Essential Oils Distillery - Vohimana Rainforest

This is the oil distillery machine in the MATE (Man and the Environment) NGO Vohimana Rainforest site.

The distillery works 24 - 7, and produces quite a large number of different essential oils which are in demand.

The people in the pictures are the main distillery workers and sometimes have to work night shifts to keep the fire going. Three men work with the distillery, this man to the left works with the distillery machine, another works with the oil produced (such as measuring out in bottles etc) and another collects and chops fire wood to keep the distillery going.

Around 140 Kg of leaves from a plant species being used to extract oil from, will make 30ml of oil! The leaves are collected by the local people (mostly women) who live in villages in and around the Vohimana rainforest.

There are 3 distillations per day and a distillation process takes 3 - 4 hours.

A little bonus is that the hot water from the distillery can be used for hot showers when staying in the tourist village of the MATE ONG site!

By Cleo Ridgeway (Volunteer)