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Published: April 5th 2014
A giant tortoise!
Oh and I got a haircut...It's a hard life.
Not really - it's actually pretty sweet right now. I'm on the uninhabited 'Curieuse Island' which lies just 15 minutes by boat from Praslin, a major island in the collection of islands known as the Seychelles. What a place.
Working as a volunteer with Global Vision International (GVI) on research and conservation is pretty much the dream. Who needs civilization when you have tortoises strolling passed your dorms during the day? Who needs hot water for showers when you have a clear, turquoise sea which is ideally controlled to be at the perfect bathing temperature for 12 hours of the day? Who needs a gym when you can trek through jungle terrain in search of endemic species of birds, trees and tortoises for a natural, full body workout? And, who needs mosquito repellent 24 hours a day? Me. That's who.
A normal week day involves either a 6 o'clock morning 'Tweet' where we monitor the number of different bird species flying / resting / foraging in certain zones of the island, or a 7.30 breakfast prepared by whoever is on duty for that day. Breakfast is always granola with tinned fruit and milk made
from that white powdery stuff that tastes just like normal milk if you close your eyes and hold your nose for long enough. Just kidding, it's not so bad.
Then, if you're not already out on a Tweet, you'll be off at 8am on some sort of trek into the island either for a Coco De Mer survey (monitoring and surveying the endemic tree species - google it, it's cool!), a 'Wurtle' (walk to find turtles), or a tortoise tickle (no explanation necessary).
After the morning of work, everyone will return to camp for a prompt lunch at noon, again prepared by those on duty who will also have worked up an appetite while re-sanding, raking and cleaning camp. At 13.00 it's then time for the afternoon activity which may involve another terrestrial excursion or, if you're lucky, a 'Snurtle' (snorkelling with turtles... or whatever else is in the sea). Snurtle's are a great chance to catch a glimpse of some rays, sharks or, indeed, turtles if lucky enough. Of course, there are always plenty of fish to see but the real interest is those just mentioned. The Seychelles is home to white tipped, black tipped, bull, tiger
and hammerhead sharks though it is rare to see any of them while on a snorkel. For the best chance of seeing them, it's better to go on a full, open water dive but this is done by another GVI research team on a different island. However, I think I'll book myself in for a fun dive some time in the next two weeks with a private firm so that I can try and get in among the action.
Fortunately, it's not so rare to catch a glimpse of an eagle ray or two while snorkelling, or even some occasional green or hawksbill turtles. They're sometimes pretty shy but I think word is spreading that we're only there to observe, not to harm!
After the afternoon activity it's back to camp for a much anticipated dinner, followed by some card games / bit of socialising before everyone crashes into bed at around 20.30/21.00 to recharge for the next morning.
Last month there were 11 of us volunteers (5 boys, 6 girls) and 5 staff members, however, 8 of the volunteers and 1 staff member left this morning leaving us as a mere 7 on camp! Though we
Green Team on Island Monopoly
Came 2nd in the game, but raised the most amount of money for the SSPCA! have one new arrival this weekend to take us to an even 8.
The weekends are free for us to do whatever we fancy; whether we decide to stay on camp or visit Paradise - a hotel which serves many things, including bacon, for breakfast.. mmm. I probably should mention here that all week we are on a vegetarian diet, though on Mondays and Friday's we are treated to meat as the weekly shop is always done on a Monday and Friday is BBQ day! So bacon on a Saturday is very much welcomed, along with the scrambled eggs, smoothies and everything we're used to having on demand at home.
A couple of weekends ago all of us volunteers decided to go to La Digue which is an island only 45 minutes away from Praslin. It was a great weekend to chill out, enjoy some sport on TV (really gutted to be missing the T20 cricket at the moment!), walk on some of the best beaches in the world, cycle around in the sun and, most importantly, sample some of the local produce in the bars and clubs. However, being the luxurious honeymoon destination that the Seychelles is
The Boys
A cloudy sunset (Will & Kate came here for theirs by the way 😉 ), everything is quite expensive. So that weekend was probably a one off... Though we made the most of it and enjoyed it as much as we could.
It's been a great 4 weeks so far (obviously going far too quickly) and I'm very much looking forward to the next 4 weeks which will be somewhat quieter... sort of happy about that though.
Until next time. x
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