In the Autumn of 1612 a wanderer carved his name into the face of a mossy rock overhang on Nosy Mangabe, a small overgrown island off the tropical Madagascan east coast.

Johannes Hamel, who would otherwise certainly have been forgotten, may have been a settler, missionary or pirate. No one can say. The Europeans who then occasionally passed through never managed more than a brief claim to this remote paradise. Today, pretty much as then, the Masoala area is largely covered in primal rainforest.

A group of 16 (ecotourists, guides and crew), we bob through the calm waters of the Baye d'Antogil. Fishermen wave from their stump-like pirogues. They know our small noisy boat, the Sava III, but the Vasaha (white man) always provides a new spectacle. We guess that Johannes Hamel and company, stiffly perched atop their schooner over 350 years ago, would have provided similar entertainment.

Today most tourists arrive in Maroantsetra by plane, the little landing strip becoming the focus of the whole town for an hour or two. The relative ease with which one reaches base, however, misrepresents what lies ahead. On the Masoala Peninsula itself very little has changed since the time of triple-masted schooners.

Past the rustic towns of Maroantsetra and Antalaha, which flank the base of the peninsula on the east and west respectively, transport routes are non-existent. A few winding footpaths along the coast and through forest offer the only land-based access. Otherwise, small boats provide a lifeline to the handful of fishing villages spread around the peninsula. People do things mora-mora (slowly) there, and the forest and sea traditionally provided more than a few hundred local families could ever use.

Our first scuba dive quickly exposes the danger that such apparent luxury held. At Tampulu, near the base of the peninsula, large sections of coral lie destroyed on the seabed and those experienced at diving in tropical areas quickly comment on how few fish are seen for an area so seemingly remote. The fishing that was done here is likely to have fed hungry stomachs in Maroantsetra, where seafood would fetch a good price.

Over decades a steady increase in population, industry and agribusiness has placed ever mounting pressure on Madagascan natural resources. In many places ecosystems have simply collapsed and it has almost become a cliché for writers to describe red rivers of topsoil running into the sea.

Though Masoala is relatively protected, an increasing measure of that pressure is now being translated to this hitherto unutilised area. Along the coast scattered bare patches in otherwise untouched forest hint at dangerous external interest.

On the western side of the peninsula, 200,000ha of primal forest and five marine areas are now formally under the protectorate of ANGAP, the Madagascan parks board. Though classified as a reserve, for years a lack of official recognition hampered conservation efforts, until October 1998, when the park was formally inaugurated by newly re-elected president Ratsiraka.

"We may now draw on the services of DEF, the Madagascan forestry service, who are the only conservation-orientated body in Madagascar with any legal clout," John Veerkamp, Programme Co-ordinator of CARE Madagascar explains. "At the moment one of the big issues is being able to demarcate official boundaries. Though there will be no physical barriers, the process still involves much political negotiation with local leaders."

Though the park and an adjoining 100,000ha buffer zone has officially been managed and developed by CARE over the last seven years, local NGO Feon'ny Ala (Voice of the Forest) does much of the work on the ground.

Feon'ny Ala works in the peripheral zone to Parc Masoala to promote conservation and responsible alternative industry. Environmental education programmes are run along the peninsula for local school and university students, and Feon'ny Ala establishes and manages tourism operations along the peninsula, together with the local guide association.

Director Chaplain Tsiadino has some reservations: "We are working to show how local people can derive benefit from tourism and conservation development, while preserving their cultural heritage. We have learnt that outsiders to the region do not understand our culture and frequently misinterpret the forest people's actions."

His concerns are mirrored by John Veerkamp: "There's no point in having an area protected in theory when local people fail to generate a living and are forced back into old ways of utilisation."

Our presence as a group of tourists was directly related to the general development effort. Feon'ny Ala, in partnership with environmental consultants Eco Africa, had recently introduced controlled ecotourism to some of the less accessible areas of the peninsula.

