…Where the sea is gin-clear and bath-warm, the rich scent of Indian spices waft through the villages, and the gentle rustling of sugar cane fields can be faintly heard over the market din. Voices chanting, voices jeering, a multitude of colored tropical fruit thrust into your face by a cheerful Creole, skin like Cadbury milk chocolate, and clean shaven, his skin reeking with the smell of turmeric and cloves.
But out on the water, a small island sits, home to the ancient lime kiln and an old war house. Here lies a refuge for creatures once wiped out from the mainland, a place to grow and breed without the threat of mongeese, dogs or cats. An ancient coral reef, this small flat island has risen above the Indian Ocean and now holds the remnants of a once thriving Mauritian ecosystem. Pink Pigeons coo moodily in the shade of an endangered Gastonia tree, while the largest day gecko in the world: the Guenther’s gecko basks lazily along a spongy branch, eyes peeping out for danger. If you look closely you will find a tiny ornate day gecko, with fluorescent blue and red markings, perched at the ends of the branches licking the sweet nectar from the flower buds, and watching you, innocently with those huge round ebony eyes, but before you know it he has flitted off to the other side of the branch as light as a feather and quick as a flash; his toes perfectly adapted in sticking to the thick and shiny leaves, now his refuge from our prying eyes.
Across the worn-down coralline foot path towers a native ebony tree, the branches twisting and writhing, mottled with black and white lichen, and leaves like shiny, deep emeralds. Flitting around the branches is the once critically-endangered Mauritius Fody, but today, it is the most common bird on the island. The male; a head full of scarlet plumage calls shrilly to his lady; a dull, green and grey little bird, who, with an inquisitive look, hops ungainly towards you on a branch, cocks her head, chirps, and with a flurry of movement disappears in pursuit of her mate. On both are seen coloured bands on their legs, red over white, red over blue: an individually unique identification tag used to monitor breeding seasons and behaviours.
Then, out of the corner of your eye a tiny green/grey bird, small and round as an olive, hops shyly into sight, a white ring around each eye, like a mark of innocence for its increasingly hopeful future, it looks at you inquisitively, one can only wonder what it is thinking. This endemic and once critically endangered Mauritius Olive White-eye is another species saved by the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation, brought back from the brink of extinction on the tropical Ile aux Aigrettes…
I have been in Maritius for 3 ½ days now and am so far having a wonderful time! Have spent the weekend off in the beach house on the mainland with all the other volunteers, then tomorrow back to work on Ile Aux Aigrettes till Saturday morning. Am very positive about it all, I think that once I have settled in fully I am going to absolutely adore this place and especially the work I wil be doing. Once I know exactly what that is I will be sure to update you all! But for now, just doing a few different things until the guy I am working with gets back from the UK.
Until then, I hope you are all well, sending love and hugs from the Indian Ocean.
Talk soon!
Melissa
xox
