Saturday, 24 January 2009

The Vallee De Mai – like going back in time...

Last weekend we finally after 14 months managed to get our first weekend away, although it did turn out to be more trouble than it was worth (that’s another story), the day we spent at the Vallee De Mai was amazing. It was super to be spending a few nights away from the island and on the Saturday morning it was great to be free, to wake up and feel we have got all day to ourselves, with no one else's problems to think about.

We hopped on a bus to Baie Ste Anne, as the bus winds its way right through the Vallee and down to the coast at the other side. We had taken this route many times before, but never had we had the chance to get off and explore. The entrance for the Vallee De Mai is about half the distance from Grand Anse to Baie Ste Anne, and it only took 10 minutes before we got off the bus and stepped out in the scorching sun surrounded by lush green vegetation. Once the rattle of the aged bus had left we heard an unusual call neither of us were familiar with, as we looked up we saw black parrots flying over our heads. Quite large about the size of a crow, they were squawking as they flew around the tops of the trees and palms - this only increased my excitement to see this place, the lush green tropical vegetation beckoning us forward.

The Vallee de Mai is a palm forest and a remnant of when Seychelles' granitic islands were still part of Gondwanaland, the huge land mass which included what is now Africa, Madagascar and India. Millions of years of isolation enabled a unique community of plants and animals to develop and now some species can be found nowhere else. Up to the 1930s the Vallee De Mai remained as a virgin forest and was little affected by man, however a new land owner decided to beautify the valley and decided to introduce a variety of ornamental trees and fruit trees. But in 1948 the area was acquired by the Government as a major water catchment area fort the island of Praslin and rehabilitation became a priority and in 1966 it became a nature reserve. The rehabilitation involved the gradual removal of the exotic and invasive species and already today after a short time, the Vallee is starting to take on its primeval appearance once again.

The reserve is most important for its coco de mer palm surrounded by myth s and legends this palm has male and female palms, the female produces the largest seed in the world and it can weigh more than 20kg and takes between 6 and 7 years to ripen. Growing up to 30m for the male and 24 m for the female these palms are thought to be able to live for between 200 and 400 years. These coco de mer palms grow naturally on only two small islands in the whole world, here at the Vallee De Mai, Praslin and on the island of Curieuse 2 nautical miles north of Praslin.

We were in for treat, as we walked up the entrance path the tropical forest got thicker and before long we were under cover of the huge palms and lush green vegetation. The wind blew and the sound of the palms crashing together was like something we have never heard before, the coco de mer palm has no trunk, just the long leaves coming from its base and their movement in the wind rattled the leaves together. They towered above us and we were completely enclosed by them, with no sky to be seen, we could hear rain, but didn't feel a drop. The bird noise of black parrots and bulbuls completed the experience, we could've been in an extensive tropical forest miles from anywhere, rather than a remnant on Praslin, as I stood and looked I tried to imagine that this is what it would've been like, and that some of these plants would've been on Aride too.

We walked up to the view point and there we were welcomed by a bulbul, a beautiful bird, obviously he had been fed at this point before, he was curious and tried to investigate my bag.
He hoped along the bench to where we were sitting and sat and watched, bright orange beak and feet with lovely spiky black crown, and iridescent green back and wings.
The view point gave height to look over the mass of green tropical vegetation, the sun brought out all the different shades and colours, the black parrots flew across in front of us calling and we had the place to ourselves, there was no other sound than the natural sounds, the wind blowing through the palms and the birds calling out from the shelter of the forest - a very beautiful place, like going back in time.

Saturday, 10 January 2009

Fancy a bit of chocolate cake?

First it’s turtles round for breakfast and then it’s geckos round for tea!



This was the first time we had seen this, although skinks are regular visitors to the kitchen, especially when a cake has just been made, geckos usually stick to flies and cockroaches – but not this one we caught it after the chocolate cake - cheeky!


Geckos are amazing creatures; the sticky pads on their feet mean that they can go anywhere, clinging to vertical surfaces is no problem, ideal for climbing up kitchen cupboards.
We have got two sorts on Aride, this one, which is the bronze-eyed gecko, which are extremely variable in colour, the one who has found our kitchen is one of the best marked individuals I’ve seen, and its stripes look like the pile of a carpet. Then there is the green day gecko, which is not seen as frequently, but is a wonderful bright green.



Over here cake is very precious and much sort after, with our diet severely lacking sugary things, so we moved it out of geckos’ way and replaced it with a few spare crumbs and it immediately found those as well!
Since then he has become a regular visitor and ‘Art’ can often be seen peeping round the window with those big bulging eyes.

