Bakoli Andrianaivoravelona

My name is ANDRIANAIVORAVELONA Bakoly. I am a Malagasy student, studying botany at the University of Antananarivo, and I had the chance to get a scholarship from Blue Ventures. First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to Blue Ventures for giving me the opportunity to get here. It is amazing to see what Blue Ventures has done since its creation and I am impressed how volunteers take part in expeditions every 6 weeks. What the team is trying to do is fantastic not only for the people who live in Andavadoaka but also for Madagascar.

I am concerned about conservation and I am happy to have the opportunity to get involved. It is really rewarding. I learnt a lot during the science training, which was a very interesting course. Besides the computer test, we had to do a water test which made the training more exciting. In addition, the dive training was very good. Thank you so much, I really enjoyed my training and as a diver now, I hope I will be able to carry on diving.

Blue Ventures is also involved in social activities which include teaching English in primary and secondary schools in the village, fisheries observation and fish monitoring. I enjoyed my time doing all of those activities. Making new friends was fantastic and interesting as well.

To sum up, the expedition was successful and greatly rewarding. I spent a memorable time in Andavadaoka and such experience will help me in my future career. I am thankful to all staff members in Andavadoaka and in London.

In September 2008 Bakoli sent us an update of what she is doing now:

I give you an update of what I am doing now, I am working as a consultant in a project "Crop Wild Relatives", and the experiences I got in Andavadoaka helped me to go further in my current work.

First of all, I am thankful to Blue Ventures for giving me the opportunity to attend this expedition. It was really a rewarding experience and unforgettable moment.

As my interest goes especially to the environment matter and biodiversity conservation, taking part in this expedition was a great delight. I enjoyed my time in Andavadoaka. I learnt so much there, I had so much fun in every activity undertaken there. Being a BV volunteer was quite a privilege.

My current work is now focused on the project "In situ conservation of crop wild relatives through  enhanced information management and field application". My experience in Andavadoaka about collecting data on mangroves, seagrasses and baobabs helped me a lot as I’m doing the same in this project. So far, Blue Ventures has made a big progress in environmental issues not only in Andavadoaka but also in the world for getting many prizes, so thanks for making all of those things happen.