving home, the gaggle bid farewell to the two local Dutch invaders that they have been acquainted with. It’s a sad evening.

On Friday the gaggle are still unable to go out to their research sites due to the rough weather, so instead they take an eye-opening and educational trip to Ile aux Aigrettes. Ile aux aigrettes is an small island (27 ha) off the coast of south eastern Mauritius that has recently undergone a transformation. The Mauritian wildlife foundation has over the past 30 years worked to restore Ile aux aigrettes to its original condition before the arrival of human beings. This was a monumental task, considering the large number of species that have become extinct (roughly 70% of Mauritius’ pre-man flora and fauna are completely gone) and the huge abundance of invasive species (99% of the flora and fauna on mainland Mauritius is not native). The gaggle is shocked and saddened by the appalling statistics and the trip reinforces in their minds the reason why they are there.

On a brighter note, whilst exploring the island, the gaggle come across a baby giant tortoise, (Stanley) smaller than the palms of their hands and take immense joy in carrying it around the island to give to the wildlife workers to raise and care for.

After returning from Ile Aux Aigrettes, Gaggle member Dani comes home to a surprise birthday party to celebrate her 21st year of existence, with balloons and confetti and cake. As night falls, the gaggle continue the celebration with exploding fireworks on the roof to indulge their pyrotechnic nature, and drive to the famous C Beach club where they are treated to a private party by the pool.

The gaggle take Saturday off to recover, but Sunday brings a new adventure: a climb to the highest peak in Mauritius. The views are amazing, the walk strenuous and difficult, but after the challenging trek at Tamarin falls, the gaggle’s stamina has improved and they return home weary yet satisfied.
In the final week of the Gaggle’s stay in Mauritius the weather finally clears up and the pressure is on to finish all the research before their presentation on Friday to a local resort, Preskil.
The gaggle must inform the staff and owners of the research they have been conducting and the dangers threatening the coral reefs that bring so much Tourism to the island. The gaggle finish all the research efficiently and effectively after improving greatly on their fish counting methods. Only one small mishap occurs when a new skipper is hired, but he soon proves to be no challenge to the position of the alpha and beta males and the hierarchy is left as is.

On the last day before their presentation to Preskil the gaggle venture to the furthest reaches of the reef to search for turtles in the sea grass meadows. They turn out to be shy and elusive, but several gaggle members are lucky enough to spot a couple of the majestic creatures and record their size and behaviour. They then return home to work on their final presentation.

To be continued…
P.S.
The gaggle-gecko war is still raging, but it seems the gaggle now has the upper hand, picking the geckos off the walls one by one and releasing them into the wild.

Beach cleans ups and diving in Mauritius

COUNTRY: Mauritius
PROGRAM: UniBreak
PROJECT: Marine Conservation
WRITTEN BY: Emalyn, Jessie, Nikola, Amelia, Tash and Dani

The second week of the gaggle’s temporary migration to the island of Mauritius brings many exciting new experiences. They start the week with more data collection on the beautiful, yet threatened, coral reefs of Blue Bay. Having now perfected their fish identifying and counting techniques, the gaggle can complete their transects much more confidently and, hopefully, more accurately.
Due to the nature of their volunteer work, the gaggle must adapt their waking hours to the tide, so they are at their most active when the tide is high and fish counting is possible. Unfortunately this means that for the next week, the gaggle must get up early to start work at around 9am.

On Wednesday the gaggle expand their territory to include the town of Tamarin, where they take a break from their underwater escapades to educate the public about the importance of conserving Mauritius’ marine environment. They join forces with fellow conservation tribes, such as the Mauritius Marine Conservation Society (MMCS) and Quicksilver to promote marine conservation to passersby at a local shopping centre. The gaggle soon prove to be particularly adept at this task, as it involves two things that they, being females, are particularly good at: talking and playing with children. The gaggle perform services such as face painting, whilst members of the MMCS give educational presentations and colouring in competitions to the local children of Mauritius, as they know the importance of teaching children from a young age about the dangers threatening their local reefs and what they can do to help.

