This trip in Madagascar aims to monitor and study the population of humpback whales in the North-west area of the island in order to better preserve this fauna and understand the variability and the abundance of this species from one year to the next in different sector of the Indian Ocean. Monitoring of these gentle giants has been carried out for many years now in the north-east area of Madagascar but there is a lack of monitoring in the north-west area. Our purpose on this trip will be to remedy this. 

OSI-Cetis is the ocean program of the NGO Objectif Science International (OSI) which organise different citizen science trips for children, teenagers and adults in different fields in science. OSI has the ECOSOC consultative statue with the United Nations since 2011.

The program OSI Cetis has organised several citizen science trips on marine biodiversity in different places in the world in order to get people involved in marine science, developed skills, being inspired and contribute to the preservation and conservation of the ocean. Inspiring people through education is essential and the key in order to give the chance to preserve our planet. Travelling to the remote and beautiful area in Madagascar for a good cause to preserve the whales is a way for you to give your labor, an opportunity to travel not only to see but to give. Our purpose at the end is not to let you go back home with only memories and beautiful photos but also making friendships, opportunities and participating to a project that give values to you but also to the environment and the community. That is the objective of all OSI-Cetis program. This trip is organised and supervised by Anne Littaye, an oceanographer, ecologist and Enorha Guimard, marine biologist and scientific educator who has travelled and studied whales in different places in the world. 

Madagascar, in the Indian Ocean, is one of the breeding grounds for a population of humpback whales in the southern hemisphere. Humpback whales are migratory species and go to the feeding ground in Antarctica during the summer time (November-March) and travel between 5000 and 8000 km up to the warmer waters of Madagascar during winter to mate and give birth. Because the calves don’t have the tick layer of blubber when they are born, it is one of the reason that the whales migrate and come up in warmer waters where there is a lack of predators to ensure the safety of the calves. It is also in these waters that the males humpback whales can show incredible displays to seduce females in order to mate.

During this trip you have the certainty to learn everything about humpback whales, their behaviours, threats, conservation, how to collect data and analyse them, practise photo-identification. You will also have the opportunity to hear the males singing to the females with our hydrophone as well as other species of marine mammals that we will encounter during our boat tours. This trip will be also the occasion to collect data on other marine fauna such marine turtles, whale sharks and to discover more land animals such as lemurs and chameleons.