Tuesday, 6 January 2009

Shoes

Emelda Marcus would’ve been lost on Aride, as shoes aren’t the practical thing, with the climate being the way it is; hot and humid, feet in shoes would rot in no time. So it is bare foot for pretty much everything, even going into town and shopping its common not to wear shoes.

However for us there are two occasions on Aride when shoes are a must; going up the hill, the rocks are sharp and the terrain very uneven and when walking out and about at night. The latter is something you are always warned about before coming to the island, to guard against stepping on a giant centipede and as the name suggests they are big and have a very nasty bite.

But last night I saw another reason why from now on I will always put shoes on at night:


What was it - A robber crab, once common, now only found on Aride and Cousine island, in the Granitic Seychelles as they are extinct elsewhere after being killed for food. This one was outside the volunteers’ house eating the leftovers out of their frying pan last night, 15cm wide across its back it was amazing. They are extremely agile and known for climbing coconut trees, it climbed up this wooden bench with ease, almost like spider monkey, using all its legs to hang on and swing to reach its next point.

I have never seen anything quite like it, it was a bit like a giant hermit crab, but with a shield on its back instead of a shell and its’ legs were more articulated and a beautiful purple shade with pales flashes and striking red eyes.


Today I read up about it, and in the 2006 Annual Report the previous Warden wrote, ‘Robber crab seen three times this year, once at the volunteers’ house and twice in the Wardens’ bedroom’!!!

Friday, 2 January 2009

The best turtle experience yet.


It all started with our usual cup of coffee on the beach crest at 5.30am, but today Melv never even got to chance to sit down for his. As soon as he came up on to the crest to the table, he caught sight of a ghost crab with a green turtle hatchling in its claws, we rushed round the nest and there true enough the nest was hatching in front of our eyes.




There were two holes that had appeared in the sand, both about the size of a saucer, and inside I could see a mass of small hatchings all squirming around standing on each other in an attempt to get out.

















The small heads poking up through and their front powerful flippers trying to get purchase either on the sand or in amongst their brothers and sisters to pull them up and on to the beach.






They had travelled a long way in the sand, the nest typically between 50cm and 60cm deep. But we had a job on our hands, the crabs were evil and they looked to every opportunity to grab hold of the small creatures and then make a get away. Although chasing them and the stamping feet does make them drop the hatchlings, it is a different story if they run under the vegetation, where it is impossible to get hold of them. But there were plenty of us, after I had raised the alarm people came rushing out of their houses like there was a fire.


After the first batch of youngsters had come out of the hole we helped them out by lifting a lot of the sand away and relieving the weight off them.





Once they were out we collected them all in a bucket so that we could release them all together and stand a chance at keeping the crabs away. Aride has a very large population of crabs, whilst they do an excellent job at keeping the island clean they can devastate a turtle nest in next to no time. J



The hatchlings were really strong little fellas and they had big necks and looked so healthy, just like perfect little turtles, their shells were dark and black, smart looking with their white trim. Their flippers were continually on the go, whirring round trying to propel themselves as quickly as they could to get to the safety of the sea. I lifted one up and it resisted my fingers as it tried to ‘swim’ away, they had only just opened their eyes which were like small slits, but the shells were so perfectly formed, just perfect and smart. Not in the slightest bit ugly like the hawksbills tend to be, but real smart.

It didn't take us long to empty the nest and then move them further down to the beach to release them. We needed to give them a bit of a run, but we needed to keep the section of beach clear of crabs.

We lifted them gently out of the bucket and as soon as they touched the sand they were away, they powered on down the beach towards the light, like little clockwork toys, one after another they headed down to the sea, it was magical to watch.



We were just in time the sun was just coming up, soon it would be daylight, but it was a perfect morning, the sea was a lot calmer than it had been and they stood a good chance, we were giving them a head start, which these green turtles desperately needed, they need every chance they can get. With 7 of us on the case the crabs didn’t stand chance and the hatchlings could take all the time they needed to reach the safety of the sea.

We managed to release a total of 130 into the water and there were only 5 dead in the bottom of the nest, which may have been crushed or died from a lack of oxygen, and then there was a late developer still coming out of its egg shell. This one we will hold on to until it has used up its yolk sack and them let it go at dusk, probably in a couple of days time.

Once we had finished excavating the nest we had found a total of 144 egg shells and so it is possible that we may have lost 8 to crabs or they came out early and got away, but hey 131 out 144; 91.5% aint bad!