Practical Information
Policies, safety and plain answers.
Everything a school, department or parent needs before committing a group: how we are constituted, what we are responsible for, what a placement costs and includes, and what happens if something goes wrong.
Written policies, permit references, insurance requirements, risk assessments and staff qualifications are sent in full on request: madafield@cactusmadagascar.com
Straight Answers
The questions teachers, parents and departments ask first.
Who can join?
Teacher-led school groups aged 15 to 18, university cohorts and individual undergraduates, dissertation and taught-masters students, and doctoral or postdoctoral researchers on the Researcher Track. Every programme states its level on its own page.
What will students actually learn?
Survey and sampling methods, species identification, data recording and analysis, and how a real monitoring programme is run. Each expedition page lists the methods taught and the itinerary day by day.
Who supervises students, and what qualifications do leaders hold?
Every group is led by a named academic or research lead plus in-country field staff holding current wilderness first-aid qualifications. Under-18 groups run to enhanced safeguarding standards, with your own teachers retaining duty of care. Leader CVs and certificates are provided in the academic file before you commit a cohort.
What does the cost include, and why is no price shown?
Costs are quoted per cohort because group size, dates, duration and academic requirements change them substantially. A quotation states exactly what is included: in-country transfers, accommodation, meals, permits, field staff, teaching and equipment, and what is not, typically international flights, visas and personal insurance.
What happens in an emergency?
Each site has a written risk assessment and a documented evacuation plan with the nearest medical facility and communications method identified. These documents are shared in full with schools, universities and parents before departure.
Who receives the data collected?
Data is co-owned with the Malagasy institutions and communities where it is collected, and results are returned to the site before publication. Malagasy colleagues are named co-authors, not acknowledgements.
How does a school or department book?
Send an enquiry through the enrolment form. We reply within two working days with a proposed outline, a costed quotation and the academic and safety file. Booking is confirmed by a written agreement and a deposit invoice.
What are the next available dates?
Each expedition lists its running season. Exact departure dates are set with your institution around term structure and permit timing, usually six to twelve months ahead.
Is the fieldwork assessed, and do participants receive a certificate?
Yes. Programmes run on a documented learning cycle of prepare, experience, analyse, produce, evaluate and transfer. Work is produced and defended in the field, assessed against a rubric agreed with your department, and every participant who completes a programme receives a Certificate of Field-Based Learning recording field days, themes, skills assessed and outputs produced.
Can the programme carry academic credit or ECTS?
Credit is awarded by your own institution. We supply the evidence it needs to award it: learning outcomes, contact hours, field-day log, methodology, assessment rubric, marked deliverables and the certificate. Where a department wishes to attach ECTS or its own equivalent, this is agreed in writing before the cohort travels. We never claim credit on behalf of an institution that has not validated the programme.
Who runs the science on the ground?
Malagasy researchers based in-country, including professors and PhD holders from the University of Antananarivo and the University of Mahajanga, working in primatology, ornithology, invertebrate systematics, botany, gemmology and community conservation. Programmes are not delivered by visiting staff flown in for the season.
How is this different from an educational tour?
An educational tour ends with photographs. A field programme ends with data, a defended deliverable, an assessment and a certificate, and the dataset returning to the Malagasy institutions and communities where it was collected. Modules are designed from learning objectives first, and the field site is selected to answer them.
Policies & Legal
What we are responsible for, in writing.
Who we are, legally
MadaField is a science-led educational expedition operator working with Malagasy researchers, protected areas and academic institutions. The contracting entity, its registration number, registered address and tourism licence are stated in full on every quotation and agreement, and are supplied on request before any payment is made.
Privacy
We collect only the name, email address, institution and enquiry details you submit through the enrolment form, and we use them solely to answer your enquiry and administer a placement. We do not sell or share personal data with third parties for marketing. Data is retained while your enquiry or placement is active and deleted on request: write to madafield@cactusmadagascar.com.
Cookies
This site uses only the cookies and local storage required for it to function and for basic, aggregated visit analytics. No advertising or cross-site tracking cookies are set.
Terms of engagement
Submitting an enquiry places you under no obligation. A placement becomes binding only when a written agreement and deposit invoice are issued and accepted. The agreement sets out inclusions, exclusions, participant obligations, conduct expectations and liability limits in full.
Cancellation and refunds
Deposits, balance dates and the refund schedule are stated in the written agreement before payment. Where we cancel a departure for safety, permit or operational reasons, participants are offered a transfer to an alternative date or a refund of sums paid to us.
Insurance
Comprehensive travel, medical and repatriation insurance covering remote fieldwork, and where relevant diving, is compulsory for every participant. Policy details are checked before departure. We are not an insurer and do not sell insurance; we specify the minimum cover required.
Emergency and evacuation
Every site has a written evacuation plan naming the nearest medical facility, the transfer route, the communications method used where there is no mobile coverage, and a 24-hour in-country contact. Plans are shared with group leaders and parents before departure.
Safeguarding and under-18 participants
Under-18 programmes run to enhanced safeguarding standards: vetted staff, a named safeguarding lead, a written code of conduct, defined supervision arrangements and a reporting route. The full policy is provided to schools and parents on request.
Permits and research authorisation
We apply for and hold the research, park access and site permits each programme requires. Nothing is collected, handled or sampled outside the scope of a current permit, and permit references are supplied to reviewing faculty on request.
Contact
Speak to the scientific department directly.
Telephone
Office
146 B Antanetibe Ivato
P.O. Box 206, Ivato Airport
101 Antananarivo, Madagascar
Parent Company
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