On Thursday the gaggle takes a break from their busy work schedule to learn the art of scuba diving, or for the two of them already possessing their scuba diving qualifications, to improve their diving techniques in a brand new environment. For the beginners, the idea of diving for the first time is exciting and a little nerve-wracking, but they are in good hands and complete their first dive without any mishaps. They are marvelled by the new underwater world that they are exposed to, just a few metres deeper than they can reach by snorkelling. The two diving pros are taken to a deeper site, where they explore caves and underwater tunnels.

Enthralled by the beautiful underwater reefs, the gaggle find an excuse to go diving again on Saturday during a community beach clean. Staff, the gaggle (sporting Australian Flag tattoos and red, white and blue zinc in celebration of Australia Day), and volunteers from the community make sure no part of the beach is left unclean by sending their workers out to all parts of the beach. The experienced divers venture to the deeper sections of the beach to collect rubbish whilst scuba diving, whilst the rest divide themselves between walking along the beach and snorkelling in the shallows. The amount of rubbish the foraging team collects is shocking, but will hopefully send a message to the local community about littering and protecting the reef.

After a long day of picking up rubbish, the gaggle celebrate Australia Day in typical Aussie style, by partying hard in the nocturnal institutes of Flic en Flac, returning home just in time to watch the sun rise over a nice and clean beach.

Six Young Women have invaded Mauritius

COUNTRY: Mauritius
PROGRAM: UniBreak
PROJECT: Marine Conservation
WRITTEN BY: Emalyn, Jessie, Nikola, Amelia, Tash and Dani

Six young Homo Sapien females have recently invaded Mauritius, a tropical island off the south coast of Africa. Hailing from the far reaches of Australia, they converged at Perth airport last Sunday in order to launch a synchronized attack on Plaisance Airport.

Since their arrival these women, renowned for having an open nature, have formed a tight gaggle along with the recent addition of an alpha male.
Daily life of the six young women consists mainly of waking up mid-morning, constructing a semi-nutritious breakfast and making their way to Chanteau Vent to meet the Alpha Male for a break down of the day’s work. The line between work and pleasure is often difficult to discern within this species.

The gaggle of girls then proceeds to the vessel of love in which they will travel to the research site. On approaching the vessel a new underdog, with tattoos and a ponytail, posing as the vessel’s skipper, suddenly presents a new threat to the Alpha male’s position within the gaggle.

The research conducted by the gaggle takes the form of a 70 metre transect laid out on the reef floor, along which they snorkel leisurely in pairs counting particular fish species. The gaggle’s first attempt at this research method proves to be somewhat dismal, and this was not helped by the interference of a rival gaggle, posing as ‘tourists’ who mistakenly removed the transect as they believed it to be a pollutant to the reef. However their spirit is not broken and their will to carry on and make a difference continues.

After a few hours of this research and marine-based observation, the gaggle retires to land in search of food. The first group shopping trip proves to be mildly unsuccessful and disorganised (following in the footsteps of their scatter-brained Alpha Male), the gaggle returning with only copious amounts of liquor, chocolate and not a single vegetable in sight.

Aside from conducting transects, the educational experience of the gaggle continues through a visit to the seagrass meadow to study, examine and document photographically, the juvenile fish species in their nurseries. In addition to the seagrass meadow, a trip is made to Blue Bay’s marine reserve to witness the devastating destruction of the reefs. A mix of coral bleaching, overfishing, polluting and excessive boat use, stemming from a lack of enforced regulations within the protected area of Blue Bay, has undermined the integrity of the reef and destroyed its splendid submerged scenery. It is because of this destruction that the gaggle has decided to volunteer their time to interacting with previously established research and conservation group situated in Blue Bay.

Indulging their collective natures they expand their known territory to include the Capital Region of Port Louis, where they encounter the city’s fish market and put their newly acquired knowledge of the local fish species to good use.
All in all, the week ends happily on a rainy, hungover, Sunday afternoon.

P.S Gaggle encounters to initiate themselves into the local population:
• Sunday 13th: family dinner
• Monday 14th: Lagon Bleu welcome drinks on the beach
• Wednesday 16th: Dinner at the Steakhouse with members of the Lagon Bleu pod
• Friday 18th: Nest warming ‘Barbeque’ (at which they displayed the typical homosapien trait of drunken debauchery)
• Saturday 19th: Lots of mopping and an encounter with the invading Dutch student troops in the nocturnal institutes (nightclubs) of Grand Baie.

