Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION The Anywhere Machine Madagascar

I didn't want to kidnap the Oscars thread, so I started a new one. You are in Madagascar? What do you do there? This is one of the places that i'd like to visit the most. Is it "goable" right now? Do you get to travel around? From what I've heard, many forests are breathtaking as well as biologically unique, if quite endangered. And the culture of the place is also quite unique, having as much in common with the Indo-Malay world, thousands of miles away, as with the African mainland.

I would REALLY like to go there.

(Man, I hope that "to be stuck in Madagascar" isn't some sort of English idiom, that would be quite silly)

Hi Juan. Nice to meet you!

Wow! I got a big surprise when I saw this thread. I was thinking "What a coincidence - here I am in Madagascar and someone's starting a thread about the place." And then I opened it and got even more of a surprise when I saw it was addressed to me! When you hide in the background on message boards as much as I do it somehow feels a little frightening to suddenly be called out of the shadows. Not that I'm complaining - I like talking about my job and its a subject worth talking about.

I work for an anti-corruption organisation. We get invited to countries all over the world (predominantly 'developing' nations though) and basically try to help these countries' turn their fortunes around by opening their eyes to just how adversely corruption may be affecting them and undertaking various initiatives that will hopefully see corrupton one day diminished or even eradicated there.

This involves everything from simply educating the public on the many ways that corruption is directly and indirectly harming them, setting up systems to eliminate the opportunities for corruption within organisations and society, putting in place undercover investigators who can identify where corruption is the worst and who's behind it, introducing laws against it, and so on.

I haven't been in the job that long (less than a year) but I am really enjoying it. It fulfills the 2 main criteria I always wanted in a job - one that involves travel and one that makes me feel like I'm doing some good in the world. And its a hell of a lot better than my last job - serving drinks in a big, loud, soulless, gay nightclub in London called Heaven!

Anyway, on to Madagascar. It *is* a really interesting place. As you mentioned it does have a completely unique ecosystem (this is the only place in the world where you can see those cute little lemurs running free) due to the land mass that is now Madagascar having broken away and become isolated from the rest of the world so many thousands of years ago, just like Australia did hence their unique flora and fauna life too.

And you are spot-on with your observation of its links to the South-East Asian region too. In fact strangely enough, the majority of the population are of Indonesian/Malaysian descent even though there are thousands of miles and a whole huge ocean between the two regions. I could be wrong here but I think no one knows how or why the Indo-Malays originally came to settle here. I seem to remember reading that they have guessed it had something to do with the strong Indian Ocean currents dragging fishing boats and such from up there and pulling them all the way down here many years ago. But don't quote me on that. ;-) The other inhabitants of the country are immigrants from the southern African mainland. Interestingly enough there were actually no original indigenous inhabitants of Madagascar.

As far as visiting here, now is certainly as good a time as ever. The political climate is relatively quiet right now and there are no wars or battles going on anywhere. In fact I'm amazed that in spite of the poverty (and this is a *very* poor country - one of the lowest GDP's anywhere) there isn't more crime and conflict going on. A lot of that is probably due to the popularity of the young, newly-elected President who seems to be making a lot of progressive changes to the country.

As for what to do when you get here, I'm afraid I can't be of much help there. In the 3 months I've been here I've been so busy that I don't think I've seen much more than my hotel, my office and the short walk between the two. I have heard many great things about some of the coastal towns to the north and west of the island as well as a few jungle hide-away spots though. I am based in the capital, Antananarivo, which is in the mountainous very centre of the island. Its an interestingly eclectic city to wander around reflecting both French and African architecture and as it is all built in and around a big valley there are some breathtaking views, but there's really not much to do. You probably wouldn't want to spend more than a couple of nights here.

I guess my main advice is to be a little handy at French as, other than Malagasy, that is the main language spoken here. Like many others who grew up in Australia I never bothered to learn another language after English and now am totally regretting it. Especially with all the hot guys wandering around and there's nothing I can say to try and pick them up! Very frustrating!

So that's a little info on Madagascar for you. Hope it helps. Now if you *really* want to get me talking - ;-) - ask me about Trinidad. That's where I was living last year and I *LOVED* it!

I wanna go too!


Hmm, Maybe we can switch places.

Wow.

I'm so envious. I really like your criteria for finding a job: to travel, and to do some real good. It sounds exactly like what I would like to do, too (except that I like my Biology too much... but we'll see...). You certainly seem to be fulfilling the do-good part of your plan, fighting corruption could well be one of the single most effective ways to lift people's standard of living in many countries. Good for you (and for the Malagasy you are helping).

All right, it's official now, Madagascar is now in my list of places to go (unfortunately, that list is VERY long now. Hm, I should get working on that).

So, how was Trinidad?

Wow, thanks for sharing!

So... where do you think you'll be going next, either for the job or for recreation?

Whenever I play Risk, I always claim that controlling Madagascar is the key to winning the game. I also hide my army in Baja California

It is, Quis! My brother (through some strange quirk of fate) always draws Madagascar to start, and I can never get him off the damn island! I throw every tank, horse, and footman I have at him, but NOT ONCE have I been able to "dethrone" him. The worse part is, he only leaves a skeleton crew on Mad as he seems to favor taking over the Australian and New Zealand eras and wiping me out systematically with one large sweeping invasion force built up over many turns. And I, like the moron I am, keep trying to knock him off the island...

Hey, Blacula, how are things over there? Are you guys OK? There's news here of a pretty big hurricane hitting Madagascar this weekend (although I think it was further north from where you are).

Let us know how you are doing...

Juan

Oops... forgot about this thread.

Thanks for thinking of me Juan but I actually just got back to London yesterday and so am in no danger of being swept away in a whirlwind, Dorothy and Toto style.

My contract in Madagascar is all finished now and so I'm back home in c-c-c-cold England waiting for the next assignment. It's probably going to be in Bulgaria Stu, but that's yet to be confirmed.

The one frustrating thing about my job is that while the postings are great they only ever come up at the last minute, and kinda infrequently too, so I'm probably gonna have to get another casual job in the meantime 'til I hear about Bulgaria. Must... resist... lure... of... nightclub work!

As for Risk, your brother has the right strategy Pex! I swear that to conquer that game you have to take Australia and South America early. With their relative ease to defend and the extra points you get from having continents you're on a sure path to victory. Well, that's what I always say but I'm yet to win a game.

Quick aside about Madagascar, there's a new Dreamworks film (not sure if its gonna be traditional or computer animation) coming out next year called 'Madagascar'. Its apparently going to be about a group of animals who get released from a zoo by some animal liberationists and who then escape to Maddy, Noah's Ark-style. Voices include Chris Rock, Ben Stiller, Jada Pinkett-Smith and David Schwimmer. Looks like fun - I'm looking forward to it.

Ok gotta run. See y'all later.