Art for Gorillas

Category: Art of Conservation (AoC), Community Based Tourism | Date: Aug 04 2008 | By: Julie

Movin’ It on Holiday to Madagascar.

I’d like to share with you short videos of the people I work with here in Rwanda and people I meet along the way who are contributing to conservation.

Please bare with me - videos, editing, YouTube are all new to me!

We’ll start with words from an ecotour guide in Madagascar, Vy RAHARINOSY, as he shares a little about what he does, what is his favorite animal, and the art he likes the most in Madagascar and conclude the video with a taste of Malagasy culture. If you’ve been following Art for Gorillas, perhaps you are familiar with our approach to conservation - my team and I believe in promoting symbiotic relationships between people, animals, and nature. What so impressed me and my fellow travel companions about Vy during our tour of Madagascar is how he brought these aspects together for us and we left the island feeling we knew a lot more - not just about lemurs, but about the people, their culture, their needs, the environmental and economic challenges they face. Vy holds so much knowledge about the many national parks and reserves - each with its own unique ecosystems. And get this, he studied philosophy in India and sings Elvis and Nat King Cole beautifully and loves dogs.

Vy Raharinosy, my Malagasy Hero

Vy hires superb local forest guides who offer excellent details about the animals, reptiles, birds and trees. Above is ‘le petit frere’, the little brother, who along with his big brother, sister, and father is a guide in Andasibe-Mantadia National Park - a rainforest situated in the east of the island.

I stood entranced when this Indri indri began its calls to the other lemurs - I’ve never heard anything like it. Still in Andasibe-Mantadia National Park.

Mama Indri indri with her baby’s head poking out from the comfort and safety of her belly!

Above, a Diademed Sifaka in the same montane forest - about 4 hours by car from the capital, Antananarivo. Madagascar’s rainforests were once in a band extending from the north to the south. Now only fragments remain due to deforestation caused by the timber industry, slash-and-burn agriculture practices, and the production of charcoal for cooking.

Here, Vy’s favorite lemur, the bamboo lemur. Hiking through forests, I was comparing the plight of the mountain gorilla whose habitat is a chain of volcanoes extending through DRC, Rwanda, and Uganda to that of the lemur found only in Madagascar - both primate species are endangered. ORTPN, Rwanda’s park and tourism service and a partner of Art of Conservation is protecting the gorillas primarily through tourism, empowering park staff, and trying to set in motion sustainable income generation and good health for the communities surrounding the park.

Do those of you who have traveled to Rwanda think that ORTPN is perhaps a model for Madagascar? Can increased tourism help the Malagasy?

I booked my ecotour with Ged at Terra Incognita Ecotours. Ged brings clients to Rwanda to see the mountain gorillas and this is how I got to know him. Click here to visit Ged’s wonderful ecotour offerings.

More on Madagascar coming up.
Julie

Tags: Art of Conservation (AoC), Rwanda Park & Tourism (ORTPN)