Heritage Garden at Roche Caiman: Preparations underway for official opening
Category: Heritage Gardens | Date: Oct 09 2009 | By: savingparadise
Things are shaping up here at Roche Caiman as we prepare for the official opening of the Heritage Garden. Lucina is pruning and watering. Displays are up at the Kiosk. Invitation cards have been sent.
The opening of the Garden will coincide with the World Food Day, celebrated annually on 16 October. This year’s theme is Achieving food security in times of crisis. Nature Seychelles and the Seychelles Agriculture Agency will sign an MoU at the opening, enabling these two organizations to work together. Other partners joining in these festivities are the Wildlife Clubs of Seychelles, Seychelles Fishing Authority and the Farmers Association.
The Heritage Gardens© is a joint Project between Nature Seychelles and the Wildlife Clubs, with the collaboration of the Department of Natural Resources and the Ministry of Education. Its vision is to introduce young people to plants that were valued by their parents enabling them to become custodians of a rich biological heritage.
The Heritage Garden at Roche Caiman has been designed by Nature Seychelles as a model to be replicated by Wildlife Clubs in schools and by the community at home. Not only do we collect plant species that are richly filled with historical value for propagation in the school-based clubs as well as to the adjoining communities, we also collect and collate their stories. 22 schools are taking part in the project. School Heritage Gardens© range from small to medium sized ones. Learning not only concentrates around the use of these plants but also basic ecological concepts, history, folklore and language.
The Heritage Garden at Roche Caiman has the Gro Manze, loosely translated as the “big food”, the generic Creole vernacular for starchy food crops like yams, taro, sweet potatoes, plantains (cooking banana) and breadfruit. Another section has different kinds of spices. Another medicinal plants. In the past Geriser (healers) and Herbalists had knowledge of which plant to pick for anything from a rash to a critical fever. They kept extensive gardens of medicinal plants. The sad thing is that today they are few and far between. The garden reminds us that these plants are beneficial to us.
This Project won the Commonwealth Youth Development Award in 2007. The citation read: By preserving and maintaining an important part of Seychelles culture and traditions that is in danger of being lost, the Project is of benefit to local communities. It adds value to the communities and their local resources by promoting understanding of the value of the plants that are around us, that fosters care of the local environment.”
Clearing invasive Typha at the Sanctuary at Roche Caiman
Category: Sanctuary at Roche Caiman | Date: Sep 30 2009 | By: savingparadise
Here is a you tube video of our efforts to manage the aquatic reed Typha javanica, Zon in Creole. The reed has become invasive and is taking over the central marsh area at the popular urban wetland, the Sanctuary at Roche Caiman.
On Cousin Island, two Seychelles Magpie robin chicks share a nest
Category: Cousin Island, Endemic birds, birds | Date: Sep 18 2009 | By: savingparadise
Here are some pictures taken by student Rachel Cartwright on Cousin Island of an unusual occurrence: two Seychelles Magpie robin chicks sharing a nest. Eric Blais, Conservation Officer and Cousin Island wardens are keeping an eye on the chicks. Cousin is home to a population of some 27 Seychelles Magpie robins. These are part of a total population of approximately 200 individuals found on five of Seychelles islands. The endemic birds were once on the brink of extinction and were classified as critically endangered on IUCN’s Red List. Their recovery through the highly successful Magpie robin Recovery Program - led by BirdLife International and then managed by Nature Seychelles - took this species away from the brink of extinction and saw them down listed to “Endangered”.
Tags: BirdLife, Cousin Island, Nature Seychelles, Seychelles Magpie robin
Picture of the Day: Watch out for the Palm spider, it doesn’t bite though
Category: Invertebrates, Sanctuary at Roche Caiman | Date: Sep 15 2009 | By: savingparadise
Here are photos of the Palm spider, Nephila inaurita a native of Seychelles taken at the wetland at Roche Caiman. I thought I would share them because I keep on walking into them. These large spiders are everywhere in Seychelles. We saw many on the hike on Mont Palmiste. The females sit at the centre of a large web built from heavy strands of silk. The spiders are harmless though, but if you have arachnophobia, you probably wouldn’t want to run into one or hold one as Terence did.
Tags: Seychelles, Spiders, wetland at Roche Caiman
On a lighter note, our Chief appears on the cover of Indian magazine
Category: Nature Seychelles, birds | Date: Sep 09 2009 | By: savingparadise
MISTNET (the Indian Bird Conservation Network Magazine) Volume 10.2 has a picture of Nature Seychelles’ CEO Nirmal Shah on its cover. This was a Special issue covering the Bird Tourism Charter for Asia. The picture (see above) shows Nirmal with a Sooty Tern Serna fuscata perched on his head, and seemingly having a chat with another. Taken on Bird Island, it is set against the backdrop of the famous bird spectacle that occurs on this and other islands from May-September when millions of Sooty Terns descend on the island to breed.
“If this keeps on, I will soon be able to quit my day job”. Shah Says.
Picture taken by Manisha Shah.
Tags: Bird Island, Nature Seychelles, Sooty terns
Update on Frigatebird
Category: Sanctuary at Roche Caiman, birds | Date: Sep 07 2009 | By: savingparadise
Terence (L) and David (Science Coordinator, R) were interviewed about the bird by SBC Radio
The Frigatebird recovered and left. One day last week we went to check on it, as we have been doing every morning, and it was gone from the mangroves where it had been making steady progress towards recovery. For the past week staff at Nature Seychelles have been feeding the bird with fish. At first it had to be force-fed but eventually it got to feeding itself. Soon we noticed it was moving around. It had in fact originally moved from the Bird hide to the mangroves by itself.
The bird has generated quite some interest with both SBC Radio and TV recording nature programmes around it. More about those programmes when they air, but they focused on the bird, where its found in the Seychelles and steps to take when one finds an injured bird.
Tags: Frigatebird, Media, Roche Caiman
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