"As the sixth consignment of tourists to pass through over two years, we find arrangements very smooth and our guides, all members of the newly formed Maroantsetra Guides Association, enthusiastic, communicative and knowledgeable. I learn that they also provide an interface with local culture that my first solo visit, a stay of three months, had sorely missed."

As we penetrate further into rarely visited areas we realise that, as westerners, we have become emissaries of a lifestyleknown and idolised in every corner of the island. Many interactions with local people leave one with mixed feelings. The carefully managed income that our visit brings to fledgling local infrastructure provides a growing alternative industry to subsistence farmers vying for limited agricultural resources. It also places intrinsic value on forest and reef hitherto only recognised for immediate consumption. At the same time we march, laden with equipment and foreign ways, through simple people's existences, leaving them more than perplexed. As the pirates hundreds of years ago brought guns, we bring Nike shoes, Levi jeans and dreams of new, easy wealth.

Through careful management, the balance of interaction has so far been positive. People in small villages still relish the yearly visits during December and they are open to the clumsy attempts at communication that the well-sunned (read lobster red) Vasaha makes. They laugh as, in ebbing tide, our boat becomes stuck on a sandbank near Ambodiletra on the tip of the peninsula. "Why don't you walk instead?" an old fisherman shouts mirthfully in Malagasy from his pirogue. "See: the water is shallow."

"Why don't Vasahas ever walk?" we wonder after ten languid days between the tangled forest and the ever-changing bottle green sea.

The slow pace and simple practicalities of this otherworldly place become infectious. We slow down to thinking about meals, about the changing tides and about the warm tropical rain. I wonder more often about Johannes Hamel, madly tapping away at the rock to try and leave some sort of imprint on this wilderness. The initially strict letters seemed to have become less forceful, less resolute by the end - but then, that may just have been my imagination.

Rean van de Merve is a South African naturalist and freelance writer currently based in the UK.

Masoala Factfile

Protected by mountains on the west, Masoala (pronounced "Mashwahl") is a pear-shaped peninsula which projects southwards into a coral sea. It is one of the world's most important and fascinating forests.

The terrain

The 30m-high forest canopy is a sun-blocking barrier thus there is little undergrowth. Fast-flowing streams carry the annual rainfall of over 4000mm down gorges and through mangroves to sea level 1000m below the mountain peaks. The high humidity nurtures various lichens and mosses.

Mammals and birds

Masoala probably harbours the greatest number of unclassified species of wildlife in Madagascar. Many mammals are found only here. Prized sightings include aye-aye, fosa, fanoloka, red-ruffed lemur, brown-tailed mongoose, greater hedgehog and various different tennec. Birds avidly sought include the red owl, helmet and Bernier's vanga, red-breasted coua, Madagascar serpent eagle, brown emutail and the vervit asity.

Reptiles and things

There are over 60 types of snakes, including the Madagascar boa, but none are dangerous. Unusual reptiles include various chameleons (such as panther, hooded and stump-tailed), golden and green-backed mantella frogs and leaf-tailed gecko. Amongst the huge variety of invertebrates are millipedes, centipedes and orb web spiders that weave 15m wide webs over creeks. Over 380 species of snail have been identified and crabs have colonised the rainforest.

Visiting Masoala

Most visitors fly Air Madagascar to Maroantsetra and then take an organised tour from one of the four hotels there. Some hire a pirogue and then walk in from the village of Ambanizana. Trails lead into the forest but you need to be reasonably fit to cope with the terrain and humidity. A visit of at least three days is recommended, particularly if you also wish to include a trip to Andranobe, where the Peregrine Fund Researchers and naturalists from Missouri Botanical Gardens are based. CARE International co-manages the reserve and donations from visitors are used to help local communities. There are snorkelling opportunities in the surrounding reefs but beware of sharks.

Published in Travel Africa Edition Fourteen: Winter 2000/2001 Text is subject to Worldwide Copyright (c)k.