It’s official. Macolline has been accepted to the Charter of Sustainable Tourism in Madagascar. Today, those that were accepted were invited to Sambava by Richard Bohan, head of tourism marketing and sustainable tourism in Madagascar, for the signing of our certificate.

Seeing as we have contributed to cleaning up the commune of Antalaha as well as making sure that we are fair trade organization, we were certified. Only 13 associations were accepted in the entire region. This is just the beginning of a long journey to being sustainable. This weekend, together with the tour guides of Antalaha that are in my English class, we will be cleaning up the beach and implementing garbage cans in order to demonstrate to the public how to keep the land clean. The mayor has agreed to pay for emptying the bins weekly! This was not an easy task to get going, but with much effort and determination, it’s done!

I am very proud of Stephano Velohanana, the leader of Guides Indépendants Diplômé Antalaha (Local Tour Guides of Antalaha) who helped organize this weekend’s event. I will post more about it ASAP.

Here are some photos from the signing today.