P.P.S
Meanwhile, civil war has erupted within the nest between the gaggle and the Common Mauritian Gecko, who have demonstrated their aggression towards the gaggle with silent ambushes, invasions of cereal boxes and untimely wakeup calls. More to come on this rivalry.

Weekends in Mauritius - UniBreak week 2 & 3

Blog: Week two.

This week we learned what it means to have all plans and back up plans spoiled by the weather. After a good week of getting more involved in the MMCS dolphin and turtle watching programme, and gaining a much better understanding of how things work, we planned a very eventful weekend. A boat party around the giant coral rock formation off shore, tamarin falls, and a Port Louis adventure or the markets in Quartre Borne lined up for the weekend.

None of these things came into fruition as a cyclone off coast of Madagascar brought with it plenty of rain to ruin our weekend. We spent a very antsy Friday night and Saturday indoors, frustrated that we couldn't be exploring the island in our time off. It rained so much that later in the week we drove passed some roads on our way back from Le Morne that had collapsed with the down poor.

Lucky for us, Daksh - our in house host - made hasty plans for a visit to the North for a rendezvous with the other Antipodeans group staying in Blue Bay. Late Saturday afternoon we all piled into a van and traveled up to the North, where we ate at a very nice restaurant that had generous servings for very small amounts of money.

The other group had planned to meet us there, and did so, but not after a long trip of mechanical issues and so we had already finished by the time they arrived. Afterwards we proceeded to have a night out in our first Mauritius night life experience. It was pretty fun, the dance floor was (thankfully) so air conditioned it felt like stepping into a freezer, which was very welcome as outside was pooring with rain and more humid than we would have liked. The boys - having indulged in a little too many gin an tonics at the restaurant - joined our driver for a nap in the van, the other group headed off similar time, and Amy, Ella, Daksh and his friends and sister danced well into the morning. Once we had had our fill, we piled back into the van and made it back home in time for the sunset.

We may not have got to visit the tourist attractions we would have liked, but good fun was had by all.

Week three.

What a perfect week! After the dreary weather of the weekend, we were thrilled that the sun was out once more for our boat expeditions. We soaked up the sun like only people who have had their entire weekend upset by clouds and who are keen to get a tan only can. So you can imagine our stress when - come Friday - we were alerted that Cyclone Ethel hanging out pretty close, and there was a small possibility than it might come out way, or just bring some generally unforgivable weather. However I think we are still thanking our lucky stars that cyclone Ethel did not come to visit.

It was a long weekend this week for Chinese new year. On Saturday we went to Port Louis, the capital of Mauritius, to meet with Ralco, who was to show us around and about. Port Louis was loud and busy. The bus trip there could only be likened to a ride upon the Knight Bus from Harry Potter, however things didn't magically jump out of the way. There were so many close shaves with cyclists, motorcyclists, pedestrians and drivers.

I was very happy to be off that bus. Once we'd arrived, got lost, and then had some lovely locals walk us five blocks to where we were meant to meet Ralco - which was one of two McDonalds restaurants in Mauritius and the only one that served beef - we were all very thirsty hungry and hot, so as we were early we decided to compare Maccas in Mauritius to our own. I got a chicken big mac, which is as it sounds, a big mac but with chicken instead of beef. It was better than I expected, though I was very disappointed that it did not come with Mac sauce, but I suppose you can never really please an ex-McDonalds employee. At the waterfront we saw a great Chinese dancing dragon display, which had so many firecrackers going off that no one could hear anyone else talk! It was wonderful to see.

Then after a quick look around the expensive waterfront 'craft markets' we headed off to the more authentic Mauritian markets, where we were constantly hailed, requested to look at some special item and generally over charged. After the first purchases though we soon found our feet in the bartering word, and made a few purchases. Two of us purchased two supposed water proof watches, however we are both so worried about getting a watch tan that we have hardly worn them anyway. From there we did a quick walk through the meat market, in which none of us were over keen of buying any meat, as most of it was hooves or other unpleasant things.

