A Devon zoo educator has returned from the learning experience of a lifetime in Africa.
Paignton Zoo Environmental Park educator Katy Barton was awarded a travelling fellowship from the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust to visit Madagascar to study wildlife and environmental education.
“I started in the capital, Antananarivo, before setting off around the country to see national parks, nature reserves and schools. I met local people including a lecturer at the Ecole normale superiere who was involved in a lemur book project. I visited the headquarters of bodies such as the National Parks Association, Madagascar Wildlife Conservation and Voakajy, a Malagasy biodiversity organisation who do lots of bat and frog education work. I also went to Tsimbazaza Zoo, in the capital.”
She saw wildlife in abundance. There were day geckos and chameleons ranging in size from the tiny pygmy species that is just 4 centimetres long to Parson’s chameleon, at 68 centimetres in length one of the world’s largest chameleons and about the size of a domestic cat.
“I saw 16 different species of lemur, including lots of baby ring tailed lemurs and baby sifakas – an endangered type of lemur - and even baby indri!” Indri are the largest living lemurs.
“I also saw lots of interesting frogs, insects and birds. I saw striped tenrecs – small insectivorous mammals found only in Madagascar - and a banded mongoose, all ginger and fluffy with a huge tail. There were spiders the size of my hand – and finding a scorpion in the bed I had just been lying on was not so nice!”
Katy came across amazing plants, like the baobob tree and euphorbia, along with fantastic landscapes, including rainforest, dry deciduous forest and strange rock formations around Isalo National Park. However, the trip highlighted the huge pressures on the island’s unique wildlife:
“I saw a lot of degradation. We drove through several bush fires and saw evidence of many, many more. There was just so much deforestation almost everywhere. Some land had been cleared for paddy fields, but on the hilltops there were just the odd tree, surrounded by scrub and secondary growth.
“I learnt a lot about the threats facing the wildlife in Madagascar and how they are all inextricably linked with human poverty. I picked up some really interesting educational techniques and ideas on how to get messages to many people on a low budget. It really drummed in to me how successful conservation work needs to have a multi-faceted approach, tackling poverty and education alongside any sort of habitat management.
“Hopefully the links I made and the things I saw will help Paignton Zoo to get involved in some educational project there one day.
“Madagascar is very rewarding for wildlife lovers – there are amazing animals just everywhere. Many of the hotels I stayed in were empty – although Madagascar is safe to visit, the political upheaval at the start of the year really took its toll on the country’s tourism industry, adding to poverty when the people are at their most vulnerable.”
Paignton Zoo Environmental Park is a registered charity. For more information go to www.paigntonzoo.org.uk or ring (01803) 697500.
ENDS
Philip Knowling Press Officer 01803 697568
