We discussed a bit about the history, culture/people, money, and wildlife of Madagascar via a PowerPoint presentation that had already been successfully vetted at Martin County High School for grades 9-12, thanks to an Education Foundation of Martin County grant.
The presentation continues with the various flight paths to Madagascar, diverted to some discussion of mutual travels (e.g., Italia), and included photographic examples of difficulties of in-country travel over flooded roads back before we had reliable WiFi in Madagascar. At that point, we had virtually arrived (by private car over flooded roads) to Ranomafana National Park and explored science (including photographic documentation) of animals that I studied with Malagasy collaborators leading to award winning publications and a page in National Geographic magazine. The build up to how I was able to lead my first expedition at age 22 was explained in chronological context. After captivating Cabo with the adventure aspect, I gave a brief visual overview of how we determine what alkaloid chemicals are in the skin secretions of brightly colored poison frogs, using GC-MS, and other chemicals such as a steroid and sugar (sucrose) found by using NMR spectroscopy at Columbia and Cornell Universities. I showed raw data and explained it in simple terms, to show how we found some of the exact dietary sources of protective chemicals frogs acquire from their diet. Cabo was thoroughly engaged, asked excellent questions, and also was able to answer all my pop quiz questions accurately without any hints, showing he learned and understood complex academics subjects if they are of interest to him. Brilliant student!