We were quickly losing time so we said farewell to Ralco and then headed to Pamplemousse gardens, which was absolutely beautiful, all the trees were huge and old and interesting, and the lilies were metres wide, however they had no shortage of mosquitoes and we regretted not planning ahead for that once we were all scratching madly. They also had tortoises, which were huge and strange! Afterwards we visited Daksh's families restaurant, which we stumbled upon by chance and were very shocked to see him there.

On Sunday we went to blue bay to help the other Antipodeans group in a coral awareness day on the beach, where there was live music, face painting and free glassbottom boat rides out to the marine park where we all went snorkeling. The coral was much bigger than where we usually snorkel, but it was sad that it was fairly bleached. Afterwards we chilled out on the beach, and spent some time talking to tourists and locals about dolphins, and of course we all got our faces painted by the other group.

Our weekend concluded with a Catamaran trip on Monday which has been the highlight of my trip so far. We nearly lost all of the money we spent on it due to my poor organisation skills and booking it on the wrong day, however after some hasty begging emails and phone calls, and a small fee, the day went as planned where we spent all day soaking up the sun, being waited, snorkeling and generally just enjoying ourselves. On board was open bar and buffet barbecue lunch. Then it took us to Ile Aux Cerfs where we went parasailing, and those who were keen went wakeboarding and shopped in even more markets. Ile Aux Cerfs had been described as a secluded island paradise, which was only half true, there was definitely no shortage of people or shops on the island, but it still was very beautiful. We all came home smiling, burned and with incredible sunglasses tans.

Dolphin and Turtle Conservation in Mauritius

Douglas Adams wrote when he Authored 'Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy' that one should never go anywhere without his or her towel, the logic behind it being that somebody who can stay in control of virtually any situation is somebody who is said to know where his or her towel is. As the last few panicky items were thrown into my suitcase, which the scale were telling me was reaching its limit, I decided to only take one beach towel and remove my heavy bath towel, my only regret is that I did not back it in my hand luggage, and immediately mop my face off with it upon exiting the airport. Golly gosh is Mauritius humid! I mean, I am talking back of knee-cap sweat, moustache sweat and embarrassed-to-shake-people's-hands-whom-you've-just-met-due-to-torrid-sweat kinda humid. Somehow though, the only downfall to this beautiful island is also part of its charm, and I have grown to...well, not hate it.

The people here beautiful, they are not at all perturbed by the cockroaches that are the size of baby mammoths, or the heat or the hordes of mosquitoes (which no one was at all exaggerating about) and instead compensate by endlessly throwing themselves into the ocean - in which the water is so warm it is only just a relief from the humidity - how can anyone not love the atmosphere!? The people here seem to follow no rules, and their freedom in infectious. At any point of the day going down to La Preneuse the public beach there are endlessly locals drumming and dancing, or playing Rastafarian music. Where ever you go people are so friendly and say bonjour, not in a pushy way at all, just genuine friendliness. I wish I had learned more French so I sounded more genuine when I attempt to greet them back.

I can't believe it has only been one week.

There are five volunteers from the Antipodeans Unibreak programme living in this fantastically located house in Black River, 200 metres away from the beach and a five minute the supermarket. All of us volunteers are doing some kind of Marine/coast/environment/etc, course so it is a very like minded group that we are in. With us also is a South African volunteer not with antipodeans and not marine based, but very knowledgeable and passionate all the same! Doing the dolphin research is amazing, it is endlessly worth while for my own endeavors (I have now completely change my views of not bothering dreaming about working with dolphins due to lack of job prospects to having faith and trying to get into it). I have just finished my bachelor in Marine Biology and am about to begin honours myself, so it is a well deserved holiday I feel, and being able to do something worth while in between the endless snorkelling, sun baking and drinking mojitos definitely takes away any holiday guilt one might have about having too much fun. We have been also taking back in some turtle monitoring, which is not as well developed as the dolphin monitoring so feels beneficial to be helping.

We go out in a boat 3 times a week and afterward do data entry, we also have tourist surveys on other days - I have not had to do any yet and it's probably the thing I am looking forward to the least, but it seems crucially important. When monitoring dolphins, there are around 25 boats, some of them rather large, all toting tourists who jump in and try and swim with the dolphins. It was absolute insanity, therefore, as it is only tourists getting in, I understand why tourist surveys are crucial, I just hope they speak English!

