Volunteering

Hi,

I would recommend Azafady more - I haven't personally been with either to Mada (I volunteered as a teacher for a few months there with a charity called the Dodwell Trust) but Azafady have an excellent reputation for their ethics and they won the Responsible Tourism Award for Best Volunteering Organisation a couple of years ago.

Blue Ventures also have an excellent reputation for marine conservation projects if that's what you're looking for. I can't speak from experience with Frontier, but a friend of mine volunteered for a couple of months and wasn't enormously impressed, though this may have just been his take on it. But perhaps it might be a good idea to check out reviews sites like Link Name, and Link Name is also a useful resource.

Whoever you go with, I can't recommend getting to Andasibe-Mantadia N.P. enough, brilliant for wildlife.

Enjoy!

Ah, I'm apparently a bit dim when it comes to the linking, but the actual links work - they should be:
www.gapyearreviews.co.uk
www.ethicalvolunteering.org

Ah, I'm apparently a bit dim when it comes to the linking, but the actual links work - they should be:
www.gapyearreviews.co.uk
www.ethicalvolunteering.org

I would also strongly recommend Azafady.

One of the founders of Azafady regularly posts messages to help travellers in this forum ( his nick is dadamanga ) . He is very responsive and will be able to answer any questions you may have. He knows all the ins and out of the Tolagnaro region so you can maximize your time to see wildlife and beautiful scenaries.

I volunteered with Frontier and in my opinion their teaching was inadequate, and the attitude of the two founders towards the volunteers was uncaring. I would not recommend them to anyone. There is much on the web about Frontier as they have been involved in a series of incidents where their attitudes and expertise have been questioned.

I did some voluntary work with Azafady in the UK and found them to be professional, ethical and that they knew what they were about.

Azafady works only in Madagascar whereas Frontier is active in many countries.

BTW If you want to see wildlife you might simply do that without volunteering. The costs of a Frontier experience would pay for an excelent holiday.

Thank you very much for your advices:)

I was working with Frontier in Madagascar. Their current location on Nosy Be is beautiful and the guy in charge is great, however I'm glad to be out, I'm not going into reasons on here. The quality of your experience on these projects really does depend on the staff (obviously it was great when I was there), but as rorygemwriter says, for the cost of a frontier experience your money would be better spent elsewhere. If I was ever to volunteer in Mada I'd reccomend Blue Ventures.