"DJ to President: Change Rocks Madagascar"

That's the title of a news article found online by Barry (our academic assistant). Oy. (TGV was a DJ first, then mayor of Tana, and now president.) Good pun, Cannaberra Times journalist...

Also here's a local North Carolina news article on Erin, one of the students that got sent to Botswana:

http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=6717427

Well. As your may have guessed, or heard, Ravalomanana has officially resigned. There's debate as to whether or not it was forced at gunpoint. Hopefully not, because then TGV's govt can be recognized as legitimate and we can stay. Brattleboro (SIT's campus) is making a decision tonight and as of now they're leaning towards continuing our program. As far as we can tell, now that Ravalomanana's gone, people are pretty satisfied here on the whole. For the time being. No more grève.

This means we'll be leaving Friday morning for our beautiful tour of the protected areas here, ending at Ranomafana (literally, "hot water") National Park - a rainforest, finally! Then we'll be in Fort Dauphin for a few days for ISP prep, leaving April 2nd for our ISP's. I'll be studying with Reef Doctor, an NGO based in Ifaty, a village about an hour outside of Tuléar. It's right by the Bay of Ranobe, which is bordered by a big ol' CORAL REEF. Love. Hopefully I'll be studying the ecology of the known green sea turtle nesting beaches, and maybe comparing whatever data I decide on collecting to non-nesting beaches or to previously found data from other beaches around Madagascar or other parts of the world. Maybe it can lead to directing the focus of conservation efforts on the beaches? Some of the villages in the area are known to collect the turtle eggs, while at other sites WWF has told them that if they touch the eggs they'll go to jail. Maybe a bit harsh, but I want to look at how effectively that's being followed too. I still have to hear from my advisor on that, I have no idea how feasible it is. We'll see. There's 3 other SIT students, Sara Jackie and Chelsea, that will also be doing their ISP's with Reef Doctor. Should be fun!

Later gators,
Karen