Hike Summary
Meredith walked 1600 miles the length of Madagascar in 2004, traversing the forest corridor. This was before social media had hashtags, or fancy drones could capture overhead videos. Still, the images in the following slideshows do a pretty good job of capturing the trek and connections made along the way.
How the Idea Hatched
Meredith was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Madagascar from 2002-2004*. Prior to her Peace Corps service, she had thru-hiked the 2,168-mile Appalachian Trail (the AT) from Maine to Georgia. A fellow Volunteer, Josh Poole, had also thru-hiked the AT by himself prior to his service. Both Meredith and Josh were located in the same region of the country as Volunteers, and one afternoon they had the following conversation:
“Hey Josh, have you ever noticed that Madagascar is about the same size as the Appalachian Trail?” asked Meredith.
“Yeah, I’ve been thinking it’d be a neat idea to hike the length of the island,” replied Josh.
“Let’s do it,” said Meredith.
And so the momentum began: they cooked up a plan to combine their long-distance hiking skills with the language, culture, and technical skills they had learned while Volunteers and hatched a vision they dubbed, “From the Bottom Up: A Grassroots Hike the Length of Madagascar.”
From the Bottom Up: A Grassroots Hike the Length of Madagascar
Various pitfalls tempted to thwart their efforts. They applied to National Geographic for funding (they were denied). They applied to the Peace Corps to extend their service and complete the hike as Volunteers (they were denied).
But then pieces started falling into place: They went to the local map store and got “seconds” – or maps that had small misprints – to guide their route finding (woo – free maps! This made a difference on their shoestring budget). They asked The North Face to donate tents and gear (hurrah – success!). Bit by bit, they pieced together an 8-month itinerary to walk the length of the island while connecting with as many people along the way as possible. While Josh left the path halfway through the hike to fulfill other obligations, he was formative in its vision and execution. Meredith estimates they gave 74 presentations reaching 12,000+ farmers and villagers along the way.
*Meredith started out her service as a Volunteer in Cote d’Ivoire, or the Ivory Coast, in West Africa. Nine months into her service she was evacuated due to political upheaval, and transferred to Madagascar.
Supporters Along the Way
- Generous sponsors included The North Face, Madacom (the cellular service), ANGAP (the Malagasy park service, now known as “System of Protected Areas, or SAPM), Air Madagascar (the local airline), as well as hundreds of contributions from friends and family. We stretched every ariary (the Malagasy currency).
- Other hikers participated. Most notably:
- Josh Poole was a co-visionary of the 2004 endeavor. His skill set was (and continues to be) tremendous: complete fluency in Malagasy with mastery of idioms and provers; gifted public speaking skills blending charisma, insights and humor; an agronomist with farming expertise; a talented singer/songwriter. Hal Jackson (Josh’s buddy who came over from the states with a bright pink marionette named “Doozy” and juggling sticks) set out from the southern tip as well. His passion is yurts, and he built a yurt schoolhouse in Fort Dauphin, a town in the south, designed to withstand the high winds of cyclone season better than square shelters. Nol, Josh’s adopted son, joined us for a few weeks. Roughly halfway through the hike (just north of Moramanga), Josh, Hal and Nol departed the journey to fulfill other commitments.
- Rhett Jackson, a talented filmmaker and animator, joined Meredith in the northern part of the country.
- While it was not a formally endorsed Peace Corps endeavor, throughout the hike, many Peace Corps Volunteers hosted in their villages or joined for 1- to 3-day mini-hikes in their respective regions.
- It was an incredible journey with many contributions.