Everything is so green and leafy, every tree seems to bear fruit or flowers, every house has palms and looks like a holiday house, all the fish are friendly and colourful! This is a fantastic paradise.

I never want to go home!

Jesse Jorgensen-Price.

Antips Staff Hit the Road

Local kids on the beach in Vanuatu

As part of providing researched and sustainable projects for Antips volunteers, our staff members often visit destinations first hand to gather information and get a feel for a particular project.

Over the last month Colin, Danielle and Joe all did just this, and headed off to research potential projects in Mauritius, Vanuatu and parts of South East Asia. All have now returned home to Sydney with glowing reviews of the locals and their communities in each country. Below is a quick wrap up from each trip.

Danielle Bukovinsky
Vanuatu
After a few years discussing the possibility to include Vanuatu as one of our destinations, I finally had the opportunity to visit and research the opportunities that it could offer Antipodeans, Abroad. I wasn’t disappointed. In 2007, Vanuatu was voted as being the “happiest” country in the world and it is easy to see why. The people are amongst the friendliest I’ve met with big welcoming smiles and a laid back sense of island time!

Freshwater grotto in Vanuatu

Local kids in Vanuatu

Much of time was spent on Rah Island in the Banks group of islands located in the far northern TORBA Provence. This is a very special place, rich in Melanesian culture and unique customs from the region. The small island of Rah and the nearby “mainland” of Mota Lava will offer great opportunities for our Expedition & World Tours programs where Teams could be involved in building and renovation programs to improve the local community co-operative and hall and assist in building a much needed kindergarten on the island.

The Banks Island group also offers potential for our GapBreak and UniBreak programs where students could be placed in the local English or French schools on a teaching placement, or in the local Medical Post on Mota Lava to assist with outpatient clinics, antenatal and prenatal clinics, family planning and health education. There is also the potential for environmental and conservation projects, as well as facilitating a drop in centre for school leavers to educate them in mechanics, carpentry, traditional cooking and weaving techniques.

The remote location of Rah and Mota Lava, means you are a world away from things we take for granted. There are only four vehicles on the island, more often only two are road worthy. Most people walk or use traditional outrigger canoes. There is no electricity, no email, no shops, and very few tourists. There is however a welcoming string band, men’s and women’s custom dancing, sand drawings, traditional fishing, island reefs to explore with a colourful underwater world, endless white sand beaches and fantastic sunsets to watch and ponder the important things in life! Watch the website for the inclusion of Vanuatu as a destination you can travel to.

Joe Lodge
Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam
It was great to get back to South East Asia, it’s been a few years! I loved it. Not only the weather, but the food, the friendly people, the ability to be able to travel so easily from place to place and just soak it all in.

It was fantastic to visit our existing projects and see what all our Expedition, GapBreak and UniBreak students have done in the past 12 months, and the progress they have made. I was also lucky enough to make some great contacts for new potential volunteer projects.

In particular, I visited some new teaching and medical placements on the Thailand/Burma border that looked worthwhile, and very sustainable to the local community. I was then able to drop into some community projects in various Cambodian and Thai village communities, that would work well for our school Expedition program. These villages had no tourists and were definitely a highlight of my trip. My last stop was to visit some fantastic new GapBreak projects in the beautiful islands of southern Thailand, and get involved in some water activities!

To be able to access to these amazing communities, that the normal back-packer doesn’t go to, was a real pleasure for me. To sum it up? Great kids to meet, fantastic small local schools, the elephant sanctuaries, amazing food, stunning beaches and really fun and friendly people. I loved it all.

Colin Carpenter
Mauritius
Mauritius is a fascinating mix of Indian, African and French cultures. French is the predominant language amongst educated Mauritians but Creole is spoken by Afro-Indian locals. English is spoken as a second language. After meeting with three local NGO's, all involved with reef and sea animal conservation, I came to the conclusion that this would be a fantastic placement for our Antipodeans students.

The sea animal conservation project involves dolphin and whale watching, with the local organisation equipped with their own speed boat with professional driver. Students could go out on the boats Mon-Thurs, following the commercial tourist dolphin-watching boats and get up close and personal with dolphins. The aim is to observe, and record the dolphins and whale activities.

There are a range of exciting opportunities in this beautiful area for Antipodeans students – a very worthwhile trip indeed!