Elahavelo Efitroarane
Elahavelo was born and grew up in the village of Analafaly, 04 km from the Reserve. He completed the 8th grade in school. Elahavelo’s encyclopedic knowledge of and interest in plants made him an obvious member of the Monitoring Team from the outset, and a clear choice to lead the plant monitoring effort. Since 1995, Elahavelo has steadily expanded our knowledge of plant diversity in the Bezà Mahafaly Special Reserve and monitored cycles of leaf, flower and fruit production. He has also been the driving force behind the creation of the Museum’s herbarium and botanical garden.
Enafa
Enafa was born and raised in Analafaly. Today he lives in Mahazoarivo, a village located at 2 km north of the Reserve. He has no formal schooling but has learned to read and write since joining the Monitoring Team in 1995. Enafa leads the lemur monitoring and censusing program, and he is also an expert with the blow gun. He is responsible for all the darting in the capture/release program for the two diurnal lemur populations. His prowess is well known throughout Madagascar, and he has traveled widely, helping other research teams.
Efitiria
Efitiria was born in Mahazoarivo. He is well respected by villagers in Mahazoarivo as he used to be the Head of the Fokontany of the Mahazoarivo village, although he has not had any formal school education. He is responsible for monitoring reptiles and birds in the Reserve. Efitiria easily recognizes and imitates bird calls and easily gets bird responses to his calls.
Edouard Ramahatratra
Edouard is from Betioky, and studied at the University of Toliara. He is leading the socio-economic surveys and has established very close relationships with village leaders surrounding Bezà Mahafaly.
Mikoja Rambinintsoa
Mikoja Rambinintsoa graduated from ESSA, from the Department of Forestry. For her Master’s thesis, she worked on forest cover dynamics in the Territory of Lemak’i Onlilahy . She is preparing for a PhD at the Doctoral School of Natural Resource Management (EDGRND, UNiversity of Antananarivo), focusing on the impact of climate variability on the ecology of the Astrochelys tortoise population in Bezà Mahafaly.
Sibien Mahereza
Sibien holds a MsC in Botany and Ecology from the Dpt of Natural Sciences of the University of Tulear. He has served as the head of the training and research center at Beza. He currently coordinates the support activities of ESSA for the communities in the Tambazotra Lemak’i Onlilahy network.
.