World Challenge 2010 In association with Shell Dialogues News Week BBC World News
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Blue Ventures – One Reef at a Time - Rob Gould - Madagascar

27-09-2010

It was 3.34am, 6 minutes before my alarm was due to go off. I heard a solitary car outside and the engine cut out very close to the hotel. I hope this is my taxi as it might be tight to get the 6.10 flight unless we leave right on time. A glance out of the window just revealed two men lying under blankets around a wood fire on the pavement.

As I creaked downstairs heavily laden with camera and tripod, I heard activity at the front door. A sleepy sounding girl held the door open, my driver was there. I stepped out relieved to see him.

My driver had brought his brother and at first I wondered why, but it soon occurred to me that it was a security precaution. I slid into the back seat.

Within minutes of setting off the road was blocked with tires and people with machetes waving for us to stop. I settle down in the back seat behind steamed up windows.

The capital city Antananarivo feels noticeably less safe than the last time I was here four years and one military coup ago.

My driver sounded worried when he said something in Malagasy to his brother, but we spun around fast and went the wrong way down a one-way street instead. The traffic was clear and in places we passed people huddled around fires. There certainly was a feeling that I wouldn't want to be wandering around alone too much, my limited French adding to the potential for confusion. We made good time; soon the delicate new moon was flashing in the rice paddies either side of the road. As we drive though a silent town I heard a girl screaming, a blood curdling screech. It tool me a full second to realise it was the driver's brother's ring tone.

We arrived at the airport at 4.09, exactly 21 minutes from the hotel, and 2 hours before the flight. Phew. If I'd missed this then the whole trip would have been in jeopardy… and there was a long way to go yet.

Ten minutes after arriving (and taking the driver's number for the return journey) I am sitting in a cold and stark departure lounge of the domestic flight terminal. When we arrived in Tulear I'd already met Kirsten on the plane, an economist who is working with the fishing village and will be sharing my 4x4. While she went to get stuff for the journey, I interviewed Alasdair Harris, one of the founders of Blue Ventures.

A convoy of brand new blacked-out land cruisers drove slowly past on their way from the port. "Military government," Alasdair said.

We'd been going for about 5 hours and seemed to be making good time on the soft sand of the road north up the coast from Tulear, with a great sunset appearing over the Mozambique channel. There was about 40km to go to our destination, the fishing village of Andavadoka when a very bad scraping sound came from under the pickup.

The driver stopped and leapt out, looking spooked, he soon set off on foot back down the track, we all got out to see the drivers side rear wheel had come off and Bic, the Blue Ventures dive instructor set off with the driver to see if they could find the 6 nuts that had held the wheel on - we carried a spare wheel, but not the nuts to hold it on. Kirsten, and I sat climbed some rocks, while trying without success to get a mobile signal. We returned to the stricken 4x4 to see Bic and the driver way down the track, still looking hopefully in the sand.

"Talk about needles in haystacks... We have no hope of finding the nuts" said Kirsten. I agreed. But, as I spoke I looked down and there was one right by my foot... As I showed Kirsten, she pointed down by my other foot. "There's another!" We walked towards Bic and the driver who were miserably walking back to the truck. "We found two."

The driver looked a lot happier, and said he had the other four. 20 minutes later, after a combination of jacking the truck up on the soft white sand, and digging sand out from under the axle, the wheel was replaced and were on our way again.

Posted by Rob Gould

Blue Ventures – One Reef at a Time - Shawn Peabody

21-10-2010

I'd received an excited e mail from my boss earlier that week: "BBC World Challenge cameraman Rob Gould on his way from London. Give him the tour of a lifetime – show him why our work matters so much, and maybe have a word with the dolphins to arrange a jumping show in the lagoon, and don’t forget the whale song at sunset."

We were overwhelmed to learn that Rob would be visiting our work, but somewhat horrified to hear he was only allowing himself 2 days to see a project that normally takes at least 3 days to reach from Madagascar’s capital Antananarivo. Blue Ventures’ work takes the word remote to a new level, hidden away deep in southern Madagascar. The scenery and landscape here is beautiful almost beyond belief, but transport is a notorious challenge. Roads are indistinguishable from ox-cart tracks, and for seafaring travelers unpredictable seas can turn from calm paradise to raging ocean in minutes.

For the traditional Vezo fisherman of the southwest of Madagascar – the communities with which Blue Ventures works, these challenges are dealt with easily and safely. They simply get used to waiting and moving slowly. Unlike Rob, they don’t have planes to catch.

Rob made his way to the project with the Blue Ventures 4x4, an indestructable offroad beast that handles all terrain with ease and class. Or so we thought. Barreling down the road at 30 km/h (which is quite fast on a rocky dirt track) the back left wheel fell off. Luckily, Rob and his driver found the mischievous lug-nuts were only delayed a few hours.

Two days later, after a packed schedule of shooting which highlighted Blue Ventures’ community conservation work, Rob jumped in a motorised pirogue (outrigger canoe) and headed South to visit our community aquaculture and reproductive health programmes. The trip down the coast was an idyllic journey through some of the most beautiful coastline in the Indian Ocean. Everything was going swimmingly, and after filming the community-managed seaweed and sea cucumber farms, Rob called "that's a wrap," stuffed his camera and 8 digital video cassettes (all his Madagascar footage) in a dry bag and jumped back in the pirogue.

It was then that the southern trade wind started to blow, hard. With the wind behind the boat as they made their way north into the late afternoon the filming team sat tight for several hours until just before sunset, hoping in vain that the wind would calm. Two metre waves rolled and pitched the pirogue as they made their way slowly up the coast. The Malagasy staff broke out into song, relying on music to ward off any anxiety. Rob preferred to rely on his faith in the dry bag protecting his camera and footage, putting on three lifejackets to keep warm.

Suddenly, the rescue boat surged into view, dispatched from Blue Ventures HQ when the team hadn't returned Andavadoaka by sunset. Rob was cold and wet, but he assures us his footage was fine, and genuinely seemed to have enjoyed his day on the beach.

Now it's our turn to put our faith in the voting process and wait until the winners are announced. Find out why we’re investing so much in helping communities and marine environments in southern Madagascar here.

Posted by Shawn Peabody

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Bottom Brance

producers

Click on the project name to view the producer blogs

Robert Lamb

MYC4 Cyber Capital

OK Coral

Pass It On

Double Boiled

Growth cycle

A Class Apart

Burn After Eating

The Only Way Is Up

One Reef At A Time

Saving From A Rainy Day

Charge Of The Light Brigade

In A Nut Shell


down to business

World Challenge Down to Business visits previous World Challenge projects with Robert Lamb and sustainability expert Leo Johnson.

Leo Johnson

Robert Lamb


look back

We have looked back at some of the previous finalists to see how their projects are fairing. Click on the links below read about these projects.

She Hope Disability Centre, Kashmir

LEAKY Collection

Business Still Blooming

Children in the Wilderness

COMET-ME

Andaman discoveries, Thailand

Half Price Hygiene Catch Up