We check in with the diary kept by Lance Woolaver in Madagascar as the team arrived at the pochard lake, got set up and hoped to find a nest of eggs ready to be brought into captivity.

Saturday, Day 10, October 24
I am feeling better, although still weak and shaky, so hopefully I am over the worst of the flu. I was sweating so much last night that my sleeping bag and blanket were completely soaked in the morning. I walk up the hill to call home and hear that my family is responding to the Tamiflu and recovering. The feeling of relief is intense, and the sunshine and spectacular view of the lake down below are lifting my spirits. Now I can get back to work.

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By Andrea Wallace

Lac Alaotra lies 250km north east of Antananarivo (‘Tana’) and is the largest lake in Madagascar. Within a wetland area covering 7,225km2 the lake itself is 200km2 and is the nation’s most productive fishery. In 2003, it was declared a Ramsar site as a wetland of global importance and in 2007 the lake and its surrounding marsh, reedbeds, and rice fields was designated as a new protected area.

Durrell has worked here for some time conducting conservation education programmes and ecological monitoring to encourage sustainable use of the natural resources and protection of endemic species such as the Alaotran gentle lemur. Given how important the area is for artisanal (i.e. small-scale subsistence and commercial) fishing, it is very important to understand the relationship between conservation efforts and the fishers.

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Tuesday-Wednesday, Days 6-7, October 20-21

We make the nine hour drive to the bridge to see firsthand how serious the situation is. Just as we arrive it begins bucketing down with heavy, heavy rain. This is the last thing we need, as rain will turn the road up to the lake into a sticky, slippery mess. But the rain passes as quickly as it arrives, and we can relax....for the moment. We visit the bridge and it is not as serious as we had feared. The bridge itself has not fallen down, but they are replacing an old section as part of routine road repair. We are assured that they will complete the repairs by the end of the day tomorrow. There is a huge line of lorries and vehicles extending for several km on either side, so that even after the, single-lane, bridge is fixed it will take hours for the vehicles to cross. We need to avoid travelling at night as incidents of banditry have increased here in Madagascar, so this means that we will plan for an early start the day after tomorrow, at first light. A bustling market has sprung up on either side of the bridge with food of all descriptions and music - you may as well enjoy yourself while waiting!

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Since our last visit to the pochard lake (Lake Matsaborimena) in July we have had a field team at the lake watching the pochards and taking detailed notes. Kassidi (Durrell) and Toulu (The Peregrine Fund) are two of the most experienced duck men in Madagascar. They have made a number of critical observations including the hatching of three nests in September. Of 19 recorded ducklings hatched since September, only three, however, are still alive. The others have disappeared mysteriously one by one, all before reaching two weeks of age. Kassidi and Toulu are currently watching three other active nests, all being incubated.

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Day 7 - 26th July
Miraculously, Bruno and Iandry have fixed the 4WD, here in the middle of nowhere. It would have taken weeks and many hundreds of pounds to fix this back in “civilization”. We make it to the nearest small village of Bemenavika in 15 minutes, a journey that took 2 hours on the way up.

Even though it was such a short visit, every minute was intense and it feels very odd to be leaving the lake and Pochard behind. There is a sense of loss as we pull away, watching the “dots” down below on this beautiful lake ringed by forest.

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Day 6 - 25th July

As soon as my head has hit the pillow (OK, so I don’t have a pillow just a rolled up t-shirt) the dawn chorus starts. After a quick cup of strong coffee, we all rather excitedly head down to the lake together. The exhaustion and sense of dread from the day before has been replaced by anticipation. As I climb up the rickety observation platform, the very first thing I see as I peek my head over is a perfect flyby of 3 Madagascar Pochards, only 40 feet in front of me! It is an exhilarating sight. They then circle around and fly back again, like synchronised fighter planes. Nigel, Peter, Felix, Glyn and I then spend the next several hours on the platform together, suspended over the edge of the lake, watching the Pochards and soaking in the experience.

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Day 5 - 24th July

Today is the big day that we have been most waiting for as we were making the drive up to the Pochard lakes. En route we would meet with the local authorities in the village of Bealanana, who were very supportive and keen to assist this project. Then after this meeting we set off along the main road from Bealanana onto a smaller track just after noon, expecting to be up at the Pochard Lakes in a few short hours, and watching ducks in the evening sunset.

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by Lance Woolaver, Durrell Madagascar Programme

We’re in search of the world’s rarest duck. Actually we aren’t really, because thanks to the dedicated work of the The Peregrine Fund, we know where it is. But we also know that there is only a handful left. In fact until it was rediscovered by the TPF’s Lily Arison René de Roland in 2006, the duck was thought to have gone extinct.

Sitting on a couple of small lakes some 300 km north of Antananarivo sits fewer than 20 Madagascar pochard. Although once part of an extensive wetland system throughout the central plateau these are now the last remaining unmarred high elevation volcanic lakes of their kind.

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by Anselme Toto Volahy, Durrell Madagascar Programme

Each year Madagascar celebrates World Environment Day and Durrell is involved with events throughout the island. All of our projects and local teams take an active role in these celebrations with the specific goal of raising our local profile and increasing awareness about the work we are doing with key species and habitats. Our more general goal is to raise overall awareness of the importance of the environment in the health and welfare of local communities.

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Every year, Durrell’s Madagascar team comes together for a week long workshop to review progress of the conservation programme and to agree objectives and activities for the following year. This time the meeting is in the capital Antananarivo, and 28 of the team consisting of the programme leaders, project scientists and co-ordinators, administrators, as well as new recruit Lance Woolaver, and Richard Young from headquarters, have been examining projects in fine detail and vigorously debating strategies for future efforts to conserve our target species and ecosystems.

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