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’!!!